一 : 专项训练：12月英语四级精练（三）

exercise three
1. he is late again today. i’ll ____ that he will not be late tomorrow.
a) refer to itb) look to himc) see to itd) turn to it
2. as he had worked in the army as an electrical engineer for many years, he had every ____ for the job.
a) privilegeb) obligationc) qualificationd) quality
3. after the disaster, the truth ____ us that a healthy habit of living can keep one away from some terrible diseases.
a) focused uponb) imposed uponc) dawned upond) leaned upon
4. after failing the exams three times, jackrealized that he’d never ____in english.
a) see to itb) attain itc) catch itd) make it
5. susan has not been officially ____ to johnson.
a) engagedb) occupiedc) practiced d) undertaken
6. after so many years, he still ____ the hopethat his lost son would return one day.
a) clang tob) clung toc) inclined tod) subjected to
7. the action of cheating in an examination would ____ you ____ severe punishment.
a) cause…tob) subject…toc) turn…tod) take…to
8. this article ____more attention to the problem of cultural interference in foreign language teaching and learning.
a) calls forb) applies forc) cares ford) allows for
9. i don’t think that your watch is ____.
a) worthy the price b) worth the price c) worthy to buy d) worth to buy
10. he is ____ a very old man but in fact he is only fifty years old.
a) apparentlyb) evidentlyc) absolutelyd) actually
11. it is not polite to ____ a speaker withfrequent questions.
a) interpretb) intervenec) interruptd) interfere
12. their daughter often turns a deaf ear to their inquiries, so they sometimes have to ____ answers from her.
a) interruptb) exchangec) squeezed) exit
13. his constant failures in love finally threw him off his ____ of mind.
a) moodb) engagementc) sympathyd) balance
14. my camera can be ____ to take pictures in cloudy or sunny conditions.
a) adaptedb) adjustedc) adoptedd) remedied
15.young children soon ____ words they hear their elders use.
a) put forwardb) pick outc) turn upd) pick up
16. we forgave his bad temper because weknow that his son’s illness had put him under great____.
a) upsetb) stressc) crisisd) oppression
17. his political ______ came to an end 20 years ago.
a) occupationb) employmentc) careerd) profession
18. the explorer lost his way so he climbed to the top of the hill to ____himself.
a) spotb) locatec) placed) situate
19. we could see only the ____ outline of the mountain in the distance.
a) vagueb) darkc) meand) dim
20. because the company was doing more business it was necessary to____ the factory.
a) increaseb) extendc) broadend) grow
21.the university ____ consists of full professors, associate professors and assistant professors.
a) crewb) rankc) circled) staff
22. due to the fact that she was naturally shy, she shrank from any ____ social and cultural activities.
a) taking part ofb) study onc) success ind) participation in
23. it was no use trying to discuss business with james, who was well-known for____ everything.
a) coping withb) trifling withc) handing withd) doing well in
24. jane is scolded by her boss because she leftthe office with the computer ____ yesterday.
a) onb) outc) ind) unclosed
25. in ______ to the government’s call, a great number of people from different walks of life went to the frontline to fight the flood.
a) returnb) admissionc) responsed) order
26. i could see nothing ____ of the hall but the moans of pain told therewas someone there.
a) in the dustb) in the duskc) in the lobbyd) in the exit
27. in the eyes of the teachers, the textbooks are far from ____.
a) contentb) consentc) satisfiedd) satisfactory
28. due to the _______difficulty, he has to do several part-time jobs.
a. economicb. financialc. economicald. economics
29. the freshmen are very slow to ____ the strict regulations of this college.
a) react tob) relate toc) adapt tod) turn to
30. when reading books about space exploration, i often ____ man’s skill and creativeness in putting complex pieces of machinery into space.
a) tremble atb) startle atc) wander atd) amaze at

答案：cccdabbabaccdbdbcbabddbacbdbcd

二 : 专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇 90

1

BBC 100

BBC News Item 1

The BBC has learned that the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has decided that the British general election will take place on May 6th. Mr. Brown will go to Buckingham Palace

tomorrow Tuesday to ask Queen Elizabeth to dissolve parliament, and then make a formal announcement of the election date. That will start the official election campaign, which, a BBC

correspondent says, will be dominated by issues of taxation and spending in the wake of the global

recession.

