VOA慢速英语2015 法国报社遭袭击,至少12人死亡

 

At Least 12 Dead in Attack on French Newspaper 法国报社遭袭击,至少12人死亡

Now, the news, from VOA Learning English.

At least 12 people were killed in an attack on the Paris offices of a French newspaper Wednesday. Witnesses say at least two gunmen opened fire with automatic rifles and a rocket launcher inside the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

The director of the weekly paper and at least three cartoonists were killed. Two police officers were reportedly killed as well. French President Francois Hollande denounced the shootings as a terrorist attack. He defended the media after the killings¹. He said no act of violence “will ever extinguish freedom of the press.”

France has raised its terrorism warning to its highest level.

Charlie Hebdo often makes fun of culture and religion. On Wednesday, it published a cartoon on social media. The image showed the leader of Islamic State militants², Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as a New Year well-wisher.

The magazine’s office was attacked in 2011 after it published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed.

In Washington, President Barack Obama strongly condemned³ the attack. He said the U.S. will help France, in his words, “bring these terrorists to justice.”

Explosion near police training center in Sanaa

Security officials say a car carrying a bomb has exploded near a police training center in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. The explosion killed at least 30 people and wounded 40 others.

The bomb exploded as people were gathered outside the police academy.

Many bombings and other attacks have taken place in Sanaa since the ouster of Yemen’s long-time leader three years ago. Shi’ite Muslim Houthy rebels took control of the city last September. They have clashed with supporters of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and other allied⁴ Sunni tribesmen.

Tail of AirAsia plane found

Indonesian teams say they have found the tail section of the airplane that crashed into the Java Sea last month. The head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency spoke⁵ to reporters Wednesday about efforts to find the wreckage⁶ of AirAsia Flight 8501. The piece is believed to contain the “black box” voice and flight data recorders. The equipment is expected to help officials learn the cause of the crash.

The plane was carrying 162 people when it crashed in waters near the island of Borneo. No survivors⁷ were found. The bodies of fewer than 40 victims have been recovered.

Lawmakers in Hong Kong protest election plans

Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong raised yellow umbrellas and walked out of parliament Wednesday. The lawmakers carried out the protest when Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary said the government will investigate and name candidates for the city’s elections in 2017.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said constitutional development must be built on plans announced by the government. The pro-democracy supporters are calling for free elections, which would permit the people of Hong Kong to choose their leaders without the control of China.

Another corruption⁸ case against Chinese government official

Chinese officials have sent the corruption case against former national security chief Zhou Yongkang to government lawyers. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection⁹ announced that his case and several others had been sent to what it called “judicial organs.”

Last month, Zhou Yongkang was arrested on charges of leaking or illegally releasing, government secrets and accepting illegal payments. He was also expelled from China’s Communist Party.

He is the highest-ranking Chinese Communist official to be charged in more than 30 years.

Words in the News

attack - n. a violent attempt to damage, injure or kill

media - n. all public information organizations, including newspapers, television and radio

bomb - n. a device that explodes with great force

control - v. to direct; to have power over

1 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

2 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。

3 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

4 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 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。

9 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。