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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
The fragile coalition1 in Lebanon has collapsed2 after 12 ministers mostly from Hezbollah and its allies resigned. It follows rising tension after strong indications that some members of Hezbollah could be indicted3 by a United Nations-backed investigation4 into the assassination5 of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. He was the father of the current leader and an ally of the United States. Jim Muir says it's all about a struggle over the regional balance of power.
Bringing down the government is one thing, replacing it with another is something else. At the moment, the forces allied6 to the outgoing Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri insist that only he should head any new government. Getting them to agree to someone closer to Syria and the Lebanese opposition7 will be very hard. President Michel Suleiman will go through the motions of consulting parliamentary blocs8 to seek agreement on an acceptable new figure. But those consultations9 are likely to go round in circles as long as there's no agreement, and certainly there is none in sight.
Clashes between protesters and security forces continue throughout the day in many parts of Tunisia, despite government measures to quell10 the month-long unrest. A night-time curfew has been imposed in the capital Tunis, from where Adam Mynott reports.
For the past 48 hours in the districts of Ettadhamen and the south of the capital, gangs of protesters have been involved in skirmishes and street battles with the police. This is the first time in a month of angry protests across the length and breadth of Tunisia that violence has rocked the capital, and the government is worried. In an attempt to respond to national concern about poverty, hunger and what many see as the brutal11 suppression of protest, the president of Tunisia sacked the interior minister and announced that most protesters arrested during the past four weeks of demonstrations12 would be released.
More than 100 people have died in southeastern Brazil after days of torrential rain caused flooding and landslides13. The town of Teresopolis, some 100km north of Rio de Janeiro, has been worst hit with at least 71 people killed over the past two days.
Camps set up for victims of floods in east and central Sri Lanka have themselves been flooded, forcing people to go elsewhere to escape the water. About a million people have been affected14. Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.
A minister in the Sri Lankan government, Mohammed Hizbullah, told the BBC the situation in the east coast town of Batticaloa was getting worse as night fell. He said that 25 out of 200 makeshift camps for displaced people had themselves come under water, and the armed forces were helping15 people get out to safer places. Numerous towns and villages were flooded with no road access, and Mr Hizbullah said the authorities were getting calls for help from villagers whom they were unable to reach. He said the government was struggling and needed more help from international agencies.
World News from the BBC
Curfews have been put in place in two districts of Abidjan in Ivory Coast where there have been heavy clashes. Five police officers have been killed during raids on the neighbourhood of Abobo, which is loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the man widely recognised as the country's president-elect. Armed forces supporting Laurent Gbagbo moved into the suburb on Tuesday night.
The former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has defended herself against criticism that she helped create an atmosphere of political hatred16 that led to last Saturday's shooting in Arizona. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head, and six people were killed when a gunman opened fire. In an eight-minute video, Mrs Palin said the attack was not the result of heated political debate.
"There are those who claim political rhetoric17 is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged18, apparently19 apolitical criminal, and they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those calm days when political figures literally20 settled their differences with dueling21 pistols?"
A Mexican activist22 who led protests against the unsolved killings24 of scores of women in the town of Ciudad Juarez has herself been murdered. The woman, Susana Chavez, was found strangled and with one hand cut off in the town last week, but has only now been identified. Ms Chavez tried to draw attention to the killing23 of more than 100 women in the border town in the 1990s.
A Ukrainian court has revoked25 the hero status of the World War II leader Stepan Bandera. Mr Bandera was declared a hero by former President Yushchenko before he left office a year ago. His successor President Yanukovych, regarded as being more pro-Russian, said the court had found Bandera's status invalid26. Mr Bandera was assassinated27 by the Soviet28 KGB half a century ago. He has near-saint status in western Ukraine, but in pro-Russian east, he's regarded by many as a fascist29.
1 coalition | |
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合 | |
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2 collapsed | |
adj.倒塌的 | |
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3 indicted | |
控告,起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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5 assassination | |
n.暗杀;暗杀事件 | |
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6 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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7 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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8 blocs | |
n.集团,联盟( bloc的名词复数 ) | |
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9 consultations | |
n.磋商(会议)( consultation的名词复数 );商讨会;协商会;查找 | |
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10 quell | |
v.压制,平息,减轻 | |
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11 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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12 demonstrations | |
证明( demonstration的名词复数 ); 表明; 表达; 游行示威 | |
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13 landslides | |
山崩( landslide的名词复数 ); (山坡、悬崖等的)崩塌; 滑坡; (竞选中)一方选票占压倒性多数 | |
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14 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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15 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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16 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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17 rhetoric | |
n.修辞学,浮夸之言语 | |
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18 deranged | |
adj.疯狂的 | |
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19 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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20 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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21 dueling | |
n. 决斗, 抗争(=duelling) 动词duel的现在分词形式 | |
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22 activist | |
n.活动分子,积极分子 | |
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23 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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24 killings | |
谋杀( killing的名词复数 ); 突然发大财,暴发 | |
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25 revoked | |
adj.[法]取消的v.撤销,取消,废除( revoke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26 invalid | |
n.病人,伤残人;adj.有病的,伤残的;无效的 | |
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27 assassinated | |
v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 );中伤;诋毁;破坏 | |
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28 Soviet | |
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃 | |
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29 fascist | |
adj.法西斯主义的;法西斯党的;n.法西斯主义者,法西斯分子 | |
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