BBC News Item 2

Less than six months before a general election in Britain, the governing Labour Party is embroiled again in internal strife. Two former cabinet ministers have called for secret ballot of

members to decide whether the Prime Minister Gordon Brown should continue as party leader. Mr.

Brown has called a general election by June this year. Our political correspondent Rob Watson

reports.

The two former cabinet ministers Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt had stunned everyone at Westminster with their last-minute efforts to challenge Gordon Brown?s leadership. But Downing

Street and Labour Party officials have moved quickly to quash any revolts. Most importantly,

current cabinet ministers have come out and backed the prime minister, orbiting some cases with

little apparent enthusiasm. So the latest challenge looks likely to be short lift. Although many

within the Labour Party doubt Mr. Brown?s leadership qualities, they also seem to think it would

only make things worse to get rid of him before the general election.

BBC News Item 3

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is offering to scale back Britain?s nuclear

deterrence if an international agreement is reached to cut the world?s nuclear arsenals. Mr. Brown

is expected to tell a special session of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that he?ll

be willing to give up one of four royal navy submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles. Officials are insisting that cost isn?t a factor here. Here?s our defence correspondent Nick Childs.

Gordon Brown is saying he?ll be ready to throw part of the trident force into the port in the

context of a much bigger global disarmament deal. He said so in general terms before. This offer

though is more concrete. There is a growing sense that to avoid what some fear could be a sudden

cascade of new nuclear states, the established nuclear powers need to do more in terms of

disarmament to keep the proliferation regime intact. The Prime Minister will hope his move will

be seen as an important gesture. But the key to the process will be the actions of the big players,

the United States and Russia.

BBC News Item 4

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to confirm that he is sending hundreds

more troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total number of British troops there to about 9,500.

Britain has the second largest NATO contingent in Afghanistan after the United States. Our

2

defense correspondent Caroline Wyatt reports.

In his statement on Afghanistan, it?s believed Mr. Brown will say he?s agreed in principle to send around 500 extra British troops to Helmand. The military advice says that extra forces are

needed to help maintain progress and dominate the ground more effectively to keep the Taliban

out of key areas. However, there will be caveats. The Prime Minister will want assurances from

military chiefs that the extra troops will be properly equipped. But he?ll also expect Britain?s NATO partners to follow suit by offering more forces themselves. NATO defense ministers are

likely to discuss troop levels on a meeting formally in Bratislava next week.

BBC News Item 5

Stock markets in Europe and the United States have fallen sharply in response to further signs

that the debt crisis in Greece is intensifying and could spread to other countries. Share prices in

New York, London, Frankfurt and Paris fell by more than 2% after a major international credit

rating agency Standard & Poor?s downgraded Greek debt to a level known informally as junk.

Nils Blythe has more.

Standard & Poor?s downgraded its assessment of Greek bonds to the so-called junk status

because of the growing danger that the bond holders will not be paid back in full. Many big

investment funds have rules that forbid them from holding junk bonds, says the move is likely to

trigger a further round of selling. Share markets have taken fright, fearing that if Greece does

default on its debts, it would hit many European banks which hold Greek bonds and could trigger

a wider financial crisis. Already pressure is mounting on Portugal which has also seen its credit

rating downgraded today, although it remains above junk status.

BBC News Item 6 IMF

The International Monetary Fund has told governments across the world that further action is

needed to help return the global financial system to stability. In a fresh estimate of the scale of the

problem, the IMF says global losses on toxic assets could total four trillion dollars. Andrew Walker reports.

This report does identify what it calls some early signs of stabilization in financial systems, but there are not many of them. And the IMF says further action will be needed if they?re to be

sustained. In two key areas, it says that progress by governments has been piecemeal and reactive,

dealing with the problem assets held by financial institutions and how to handle banks that need

extra capital. For that problem the report says temporary government ownership may sometime be

necessary.

