英国新闻听力 美军突袭IS监狱解救人质

American defense¹ officials have insisted that a raidby US and Kurdish forces on a prison run by IslamicState militants³ in Northern Iraq is not a change oftactics. About 70 hostages were freed. FromWashington, here's Gary O'Donoghue. The press secretary Peter Cook said information hadsuggested that the prisoners were facing imminent⁴ mass execution within hours. Americanhelicopters transported troops to the town of Hawijah, 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk. Officialshere say a number of IS militants were killed in the raid and five captured, along with what theydescribed as important intelligence about the militant² group. It's the first American combatcasualty in the fight against Islamic State. Nevertheless, the head of Central Command said theoperation had been highly successful.

Vladimir Putin has defended Russia's military intervention⁵ in Syria saying it could helpcreate conditions for a political solution to the civil war. Bridget Kendall watched him speak inSochi. President Putin's comments were woven through with mixed messages andcontradictions. On the one hand, he accused the US and its allies of playing a double game inSyria attacking some terrorist groups while siding with others for their own ends. He said theWest's attempt to divide terrorist groups into moderate and non-moderate was mistaken. Onthe other hand, he also seemed to concede that Russia would need to bring the US led-coalition and Syria's moderate opposition⁶ forces on board for any political settlement to work. He said he still hoped the US would agree to work with Russia and he even asked presidentAssad, who was in Moscow this week, if he could work with moderate opposition forces onthe ground. Mr. Putin was clear he was ruling out partition for Syria.

The front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination⁷ Hillary Clinton has accused herRepublican rivals of exploiting the death of American diplomats⁸ in Libya in 2012 for politicalgain. She was testifying before a congressional committee investigating the attack on the USdiplomatic compound in Benghazi. Barbara Plett Usher⁹ is at Capitol Hill. The hearing had beenwidely anticipated as a showdown between Hillary Clinton and her Republican critics. Theyquestioned how engaged she had been on the deteriorating¹⁰ situation in Libya before theBenghazi attacks. And they returned to the issue of why the state department had failed torespond to requests for increasing security by the ambassador Chris Stevens. Once again Mrs. Clinton said that security personnel normally doubted with such requests that never reachedher desk, but she had amost emotional moment over accusations¹¹ that she deliberatelyignored the demands. The exchanges didn't appear to review significantly new informationalthough perhaps new details.

Swedish police are investigating whether a masked man who killed a teacher and a pupil at aschool near Gothenburg was motivated by extreme right wing views.The attacker criticallyinjured another teacher and a child before he was shot dead. This is the world news from theBBC.

An American nurse is suing the governor of New Jersey¹² for being put into quarantine after shereturned from West Africa where she had been treating Ebola patients. Kaci Hickox alleges¹³ thatGovernor Chris Christie abused her civil liberties by imposing¹⁴ a mandatory¹⁵ quarantine on herin October last year without a valid¹⁶ reason.

Hundreds of indigenous¹⁷ people from around the world have taken part in a traditional firelighting ceremony in Brazil on the eve of the first World Indigenous Games in the city ofPalmas. Nicholas Rocha has the details. The athletes will be competing in traditional sportslike football and athletics¹⁸, but also indigenous games like archeries, spear-throwing, canoeing and race through forests. As well as peoples from all the Americas,there aredelegations from Australia, Russia, the Philippines, Ethiopia and New Zealand. But the cost ofstaging the games has drawn¹⁹ some protestors. They say the money would have been betterspent on improving the life of Brazil's indigenous people.

Researchers have found that male howler monkeys with the most powerful voices also have thesmallest testicles, but still manage to attract the most females.The scientist concluded thathaving a deeper call is more important than mere²⁰ sperm²¹ production when it comes to winning amate. Here is our science reporter Victoria Gill. Across ten species of howler monkey, all themales try to impress females and intimidate²² rivals with a raucous²³ vocal²⁴ display. But asterrifying as that sounds, this research shows there is a reproductive cost to a booming voice. To study the animals' roars, the team measured the volume of a howler bone in their throatswhich act like a resonator, the larger that bone,the deeper that voice. Comparing anatomycross the species, the researchers noticed that monkeys with the deepest voices also have thesmallest reproductive organs. That report from Victoria Gill ends the BBC news.

