The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria(ISIS), an extreme offshoot of al-Qaeda that operates in both those countries, captured Mosul,  一个基地极端主义分支，伊拉克和大叙利亚伊斯兰国，目前在两个国家十分活跃，

　　Iraq's second city, causing half a million people to flee the region.  并且已经攻陷了伊拉克第二大城市摩尔苏，从而导致50万人逃离家园。

　　It then took Saddam Hussein's home town, Tikrit, and threatened to advance on Baghdad.  该组织已经拿下萨达姆·侯塞因的家乡，提克里特，并威胁要进军巴格达。

　　With the Iraqi army melting away, the Kurds in the north of Iraq said they had taken full control of Kirkuk.  随着伊拉克军队的崩溃，伊拉克北部的库尔德人表示他们已经完全控制基尔库里。

　　The government of Nuri al-Maliki appealed for help, but the West was loth to intervene.  马力基政府寻求支援，但西方不愿介入。

　　Reuven Rivlin, a right-winger who opposes a two-state settlement with the Palestinians, was elected Israel'spresident. 鲁温·瑞夫林，一位反对巴以和解的右翼分子，被选为以色列总统。

　　The post is largely ceremonial but sometimes influential.  该职位象征意义大于实际意义，但有时也具影响力。

　　Trying for a new start 为了新开始，奋斗。

　　Petro Poroshenko was inaugurated as Ukraine's president amid intensifying unrest in the east of the country.  正值东乌克兰加剧动荡之际，彼得·波罗申科宣布就任乌克兰总统。

　　A billionaire known as the Chocolate King, Mr Poroshenko made an impassioned plea for Ukrainian unity.  这位著名的巧克力大王，亿万富翁波罗申科先生发表了一份充满激情的有关乌克兰团结的呼吁。

　　Speaking in Russian, he promised immunity from prosecution to all those without blood on their hands.  他操着俄语，并承诺那些和流血事件毫无瓜葛的人将免于起诉。

　　He also ordered peace corridors to be set up so that people can escape the violence. 他还命令设置和平走廊，以便让民众逃离暴力。

　　Antonis Samaras, the prime minister of Greece, reshuffled his cabinet after his centre-right New Democracy party lost in the European elections to the far-left Syriza.  希腊总理萨马拉斯的中右翼新民主党在欧洲选举中败于极左翼的左派政党联盟后，改组了内阁。

　　He picked a technocrat, Gikas Hardouvelis, as finance minister to succeed Yannis Stournaras, who becomes governor of the central bank.  他选择了技术官僚吉卡斯·哈多维利斯，代替杨尼斯·斯托纳拉斯出任财政部长。后者被任命为中央银行行长。

　　Three-fifths of Germans are in favour of Angela Merkel, the chancellor,  富彩一份民调显示，五分之三的德国人支持总理安格拉·默克尔

　　backing a bid by Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker to be the next president of the European Commission despite stiff opposition from Britain, according to a Forsa poll.  支持由卢森堡首相让·克洛德·容克成为下一任欧盟主席的提案，尽管此项提案遭到了来自英国的坚决反对。

　　Only 19% said Mrs Merkel should prioritise good relations with David Cameron, the British prime minister, who is leading the camp opposed to a Juncker presidency.  仅有19%的受访者表示默克尔应该优先与英国首相戴维·卡梅隆保持良好关系。卡梅隆正在领导一个反对容克竞选的阵营。

　　The Spanish parliament backed the abdication of King Juan Carlos and accession of his son, Prince Felipe, by a large majority.  西班牙议会以绝大多数优势支持国王胡安·卡洛斯的退位以及王储菲利普继位。

　　Some on the left in Spain are demanding a referendum on whether to keep the monarchy. 一些左派人士正要求就是否保留君主制进行全民公投。

　　In Britain the government's inspector of schools published a report into alleged Islamic extremism at several state schools in Birmingham.  在英国，政府的学校检查员发表了一份报告，指控在伯明翰的一些公立学校中存在伊斯兰极端主义。

　　It found no evidence of a plot to infiltrate the schools though it did find examples of Islam influencing the schooling culture.  虽然的确发现了伊斯兰文化影响学校文化的例子，但没有任何有关伊斯兰极端主义阴谋渗透学校的证据。

　　Prior to the report two Conservative heavyweights, Michael Gove, the education secretary,and Theresa May,  在这份报告之前，两位保守党的重量级人物，教育大臣迈克尔·戈夫，

　　the home secretary, became embroiled in an unholy row about the issue. 和内政大臣特丽莎·梅卷入了一场针对这个问题的不光彩的争论中。

　　The Tea Party in America scored its biggest victory since emerging as a political force in 2009 when the candidate it backed defeated Eric Cantor,  在初选中，选茶党所支持的候选人在初选时击败了众议院共和党第二号人物艾里克坎托，

　　the Republicans' number two in the House of Representatives, in a primary election.  这是自从2009年茶党形成为一股政治力量后取得的最大成功。