BBC News Item 7

Officials in Germany say the total financial aid package for Greece could be more than double, the 60 billion dollars that is previously expected. The head of the International Monetary

Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn is in Berlin trying to persuade Germany to agree to the financial

rescue plan. He said the deal needed to be implemented quickly as the situation was getting worse

every day and could affect other European countries. But the German Chancellor Angola Merkel

said Berlin needed to be searching that Greece was serious about spending cuts. 3

BBC News Item 8 IMF

The head of the International Monetary Fund says Greece has nothing to fear from the organization. At a news conference in Washington, Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the IMF was

trying to provide Greece with the advice and resources necessary to help with its debt problem.

Andrew Walker reports from Washington.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn was responding to a Greek journalist who said the Greek public are demonizing the IMF that they fear things will be worse with IMF involvement. The agency has a

reputation for requiring borrowing countries to make deep cuts in popular government spending

programs. Mr. Strauss-Kahn said the Greek people should think of the IMF as a cooperative

organization where the countries of the world work together to help those in trouble by providing

resources and advice on behalf of the international community.

BBC News Item 9 G20

Finance ministers of the world?s leading industrialized and developing countries, the G20, have agreed to continue supporting the global economic recovery. In a statement released after

their meeting in Scotland, the ministers said conditions had improved, but economic and financial

recovery was uneven and unemployment a worry. Andrew Walker reports.

The communiqué avoids complacency. Although economic and financial conditions have improved, they decided they still need to keep up the initiatives intended to restore growth. The

meeting was, however, rather overshadowed by a statement from the British Prime Minister

Gordon Brown, suggesting a tax on financial transactions as one of a number of options for

making banks pay for the crisis. His calls have been received politely by the finance ministers but

several made remarks which suggest that other ways of tackling the problem are rather more likely

to be adopted.

BBC News Item 10

The European Union has initialed an agreement to end one of the world?s longest-running trade disputes over bananas. The EU, the world?s biggest importer of bananas, is to cut the duty it

imposes on Latin American producers of the fruit, while bananas grows in former European

colonies will gradually lose the preferential terms they?ve enjoyed. Andrew Walker reports. The deal signed in Geneva commits the European Union to gradually lowering the tariffs it imposes on bananas imported mainly from Latin America. The cut will be over a third by 2017.

That will reduce the competitive advantage of a group of countries, mainly former colonies of EU

states in Africa and Caribbean, which enjoyed tariff-free access. The EU plans to provide those

countries with some compensation, in a shape of nearly 300,000 dollars in additional aid. BBC News Item 11

The long-awaited take-off of the Solar Impulse was greeted with delight by those who have

spent the last seven years working on it.

The solar-powered plane has the wing-span of a jumbo jet, but weighs less than a family car.

It doesn?t use a single drop of aviation fuel, instead its giant wings are covered with solar 4

cells.

The project is the brainchild of Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard he sees the Solar Impulse as a sign of things to come.

BBC News Item 12

It?s the world?s fastest growing economy and shows no sign of slowing down, so striking deals with Chinese businesses is now the top priority for every British company that wants to stay

ahead in global trade. Now schools in the United Kingdom want to give their students a head start

by teaching them Mandarin and they are making it compulsory.

Brighton College is a fee paying private school on the south coast of Britain and already teaches Latin, Spanish and French to its 1,200 pupils. Students can choose between these

languages, but from the autumn, which is the beginning of the new academic year in British

schools, every student must study Mandarin whether they like it or not.

BBC News Item 13

The cast and crew of British movies will no longer be hailed as the underdogs at awards ceremonies. At the recent 81st Oscars ceremony, British actors and movies won no less than 11

awards.

The list of Oscar winners is usually dominated by American films and actors but 2009 has seen a more international flavour to the ceremony. British actors and actresses have long awaited

such global recognition. Kate Winslet was nominated six times for an Oscar before she eventually

won the Best Actress award at this year?s ceremony.

Slumdog Millionaire lived up to its status as a global success and movie phenomenon. The

low-budget movie swept the board winning eight Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture.

