VOA慢速英语2015 尼泊尔宣布全国哀悼三天

Nepal Declares Three Days of Mourning 尼泊尔宣布全国哀悼三天

Nepal has declared three days of mourning for the victims of Saturday's 7.8 magnitude earthquake that left nearly 5,000 dead and thousands more in desperate need of aid.

In a televised news conference Tuesday, Nepalese Prime Minister Koirala thanked donors³ for their assistance. He added that getting help to remote areas remains⁴ a major challenge.

The United Nations says the disaster has affected⁵ eight million people with 1.4 million in need of food.  The U.N. says it would draw $15 million from its emergency fund for relief operations.

Officials said Tuesday the death toll⁶ had climbed to more than 4,600 people. About 9,000 others are injured.  They said those numbers could go higher as workers clear more of the damaged areas.

Indonesia executes eight drug convicts, spares one

Indonesia has executed eight drug convicts, including several foreign nationals, despite strong opposition⁷ abroad.

The convicts included two Australian members of a heroin⁸ trafficking ring, a Brazilian national, and an Indonesian citizen.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo refused to reduce the severity of the convicts’ punishment, despite opposition and appeals from the international community. The president described the executions as necessary to control what he calls Indonesia’s “drug emergency.”

Local media reports say a ninth convict, a woman from the Philippines, was to be executed, but suddenly was not. Officials say her execution was delayed because of a request from the Philippine president. The Filipina convict has been asked to testify in the trial of a person suspected of human trafficking in the Philippines.

Obama, Abe pledge to complete Pacific Rim¹ trade pact⁹

U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Tuesday to complete a 12-nation Pacific Rim trade agreement. Mr. Abe is in the middle of a state visit to the United States.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Abe spoke¹⁰ at a news conference Tuesday at the White House. Mr. Obama said the trade bill would boost U.S. exporters and the country’s labor¹¹ market. But he also accepted that there is opposition to a Pacific Rim trade agreement in both the U.S. and in Japan.

The two leaders did not announce any details about the remaining difficulties to completing an agreement. The proposed trade bill would open up exports for both Japanese and American manufacturers, along with those in 10 other nations that border the Pacific.

Words in the News

donor² - n. a person or group that gives something (such as money, food, or clothes) in order to help a person or organization

severity - n. the condition of being serious or unpleasant

boost - v. to increase the force, power, or amount of (something)

1 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

2 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

3 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 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。

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

9 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

10 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。

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。