英语听力精选进阶版 10773

WikiLeaks is publishing what it said is a document showing that the US National Security Agency spied on the French President Francois Hollande and his two immediate¹ predecessors² Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac. French media reported that the communication intercepts³ took place between 2006 and 2012. John Sopel reports from Washington.

"In the document entitled 'Espionage⁴ Elysees', WikiLeaks claimed that the US National Security Agency has been intercepting⁵ the communications of the last three French Presidents. There is no source for this other than the claims made by WikiLeaks themselves. But they are being reported widely in the French media. And given previous disclosures from the whistleblower Eward Snowden, the claim seemed plausible⁶. The French Embassy here in Washington is refusing to say anything, and the State Department issued a one-line statement, 'We do not comment on the veracity⁷ of content of leaked documents.’ "

The Hungarian government is temporarily suspending a key European Union asylum⁸ agreement. It compels the country to take back asylum-seekers who entered Hungary, but subsequently travelled on to other EU member states. The government says more than 60,000 illegal immigrants have entered the country this year. From Budapest, Nick Thorpe reports.

"The boat is full, Hungary government spokesman J K told reporters in Vienna, announcing the Hungarian government's dramatic move. The decision to suspend the central EU asylum rule, known as 'the Dublin Procedure', dovetails with the announcement last week in Budapest that the government will build a defence along its southern border with Serbia. By temporarily suspending the right of other EU countries to return migrants to Hungary, it is effectively sealing its other borders as well."

Eurotunnel train services carrying passenger vehicles and freights between Britain and France have resumed after being suspended when striking French port workers swarmed⁹ onto rail tracks and set fire to tires. Migrants took advantage of the chaos¹⁰ to jump onto lorries in the hope of getting to Britain. Eurotunnel said they would be running services through the night to clear the backlog¹¹.

Health officials in Sierra Leone say two new cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the capital Freetown. It was thought the city was free of the disease as no cases have been recorded for several weeks. This report from our Africa editor Mary Harper.

"A spokesman for the National Ebola Response Center said there were fears of furthering infections as the new Ebola cases occurred in the densely¹² populated slum. He said there was great concern because all quarantine facilities in Freetown have been closed due to the lack of new cases. The north of Sierra Leone continues to be affected¹³ by Ebola, as the neighboring Guinea." Our Africa editor Mary Harper reporting.

World News from the BBC.

Lawmakers in South Carolina have voted to debate for removing a confederate flag from the ground of the state capital of Columbia. It's a response to the killing¹⁴ of nine African-Americans in Charleston last week. Pictures of the white suspect brandishing¹⁵ the flag have emerged on line. But the state senator for South Carolina Tom Davis said the flag wasn’t just a symbol for racist¹⁶ groups.

"There are many people in South Carolina, many very good people in South Carolina, for whom that confederate flag is a symbol of inheriting ancestry¹⁷. And they're not racists. But it is also true that there are hate groups that they have taken the battle flag as an emblem¹⁸ of their hatred¹⁹." Tom Davis.

More than three million Iraqis have been forced from their homes since the rise of Islamic State in 2014. The International organization for Migration²⁰ says the majority have been displaced from Anbar to the west of Baghdad, where IS has been fighting to take over the whole province. Meanwhile the Islamic State group has accepted a pledge of allegiance by militants²¹ in the caucasus which include Chechnya and Tajikistan. It's the first time in IS has formally welcome Jihadists from the region in Soviet²² Organization. The main Jihadist groups in Chechnya has been critical of the IS in the past.

Young female suicide bomber²³ was reported to have killed at least ten people in the Northeast Nigeria. Witnesses in the town of G said another 20 people were injured. 

One man said the bomber could not have been more than 12 years old.

Don Featherstone, the creator of the plastic pink flamingo²⁴, which had adorned²⁵ countless²⁶ American lawns for five decades, has died in Massachusetts. He was 79. His birds first went on sale in the late 1950s, becoming a craze in the 60s before eventually turning into an icon²⁷ of kitsch. His wife, Nancy, said the couple kept nearly 60 of pink flamingoes on their lawn, saying it reminded them of how their bread was buttered.

1 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

2 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 intercepts   

（数学）截距( intercept的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It intercepts a portion of the light impinging on the photocell. 它遮住一部分照射在光电管上的光。
• The pelletfilter intercepts the particulate matter. 颗粒过滤器将颗粒物进行拦截。

4 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

5 intercepting   

截取（技术），截接

参考例句：

• The police had been intercepting my mail, ie reading it before it was delivered. 警方一直截查我的邮件。
• We've been intercepting radio transmissions from Moscow. 我们已从莫斯科拦截到无线电信号。

6 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

7 veracity   

n.诚实

参考例句：

• I can testify to this man's veracity and good character.我可以作证，此人诚实可靠品德良好。
• There is no reason to doubt the veracity of the evidence.没有理由怀疑证据的真实性。

8 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

9 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

10 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。

11 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

12 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

14 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。

15 brandishing   

v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀

参考例句：

• The horseman came up to Robin Hood, brandishing his sword. 那个骑士挥舞着剑，来到罗宾汉面前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He appeared in the lounge brandishing a knife. 他挥舞着一把小刀，出现在休息室里。 来自辞典例句

16 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

17 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

18 emblem   

n.象征，标志；徽章

参考例句：

• Her shirt has the company emblem on it.她的衬衫印有公司的标记。
• The eagle was an emblem of strength and courage.鹰是力量和勇气的象征。

19 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

20 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

21 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。

22 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

23 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

24 flamingo   

n.红鹳，火烈鸟

参考例句：

• This is the only species of flamingo in the region,easily recognized by its pink plumage.这是那个地区唯一一种火烈鸟，很容易凭粉红色的羽毛辨认出来。
• In my family,I am flamingo in the flock of pigeons.在家里，我就像一只被困在鸽笼里的火烈鸟。

25 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

26 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

27 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。