The movie, which documents the life of a young Indian boy after he wins a TV game show, has

definitely helped to raise the profile of the British film industry.

Summarising the national feeling, British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, issued a

专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇 90_专四听力

statement

saying “Britain is showing it has the talent to lead the world”.

BBC News Item 14

It might seem like an unlikely match an ancient institution getting to grips with cutting edge technology but the British royal family has been active online for more than a decade.

They launched their own website in 1997. The Queen?s Christmas message is available as a

podcast, and a year ago the official Royal Channel was launched on YouTube, showing videos of

the family at work.

Royal watchers describe the 82 year old Queen as a silver surfer someone who?s enthusiastic about the internet and who keeps in touch with younger members of her family by

email.

BBC News Item 15

This weekend, around 35,000 runners filled the streets of London, running the 26th annual

London Marathon. The course is 26.2 miles long (42 km), and goes past many of London?s

5

landmarks, such as the Tower of London, the famous 19th century ship Cutty Sark, the Houses of

Parliament and Buckingham Palace. The runners actually run over Tower Bridge. BBC News Item 16

Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest and most famous universities in Britain, and there has

always been a great rivalry between the two institutions. But the most public competition between

the two is the annual Boat Race. The 2006 Boat Race will take place on 2nd April, and will be the

152nd race of its kind.

Both universities are located near rivers, and rowing is a popular and prestigious sport. The

very first race took place in 1829, when a Cambridge student challenged a school-friend studying

at Oxford. Ever since, the defeated team from the previous year challenges the opposition to a

rematch. The only times when no Boat Races took place were during the First and Second World

Wars.

BBC News Item 17 60

President Obama?s Democratic Party has secured the critical 60 seat majority in the US Senate that can help it override any Republican obstructions on Capitol Hill. This

happened when

the Democrats won the last undecided senate seat from November?s election after the Supreme

Court in the state of Minnesota declared the Democratic candidate Al Franken the winner. Richard

Lister reports from Washington.

For almost eight months the two candidates had been locked in a bitter fight in the Minnesota

Courts over the result of November?s Senate election. Just a few hundred votes separated them

after the 2.8 million cast. The initial count favoured the Republican Norm Coleman but the recount gave the majority to his Democratic Party rival Al Franken. And the State Supreme Court

is now upheld that verdict. His victory gives the Democrats 60 votes in the senate and the potential

to overturn Republican efforts to block legislation.

BBC News Item 18

Reports in Israeli media say Israel?s ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told Israeli diplomats that American-Israeli relations were facing a crisis of historic proportions. Washington is furious at last week?s announcement by Israel during a visit by the US Vice President that more new Jewish homes were to be built in occupied East Jerusalem. But on

Monday, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament the building project

would continue. Paul Wood reports from Jerusalem.

Mr. Netanyahu has been presented with a choice, a breach with the right-wing members of

his coalition, or with the Americans. With his speech to the Knesset, he seems to have chosen to

put the needs of domestic politics first. It seems the Americans are so angry because they believe

Mr. Netanyahu went back on an understanding. This was apparently that Israel would not push

forward of any big new settlement building projects in East Jerusalem. This was necessary of the

Palestinians were to be persuaded to join the long delayed negotiations so painstakingly put

together by US mediators.

6

BBC News Item 19

Leading United States officials have said the American military will continue its presence in

Afghanistan for a number of years despite beginning to withdraw in 2011. In a series of media

reappearances, officials stressed that the date should be seen as the beginning of handing over

responsibility to Afghan forces. Imtiaz Tyab report from Washington.

Speaking on a Sunday morning political chat show, the Defense Secretary Robert Gates said

that despite President Obama?s plan to begin withdrawing the troops from the region in July, 2011,

the US was likely to maintain a significant military presence in Afghanistan for a number of years.

The Defense Secretary said the pullout date was said to underline the urgent need for the Afghans

to speed up recruiting and training soldiers and getting them into the field. A comment?s followed

criticism from opposition Republicans who say announcing a withdraw date sent a dangerous

signal to insurgents.

