英语听力精选进阶版 8653

The US Defense¹ Department has confirmed that American special forces have captured an IS chemical weapons expert in Iraq. The Pentagon said Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar, who once worked for Saddam Hussein, had now been handed over to the Iraqi authorities. From Washington, here's Gary O'Donoghue. According to the Pentagon, American special forces seized Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar several weeks ago in northern Iraq and obtained information from him about IS chemical weapons facilities and those individuals involved in the program. Reports suggest he gave his interrogators details of how IS has managed to weaponized mustard gas by turning it into powder and putting into artillery² shells. The Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said the information had led to a number of air strikes which had disrupted and degraded the group's capabilities³.

US media say Ben Carson, the former hopeful for the Republican presidential nomination⁴ is to endorse⁵ Donald Trump⁶ as Republican candidate for the White House. Reports say a formal announcement is expected on Friday. The news comes just before the start of the latest Republican debate in Florida.

The White House has told the BBC that US deeply values its special relationship with Britain hours after president Obama strongly criticized the foreign policy of the prime minister David Cameron. Jon Sopel reports. Nett Price, senior director for Strategic Communications of National Security Council praised David Cameron's leadership in NATO and on meeting the commitment to spend 2 percent of national income on defense. But this comes after critical comments from the president, linking America's initial reticence⁸ to intervening in Syria to David Cameron's failure to secure a parliamentary majority for air strikes in 2013. In his interview, the president blamed Britain and France for the chaos⁹ that now reign⁷ in Libya and showed the fury felt in Washington that Britain has in recent years considered cutting defense spending. Jon Sopel reporting.

Russia, Egypt and Senegal have strongly objected to a proposal to send home entire contingence of United Nations peacekeepers if they face repeated allegations of sexual exploitation by some of their members. The three countries said this would amount to collective punishment. The US has drafted a resolution calling for urgent measures to end sexual abuse by peacekeepers. The resolution is strongly supported by the United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. Sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel demands nothing less than decisive and bold action and committed to working with member state to confront this criminal conduct and to justify¹⁰ the trust of the people we serve to ensure that this organization remains¹¹ a beacon¹² of hope for the most vulnerable. You're listening to the world news from the BBC.

Ireland's prime minister Enda Kenny has resigned after a deeply split new parliament overwhelmingly rejected him as the next leader of the government. Neither he nor his three rivals for the position managed to secure enough votes to be elected. Mr Kenny said his coalition¹³ government would continue to work in a caretaker position until the political vacuum could be filled.

The US Justice Department has intensified¹⁴ its criticism of Apple for refusing to create software to unlock the iPhone that belonged to one of the attackers in the San Bernardino shooting in December when 14 people were killed. Court paper say there was likely to be evidence of attack on the phone and the public has their need to know. But Apple says the FBI is seeking a backdoor access to all iPhones.

President Obama has welcomed Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau to the White House at the start of the first official visit by a Canadian leader in nearly twenty years. Mr Trudeau 's visit brings to an end a period of frosty relations between the Obama administration and Canada's previous conservative government. Mr Trudeau said relations between the two nations went beyond personalities¹⁵. The relationship, the friendship between our two countries goes far beyond any two individuals or any ideologies¹⁶. I have tremendous confidence in the American people and look forward to working with whoever they choose to send to the White House later this year.

Brazilian prosecutors¹⁷ have requested that the popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva be placed in custody¹⁸ as a case against him goes through the justice system. The request still has to be considered by a judge. On Wednesday, prosecutors filed charges of money-laundering related to the ownership of a luxury sea-front penthouse. The apartment was registered to a company implicated¹⁹ in a major corruption²⁰ scandal in the state oil company Petrobras. Lula has denied all wrongdoing.

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 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

3 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 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。

5 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

8 reticence   

n.沉默，含蓄

参考例句：

• He breaks out of his normal reticence and tells me the whole story.他打破了平时一贯沈默寡言的习惯，把事情原原本本都告诉了我。
• He always displays a certain reticence in discussing personal matters.他在谈论个人问题时总显得有些保留。

9 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。

10 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 beacon   

n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔

参考例句：

• The blink of beacon could be seen for miles.灯塔的光亮在数英里之外都能看见。
• The only light over the deep black sea was the blink shone from the beacon.黑黢黢的海面上唯一的光明就只有灯塔上闪现的亮光了。

13 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

14 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

16 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

17 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

18 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

19 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》

20 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。