英国新闻听力 67

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The United States has urged India and Pakistan to avoid raising tension, amid reports that both sides have increased troop numbers along their border. The comments came from a White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. Pakistani officials said they / redeployed troops from the frontier with Afghanistan and cancelled leave for infantry¹ units in response to reported concentrations of Indian soldiers at the border. From Islamabad, Barbara Platt reports.

A senior security official said / a limited number of soldiers had been pulled out from none-essential positions on the Afghan border. ‘Snowbound areas’, he said, “and areas where there were no military operations.” He didn’t say to where they’ve been redeployed. But / Pakistani media have reported that / troops are strengthening / some positions on the border with India. The security official said / army leave had also been restricted, calling the steps ‘minimum defensive² measures’. The troop movements do not appear significant, and both countries have said that they want to avoid military conflict, but warn they would act if provoked.

Shares in the troubled American car giant General Motors have risen dramatically, following positive news with vehicle financing affiliate³. Its stock price rose by 1/5 after the affiliate GMAC was reclassified as a bank. Here is Jeff Bede who has the report from our Business Unit.

GMAC provides finance for General Motors' customers and dealers⁴ to buy the company’s vehicles. / It has big debts, and was seen as close to bankruptcy⁵. That would have been a huge blow to America’s largest car-maker, at a time when the shortage of credits is already squeezing vehicle sales. But now the authorities have stepped in with a rescue. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve decided⁶ that GMAC should be classified as a bank-holding company, in effect, a bank. This gives it access to billions of dollars of government financial assistance under a huge program set up by Congress to help troubled financial institutions.

The president of Senegal has urged the international community to recognize the new military leadership which's seized power in neighboring Guinea, after the death of the country's President Lansana Conte. President Abdoulaye Wade⁷, the first head of state to support the takeover, called for patience, saying Guinea’s new leaders have promised to organize elections and that this will take time. The call by Mr. Wade came as tens of thousands of people attended funeral ceremonies for Mr. Conte in the capital of Guinea Conakry. Greg Morsbach reports.

A military band for a president who came to power in a military uprising, thousands throng⁸ the streets of Conakry as they pay their respects to / President Lansana Conte. The international community is viewing the unfolding events in Guinea with a sense of nervousness. South Africa’s president called on the military junta⁹ to step down and hold elections immediately. The French government said the military leaders ought to return / the country to civilian¹⁰ rule within 6 months.

You are listening to the World News from the BBC.

Two Palestinian girls have been killed in what appears to have been a misdirected rocket attack by militants¹¹ in Gaza. An official said the girls died when a rocket fell short and hit their house. Palestinian militants have been firing rockets into southern Israel for the past week in response to the killing¹² of three members of the Hamas-Islamist group by Israeli forces. The Israeli cabinet has warned of / possible military action if the attacks don’t stop.

Three suspected members of al-Qaeda in Iraq have mounted a violent escape from a police station in the western city of Ramadi. Iraqi police say 6 of their officers and 7 militants were killed during the incident in the earlier hours of the morning. Police imposed a curfew as they searched houses in Ramadi to try to recapture the three militants.

A ninth body has been found by investigators¹³ shifting through the ashes at the scene of a gun attack in Los Angeles, where a man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire on a Christmas Eve party. Peter Bowes sent this report.

The gunman who has been named as Bruce Pardo approached the home of his ex-wife’s parents as they were holding a Christmas Eve party. Dressed as Santa and carrying a large wrapped package, he knocked at the door. It was answered by an 8-year-old girl who Pardo shot in the face with a semi-automatic handgun. He then opened fire on the 25 guests of the party. Amid the chaos¹⁴, he doused¹⁵ the house with a flammable liquid from a fuel tank he had been hiding in the package. The 8-year-old girl and the 16-year-old who were shot in the back survived and were taken to hospital.

And finally scientists reported a rapid recovery in some of the coral reefs that were damaged by the Indian Ocean Tsunami¹⁶ 4 years ago. It had been feared that some of the reefs off the coast of Indonesia could take a decade to recover. But the New York based Wild Life Conservation Society says there is evidence of / rapid growth of young corals in the badly hit areas.

1 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

2 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

3 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

4 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。

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

8 throng   

n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集

参考例句：

• A patient throng was waiting in silence.一大群耐心的人在静静地等着。
• The crowds thronged into the mall.人群涌进大厅。

9 junta   

n.团体；政务审议会

参考例句：

• The junta reacted violently to the perceived threat to its authority.军政府感到自身权力受威胁而进行了激烈反击。
• A military junta took control of the country.一个军政权控制了国家。

10 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

11 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

12 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

13 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

15 doused   

v.浇水在…上( douse的过去式和过去分词 )；熄灯[火]

参考例句：

• The car was doused in petrol and set alight. 这辆汽车被浇上汽油点燃了。
• He doused the lamp,and we made our way back to the house. 他把灯熄掉，我们就回到屋子里去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。