BBC News Item 20

President Obama is postponing a trip to Indonesia and Australia, so he can stay in Washington to try to get his health care reforms pass by congress. Mr. Obama had already delayed

the long arranged trip once and was due to set off on Sunday. But with the crucial vote on the

reform is expected within days, the trip has been put off entirely until June. From Washington

Mark Martell reports.

The president?s make changes to American health care insurance system, his flagship domestic legislation is dragged on for over a year and divided the country. He will be damaged if

he can?t get it through. The climax is near, so far there is no sign of any republicans voting for it,

its fate lies in the hands of handful in the president?s own party, who either feel it allows for easier

abortion or who simply fear a back lash in November?s elections, if they vote for a measures their

constitution dislike.

BBC News Item 21

After days of political horse-trading the UK finally has a new government and a new Prime Minister, following the resignation of Labour?s Gordon Brown on Tuesday evening.

Since last Thursday?s general election resulted in a hung parliament, a situation in which none of the political parties has an overall majority, British politicians have been attempting to

form a coalition government.

Such a government is comparatively rare in the UK. Indeed this is the first coalition since the

Second World War.

BBC News Item 22

President Barack Obama says the summit conference on nuclear security which has just ended in Washington was a testament to what is possible when nations come together. He said the

49 countries who attended had come to a four-point plan for future success in securing the security

of all nuclear materials produced or stockpiled around the globe. Mr. Obama said the summit had

made a real contribution to a safer world.

7

BBC News Item 23

The American Secretary of States Hillary Clinton is in Moscow to try to persuade Russia to support American policy on Iran. The US wants Russia to agree to the option of imposing additional sanctions on Iran if it does not suspend its uranium enrichment program by the end of

the year. Richard Galpin reports from Moscow.

As a permanent member of United Nations Security Council, Russia has the power to veto resolutions. And Moscow has always said it does not believe sanctions are an effective way of

promoting change. But recently, President Medvedev has indicated his government made ultimately accept that sanctions are inevitable. There are other big issues to be discussed while

Mrs. Clinton is in Russia, including the plan for Moscow and Washington to sign a new treaty in

early December for a further cut in their large arsenals of nuclear weapons.

BBC News Item 24

The United States and the United Nations are urging Israel and Palestinians to resume peace

talks after a day of unrest in Jerusalem. The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said

Washington wanted to insure both sides were fully committed to peace efforts. The UN Secretary

General Ban Ki-moon condemned as illegal recent Israeli plans to build new settlements in East

Jerusalem. Barbara Plett reports from New York.

Ban Ki-moon urged restraint in Jerusalem, reminding Israelis and Palestinians of the final statues of the city were supposed to be decided in negotiations. He repeated

condemnation of

Israeli plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied eastern part of the city,

stating again that such settlements are illegal under international law. On Friday, the Secretary

General is set to attend a ministerial meeting of the quartet which groups the UN, the

European

Union, Russia and America. He said members will discuss additional measures to trying rescue

tentative steps to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace talks although he didn?t say what they were.

BBC News Item 25 8

Car manufacturers in the United States reported their best results so far this year in August, in

large part due to a government scheme aimed at encouraging people to trade in their old cars for

more fuel-efficient new ones. The top results among American carmakers were posted by Ford

which saw its sales rise by 17% from August of last year. The results held increase US manufacturing output as a whole for the first time since January of last year. President Obama said

the latest figures indicate that the American economy is on the path to recovery. BBC News Item 26

Financial regulators in the United States have accused the investment bank Goldman Sachs

of fraud related to the collapse of the American housing market in 2007. The Securities and

Exchange Commission is taking civil action against the bank. Michelle Fleury sent this report

from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges the bank sold investors a financial product

based on subprime mortgages that was designed to lose value. Goldman Sachs has denied the

allegations and says it will defend the firm and its reputation. This is the first time that the US

8

government has explicitly accused one of Wall Street?s premier institutions of fraud relating to the

collapse of the US housing market.

BBC News Item 27

An investigation of United States has found that the country?s top financial regulator, the Securities and the Exchange Commissioner SEC, fail to uncover the 65 billion dollar fraud carried

out by the convicted financier Bernard Madoff over a 16-year period, despite 5 separate investigations in his business dealings. Greg Wood reports.