　　David Brat, a previously unknown college professor, won partly by campaigning against immigration.  大卫·布拉德，这位为人所不知的大学教授能够赢得选举的胜利部分原因是发动反对移民运动。

　　His victory may scupper the chance of any bipartisan reform this year. 而他的胜利可能会破坏任何两党改革的机会。

　　A judge in California decided that tenure rules which make it nearly impossible to sack bad teachers harm poor pupils and breach the state's constitution.  加利福利亚的一位法官裁决任期规则让解雇伤害穷学生的坏老师变得不可能，并且该规则也违反了州宪法。

　　Teachers unions were dismayed, though the education secretary, Arne Duncan, approved.  尽管该决议得到教育部长阿恩·邓肯赞同，但是教授工会对此表示失望。

　　A teacher in California currently has a one in 125,000 chance each year of being fired for incompetence. 当前，加州每125000教师中只有有一位因为无能而被解雇。

　　Switching to gas 转向天然气

　　Chile's government cancelled the huge HidroAysén hydroelectric project to build five dams in Patagonia on environmental grounds.  从环境角度出发，智利政府取消了在巴塔哥尼亚的大型艾森水电站项目，该项目原计划在当地建造5座环保型大坝。

　　To lessen its dependence on imported energy, the government will concentrate on natural gas and renewables. 为了减少对进口能源的依赖，智利政府将重点关注天然气和可再生能源。

　　With days to go before the run-off in Colombia's presidential election, the incumbent, Juan Manuel Santos,  哥伦比亚总统决选还有几天才正式拉开帷幕，现任总统胡安·曼努埃尔·桑托斯，

　　announced that he had begun exploratory peace talks with the ELN, a guerrilla group.  宣布他已经与游击队组织—哥伦比亚民族解放军开始了试探性的和谈进程。

　　Mr Santos's support for peace negotiations with the FARC, a bigger guerrilla force, is the main dividing line between him and óscar Iván Zuluaga, his rival in the election.  桑托斯还支持与一个更大规模的游击队组织—哥伦比亚革命武装力量进行和平谈判，而这正是他与大选对手奥斯卡·伊万·苏卢阿加的主要分歧点。

　　Mexico's central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates by half a percentage point.  墨西哥央行出人意料地将利率下调了0.5个百分点，

　　Weak economic growth, prompted partly by sluggishness in the United States and partly by tax rises, lay behind the move. 此举背后的原因在于美国经济停滞和该国赋税负担加重导致了经济增长疲软。

　　Amado Boudou, Argentina's vice-president, faced questions from a federal judge about his alleged ties to a firm that prints the country's currency.  阿根廷副总统阿玛多·布都因其与某钞票印刷企业之间所谓的关系面临来自联邦法官的质询。

　　The judge will now decide whether Mr Boudou, who denies all wrongdoing, must face charges.Repulsed 无论布都是否承认自己的不法行为，法官都将决定对他提出指控。惨败

　　An attack on Karachi airport left at least 38 people dead, including ten of the attackers, after a shoot-out with the security forces.  经过与安保部队的一场枪战后，卡拉奇机场的袭击案造成了至少38人丧生，其中包括10名袭击者。

　　The Pakistani Taliban said that it was behind the assault, and had hoped to hijack an airliner,  巴基斯坦塔利班组织宣称对此次袭击负责，并且表示此前还计划劫持一架客机，

　　in revenge for air strikes against suspected militants in the remote tribal area of north Pakistan.  以此报复在巴基斯坦北部偏远的部落地区对武装嫌疑分子的空袭。

　　A few days later America resumed drone strikes in the tribal region after a six-month break. 几天后，美军恢复了终止了六个月的对对塔利班控制地区进行无人机打击的军事活动。

　　The body of another woman was found hanging from a tree in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,  在印度北方邦，又发现一名女性的尸体被悬挂在一棵树上，

　　at least the third such case in recent weeks in which the victims were allegedly raped.  这至少已经是近几周来的第三起类似案件，据说其中的受害者们都曾遭到性侵。

　　Narendra Modi, the new prime minister of India, said that protecting women should be a priority for all Indians, but he warned against “politicising” rape. 印度新任总理纳伦德拉·莫迪表示，保护女性应该成为所有印度公民的当务之急，但是他也提醒要提防将强奸案件“政治化”。

　　The captain and crew of the South Korean ferry that sank in April with the loss of about 300 lives went on trial.  今年4月发生的韩国沉船事故造成约300人丧生。

　　They are pleading not guilty to charges of homicide through wilful negligence.  近日，该船船长和船员开庭受审。他们并不认可自己犯“不作为杀人”的罪名。

　　Meanwhile, thousands of police searched a religious compound in their manhunt for the ferry's owner, Yoo Byung-eun, an investor who also owns the website god.com. 同时，几千名警察在追捕该船船主俞炳彦时对一个宗教聚集所进行了搜查。俞炳彦是该船务公司的投资人，同时还是god.com网站的所有者。