英国新闻听力 47

BBC News with Debora MacKenzie.

The American President-elect Barack Obama has called for urgent measures to stimulate¹ the American economy and get people back to work. Mr. Obama was speaking as the government reported half a million job losses in November, the biggest monthly rise in unemployment for 34 years. James Coomarasamy reports from Washington.

Reacting to the latest gloomy jobless figures, the president-elect said that now was the time to respond with urgent resolve to put people back to work. In a statement Barack Obama said that each of the jobs lost represented a personal crisis for an American family, and he warned that the US economy would get worse before it got better. The current occupant to the White House George W. Bush meanwhile acknowledged for the first time that the country was in recession. He also called for public patience but pointed² to what he described as encouraging signs, such as the thawing³ of the credit market.

The United States Supreme⁴ Court has agreed to decide whether an al-Qaeda suspect can be held in prison in the US indefinitely without charge in what's seen as a serious test of President Bush's antiterrorism policy. Ali al-Marri, a Qatari national has been designated an enemy combatant, which has no international legal definition and has been held in solitary⁶ confinement⁷ in South Carolina since 2003. Rajini Vaidyanathan reports from Washington.

Unlike other foreign nationals, Mr. al-Marri is the only suspect to be held on US soil as opposed to Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. He is accused of having links to al-Qaeda, the Supreme Court has now agreed to hear an appeal by Mr. al-Marri. It will rule on whether the US constitution has the authority to hold people indefinitely without charging them with a crime. The case will not be heard before March. So any decisions about Mr. al-Marri will be dealt with by the next President Barack Obama.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has for the first time agreed to direct talks with rebels to end the long-running conflict in the east of the country. The Congolese Foreign Minister Alexis Mwamba said the discussions which are to be mediated⁸ by the United Nations and the African Union would focus on a peace plan for the region.

The former American President Jimmy Carter says the Guinea worm parasite⁹ is on the verge¹⁰ of being eliminated. Mr. Carter who now runs a charity foundation, says infections of the painful debilitating¹¹ disease have dropped by 99 percent. A Spokesman for the Carter Foundation Craig Withers¹² said it was a great achievement.

We are close to eradicating¹³ Guinea worm disease from the face of the Earth; it would be the second disease in the history of mankind to be eradicated¹⁴, smallpox¹⁵ is the first. It would be the first parasitic¹⁶ disease to be eradicated.

This is Debora Mckinsey with the latest World News from the BBC.

The former American football star and actor, O.J. Simpson, has been sentenced to at least 15 years in jail for robbing two sports memorabilia dealers¹⁷ at gunpoint in a Lag Vegas hotel room last year. He was convicted in October of armed robbery, conspiracy¹⁸ to kidnap and assault with a deadly weapon. His lawyers say they'll appeal.

Officials in Pakistan say at least 20 people have been killed and more than 80 injured in an explosion in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The device apparently¹⁹ a car bomb hit shoppers in a busy market, many of whom were preparing for next week's Eid festival. Pakistani television showed pictures of people being pulled from collapsed²⁰ buildings. Peshawar's main hospital has declared a state of emergency and the death figure is expected to rise.

A controversial consignment²¹ of 65 tons of Icelandic whale meat has gone on sale in Japan, the first delivery for 20 years. Fin⁵ whales are listed internationally as endangered, but Iceland and Japan along with Norway have all registered exemptions²² from a UN Convention banning the international trade in whale meat. Here's our environment correspondent Richard Black.

The consignment of about 70 tons of whale meat arrived in Tokyo in June since when it's been held in customs going through legal and health checks. According to the Icelandic company involved, the checks have all finished now and the meat is being distributed around the country. The vast majority of the consignment consists of meat from seven fin whales caught in Icelandic waters, that's especially controversial as fins²³ are internationally listed as endangered species. It's Iceland's first whale meat export to Japan for 20 years.

The Ethiopian pop star, Teddy Afro, has been sentenced to six years in jail and fined 1800 dollars for the manslaughter of a homeless man who was killed in a hit-and-run incident two years ago. Teddy Afro had been found guilty on Monday despite denying any involvement in the incident.

BBC News.

1 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 thawing   

n.熔化，融化v.（气候）解冻( thaw的现在分词 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化

参考例句：

• The ice is thawing. 冰在融化。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• It had been snowing and thawing and the streets were sloppy. 天一直在下雪，雪又一直在融化，街上泥泞不堪。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

6 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

7 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

8 mediated   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的过去式和过去分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• He mediated in the quarrel between the two boys. 他调解两个孩子之间的争吵。
• The government mediated between the workers and the employers. 政府在工人与雇主间搞调和。

9 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

10 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

11 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。

12 withers   

马肩隆

参考例句：

• The girl's pitiful history would wring one's withers. 这女孩子的经历令人心碎。
• "I will be there to show you," and so Mr. Withers withdrew. “我会等在那里，领你去看房间的，"威瑟斯先生这样说着，退了出去。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

13 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。

14 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

15 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

16 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

17 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

18 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

19 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

20 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

21 consignment   

n.寄售；发货；委托；交运货物

参考例句：

• This last consignment of hosiery is quite up to standard.这批新到的针织品完全符合规格。
• We have to ask you to dispatch the consignment immediately.我们得要求你立即发送该批货物。

22 exemptions   

n.（义务等的）免除( exemption的名词复数 )；免（税）；（收入中的）免税额

参考例句：

• The exemptions for interpretive rules, policy statements, and procedural rules have just been discussed. 有关解释性规则、政策说明和程序规则的免责我们刚刚讨论过。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• A: The regulation outlines specific exemptions for some WPM. 答：该规定概述了某些木质包装材料的特定的例外情形。 来自互联网

23 fins   

[医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌

参考例句：

• The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关，与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
• Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句