The report by the SEC?s expected general David Kotz reads like a catalog of bungled opportunities to catch Bernard Madoff, long before he owned up to the largest fraud in US history.

He was investigated five times. SEC staff caught him in lies but failed to follow them up.

专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇 90_专四听力

They

rejected offers from whistleblowers to provide additional evidence. Many of the

investigators were

inexperienced. The scale of the SEC?s incompetence is laid bare by this report. BBC News Item 28

The Bank of America has agreed to pay 33 million dollars to settle accusations by the US government over billions of dollars of bonuses paid out last year by its investment on Merrill

Lynch. Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch to save it from collapse in a deal backed by

American taxpayers? money. John Bithry reports.

Bank of America had promised its shareholders that no bonuses would be paid to bankers at

Merrill Lynch without its express permission. It?s agreed to buy the struggling investment bank in

September. On the same weekend that talks to save Lehman Brothers from collapse failed. Like

Lehman, Merrill Lynch was brought to its knees by debt links to the US housing market that

became toxic and lost its value. But after Merrill was rescued by BOA, it went ahead and paid its

staff 3.6 billion dollars in bonuses anyway. Shortly afterwards Bank of America was forced to go

to the government for billions of dollars in extra taxpayer support, and the revelation of the payments caused a public outcry.

BBC News Item 29

After weeks of negotiations, the governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger has reached

an outline agreement with legislative leaders on a plan to tackle the state?s massive budget

shortfall. The deal, which will have to be approved by the state legislature, includes plans for

billions of dollars in budget cuts, but no tax rises. Peter Bolger reports.

California has a budget shortfall of 26 billion dollars. State workers have been put on short time and many social and education services have been cut. The state has even resorted to issuing

IOUs to companies it does business with and to individuals who are owed tax refunds. Governor

Schwarzenegger described the comprised deal as a basic agreement to close the state?s huge deficit.

He and fellow Republicans have refused to raise taxes, all the opposition Democrats said fought to

preserve social services.

BBC News Item 30

The United States army has formally charged the military officer accused of carrying out last

9

week?s mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. The officer, Major Nidal Malik

Hasan, an army psychiatrist, has been under armed guard in a hospital since being wounded in the

shooting. Mathew Prize reports from New York.

There are still many questions surrounding the mass shooting at the America?s largest military base, but one of them has now been answered. Major Nidal Hasan, an army psychiatrist

who was due to be deployed to Afghanistan, has been charged with 13 counts of murder. That

could rise if prosecutors decide also to charge him with the murder of an unborn child being

carried by one of his victims. He will be prosecuted in a military court. If convicted, he could face

the death penalty, although no one has actually been executed under the US military justice system

for almost 50 years.

BBC News Item 31

President Barack Obama has told memorial service at the Fort hood army base in Texas that

United States must never forget the 13 men and women who died in the shooting there last week.

He said the killings couldn?t be justified.

“It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do

know no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts. No just and loving god looks upon them

with favor. For what is done we know the killer will be met with justice in this world and the next.”

The president paid tribute to those who?d been not able, as he put it, “to escape the horror of

war, even in the comfort of home.”

BBC News Item 32

The American Space Shuttle Endeavor has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its sixth attempt after more than a month of delays caused by fuel leaks and thunderstorms. Bill Gerstenmaier of NASA said finally the weather had been favorable and the

shuttle crew were looking ahead to completing the installation of the Japanese Kibo laboratory on

the space station.

We had a great launch today. We were ready. The weather finally cooperated and we had

just

an awesome launch today. Again, I would caution you that the mission is very challenging in front

of us. The five EVAs, the robotic activities will take the absolute best the teams have both in

Houston and in orbit. And the teams are fully prepared they are ready to go do what they need to

go do and we look forward to the exciting activities as we install the Exposed Facility out on the

Kibo module.

