英国新闻听力 58

BBC News with Mike Cooper.

The man at the center of what could be the world's biggest ever financial fraud, the New York financier, Bernard Madoff, has been put under house arrest. He is charged with defrauding¹ investors² out of more than 50 billion dollars. Questions are now being asked about how US financial regulators failed to detect the alleged³ fraud. Greg Wood reports from New York.

Bernard Madoff made a surprised court appearance in Manhattan after he was unable to find enough people to guarantee his 10-million-dollar bail⁴. So far, his brother and his wife have signed for him, but he needs two more people to do the same thing. The judge set new conditions for his bail. He will be confined to his New York apartment daily between the hours of 7PM and 9AM, and he'll have to wear an electronic ankle bracelet⁵. He was also required to sign over homes in Palm Beach Florida and the Hamptons, an exclusive area on Long Island.

An internal American government report has said the State Department should stop using the controversial security firm Blackwater to protect its diplomats⁶ in Iraq. From Washington, this report from Sarah Morris.

The Blackwater contract has been under review since an incident in September last year when 17 Iraqi people were killed by guards employed by the company. It's happened in a square in Baghdad. The guards said they were acting⁷ in self-defense. Many onlookers⁸ said they opened fire without provocation⁹. Afterwards the Iraqi prime minister calls for Blackwater's contract to be revoked¹⁰. Five Blackwater guards have been charged with manslaughter and other charges stemming from that incident. The company itself was not implicated¹¹.

The Oil Producing and Exporters' Group, OPEC, says its members have agreed their biggest ever single cut in production in an effort to boost prices. OPEC said it was planning to reduce production by 2.2 million barrels a day, the third cut by the cartel since September. Despite OPEC's move, crude oil prices continued to fall. The President of OPEC, Chakib Khelil, said the move would benefit both those countries which need to buy oil as well as those who exported.

"We hope that the prices, of course, will stabilize¹², at least in the initial phase, and evolve in due time towards, you know, the target that will be in the interest of producers and consumers which we estimate that between 70 to 80 dollars at least."

The Italian luxury car manufacturer Ferrari says 2008 has been its best ever year for sales and profits in contrast to the difficulties being experienced by most of its rivals because of the economic downturn. The company's chairman, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, said that crisis or no crisis, Ferrari could still find 6,000 people in his words "crazy enough to buy its annual output". The cheapest Ferrari car can be bought for about 250,000 dollars.

I’m Mike Cooper with World News from the BBC.

Palestinian hospital officials say one man has been killed by an Israeli missile strike in the north of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said the attack was aimed at those who'd fired rockets into southern Israel. Earlier, about 20 rockets were fired from Gaza, injuring at least two people in the Israeli border town of Sderot. A six-month ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas movement which runs the Gaza Strip is due to expire on Friday.

The President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama, says he'd like to see the US detention¹³ center at Guantanamo Bay closed within two years. In a wide-range interview with Time Magazine, Mr. Obama also said he'd like to put an end to the practice of torture and restore the balance between security concerns and constitutional rights. Time named Mr. Obama its Person of the Year, praising his courage to plan out an ambitious future in a gloomy hour. Mike Eelier is the editor of Time International.

Barack Obama's story, his success in the US presidential election, the way that he's captured the imagination and focus all over the world, made him a pretty compelling choice, frankly¹⁴, for us, the question really was, was the reason for not choosing Barack Obama, cause we couldn't come up, come up with one.

Latin American and Caribbean leaders have called on the United States to end its 46-year-old embargo¹⁵ of Cuba. In a declaration adopted at a regional summit in Brazil, 33 countries said Washington's economic and commercial embargo violated international law. The Cuban leader, Raul Castro, attended the summit on his first foreign tour since succeeding his brother Fidel.

The Senate in Argentina has given final congressional approval to a government plan to take over the country's biggest airline, Aerolineas Argentinas. The government says re-nationalization of the company is vital to ensure its survival, but its Spanish owners say the price set by the Argentine government is too low and they say they will go to international arbitration¹⁶.

BBC News.

1 defrauding   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Second is the actor regards defrauding of the wealth as object. 第二，行为人以骗取钱财为目的。 来自互联网
• Therefore, DELL has the motive and economic purpose of intentionally defrauding the Chinese consumers. 因此，戴尔公司存在故意欺诈中国消费者的动机和经济目的。 来自互联网

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

4 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

5 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

6 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

9 provocation   

n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因

参考例句：

• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation.他是火爆性子，一点就着。
• They did not react to this provocation.他们对这一挑衅未作反应。

10 revoked   

adj.[法]取消的v.撤销，取消，废除( revoke的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It may be revoked if the check is later dishonoured. 以后如支票被拒绝支付，结算可以撤销。 来自辞典例句
• A will is revoked expressly. 遗嘱可以通过明示推翻。 来自辞典例句

11 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

13 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

14 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

15 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

16 arbitration   

n.调停，仲裁

参考例句：

• The wage disagreement is under arbitration.工资纠纷正在仲裁中。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding.双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。