美国与库尔德武装突袭了伊拉克北部“伊斯兰国”极端组织监狱，美国国防部表示称，此次行动并不会改变美国对伊拉克的策略。大约70名人质得到释放。请听加里·奥多诺休为您从华盛顿带来的报道。新闻秘书彼得·库克表示称，这些人质即将在几个小时内遭到处决。美国直升机将部队运抵距离基尔库克西南方40公里的哈加镇。官方表示称在此次突袭中，多名组织成员被杀，五名遭到逮捕，并获得了重要的极端组织情报。一名美国士兵阵亡，而这也是美国打击“伊斯兰国”极端组织以来阵亡的首位美国士兵。尽管如此，中央司令部部长称此次行动非常成功。

普京坚称俄罗斯对叙利亚的军事介入将为政治对话创造条件。请听圣布里奇特·肯德尔在索契为您发回的报道。普京的声明含混不清，矛盾重重。他一方面指责美国和盟国在叙利亚问题上上演“双戏”，既打击极端组织，又为了一己私利而支持对方。他表示称，西方想要将恐怖组织按“温和”和“非激进”划分是个错误。另一方面，为了达成政治和解，俄罗斯又对将美国主导的联盟和叙利亚“温和反对派”纳入其中表示了肯定。他表示称，他仍然希望美国能够与俄罗斯展开合作，就叙利亚是否能够与“温和反对派”进行地面合作一事，他甚至询问了阿萨德，他本周访问了莫斯科。然而，普京明确表示叙利亚不可能分裂。

一马当先的民主党总统候选人希拉里·克林顿谴责共和党对头利用2012年利比亚使馆遭袭一事达到政治目的。就在国会委员会对班加西大使馆进行调查之前，她对此次事件进行了证实。请听芭芭拉·普莱特·乌谢尔为您从华盛顿带来的报道。人们普遍将此次听证会看成是希拉里·克林顿和共和党批评家的一次决战。他们就班加西使馆遭袭之前，事情进一步恶化问题向希拉里提出了质疑。之后又回到了国务院为什么没有对史蒂文斯大使请求更多安保力量一事作出回应。希拉里再一次表示称，安保人员通常会对这种请求表示怀疑，史蒂文斯大使的这一申请并未到达她这里，但是当人们指责她故意不理会时，她的情绪显得有些激动。尽管这场针锋对决揭露了一些细节，但显然没有透露新信息。

哥德堡附近的一所学校遭蒙面男子袭击，并造成一名老师和一名小学生死亡，瑞典警方正在对杀人犯是否遭受极右言论鼓动而进行调查。就在袭击者被击毙之前，另一名老师和一名学生深受重伤。BBC全球新闻。

美国护士前往西非参加埃博拉救治工作，回国后遭到隔离，她随即将新泽西州州长告上了法庭。凯西·希克斯声称，政府在没有正当理由的情况下对她进行了强制隔离，并称州长克里斯·克里斯蒂侵犯了公民自由权。

巴西帕尔马斯城举办了首届世界土著人运动会，举办前一天，来自全球的数百名土著人参加了传统的点火仪式。请听尼古拉斯·罗恰的报道。运动员将参加如足球，田径等传统项目，但还将参加如射箭、投掷长矛、独木舟，森林赛跑等土著比赛。此次比赛不仅有来自美洲的运动员，还有来自澳大利亚、俄罗斯、菲律宾、埃塞俄比亚以及新西兰的代表。然而，举办此项赛事的费用却引来了诸多抗议。人们认为这些资金本应用在改善巴西土著人民生活上。

研究人员发现，雄性吼猴的吼声越大，睾丸越小，然而却依旧能够成功吸引异性。科学家得出了结论，就交配而言，声音胜过精子。请听科学记者维多利亚·吉尔的报道。在对十种吼猴的研究中，所有雄性吼猴都试图吸引雌性，并通过巨大吼声来吓跑敌人。尽管这吼声让人胆战心惊，但研究表明嗓门大反而会影响生育。为了研究吼猴的吼声，研究小组对吼猴的喉咙骨音频进行了测量，这种仪器也可以充当共振器，喉咙骨越大，吼声越大。通过对各物种进行解剖比较，研究人员注意到，吼声越大，睾丸越小。这是维多利亚·吉尔带来的报道。BBC新闻。

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 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。

4 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

5 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

8 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》

9 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

10 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

11 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

12 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

13 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

14 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

15 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

16 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

17 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

18 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

19 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

20 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

21 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

22 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

23 raucous   

adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的

参考例句：

• I heard sounds of raucous laughter upstairs.我听见楼上传来沙哑的笑声。
• They heard a bottle being smashed,then more raucous laughter.他们听见酒瓶摔碎的声音，然后是一阵更喧闹的笑声。

24 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。