BBC News Item 33

A panel of experts appointed by the White House has warned that current plans to send astronauts back to the moon in preparation for manned missions to Mars are just not viable. One

of the panel members Li Ruoqiao says the space agency NASA hasn?t been given enough funds to

realize the plans.

“That is when the visions for space aspirations were first announced in 2004 there was expectation of a certain budget level of the next several years. In fact over the last five years those

10

numbers are nothing realized. So because of that we are in a pickle that we are in now.” The experts say the current budget of the space agency NASA would need to be increased by

billions of dollars. Without the extra money, the experts say, NASA would have to work with

private companies now trying to embark on commercial space flights.

BBC News Item 34

Wildfires are a feature of the California Summer but it?s unusual for them to break out so close to major centers of population. It?s hot here and getting hotter which is driving the brush

making it all the more in cindery, and forecast is such that there has been a speculation it could

take firefighters a week to bring this blaze under control. Governor Arnold

Schwarzenegger is

pleading with people in the path of the flames to evacuate as soon as they?re told to do so. BBC News Item 35

Most of the main opposition parties in Sudan are withdrawing from all the elections this month the first multi-party elections since 1986. They won?t take part because of concerns about fraud and security. On Wednesday, the presidential candidate for the former southern rebels

Yassir Arman pulled out. President Obama?s Special Envoy General Scott Gration has been in

Khartoum trying to save the elections. James Copnall sent this report from Khartoum.

Several major opposition parties have announced they will boycott the Sudanese elections at

every level. Earlier today, they told the BBC they would boycott the presidential elections in

protest of what they believe will not be free and fair polls. Now several of the parties have decided

not to compete in the parliamentary or state elections either. The decision strikes a real blow at the

credibility of elections which were meant to hold the democratic transformation in Sudan. BBC News Item 36

In what?s been seen as a significant step towards peace in Darfur, the Sudanese government

has signed a temporary ceasefire agreement with JAM, one of the main rebel factions. The other

main rebel group has so far refused talks with the government. James Copnall reports from

Khartoum.

The deal is believed to include a temporary ceasefire and a framework agreement for future

talks. The Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir said the death sentence against the JAM fighters

convicted of attacking Omdurman had been quashed, and 30% of them had been released as a

goodwill measure. His act details of the agreement are not yet clear, but the fact has just been

signed is a significant step forward in the peace process in Darfur. United Nations estimates that

300,000 people have died in Darfur, but the Sudanese government puts the figure at 10,000.

BBC News Item 37

The authorities in Saudi Arabia say they?ve arrested more than 100 militants suspected of links to Al-Qaeda who were planning to attack oil installation in the kingdom. The Saudi Interior

Ministry says half of those attained are Saudis and the others are from Yemen, Bangladsh, Somalia

and Retrea. Official say security forces seized weapons, cameras, computers and documents.

Shahzeb Jillani has more.

11

The latest round of arrests suggest militants are crossing from neighbouring Yemen and using

Saudi connections to block attacks. The Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki said

that the two cells dismantled by the security forces were cooperating Al-Qaeda and

Yemen. In

addition he said a network of militance specializing and targeting security personnel has been

broken. Mr. Turki said that militants from network and the two cells would be in contact with

Al-Qaeda and Yemen and planning to attack oil facilities.

BBC News Item 38

Ukraine says that the five alleged Russian spies were caught with a camera concealed inside

a pen, other espionage equipment and $2000 a reported bribe for a Ukrainian contact. The head of Ukraine?s security service says that the five were trying to obtain military secrets.

Four of them have been expelled from Ukraine, while the fifth has been detained.

Russia?s security service, the FSB, has confirmed the detention, but denied the Ukrainian version of events. The FSB said its actions were a response to the recruitment of Russians by the

Ukrainian security services.

The mutual recriminations come at a highly sensitive time. Just two weeks ago, Russia sent

an ambassador to Ukraine after a five month absence. And on Sunday, Ukrainians will vote in an

election to choose a successor to the outgoing President, Viktor Yushchenko.

Mr. Yushchenko?s time in office has been marked by strained relations with Moscow, and his

departure was being seen as an opportunity for an improvement in ties between the two countries.

BBC News Item 39

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has welcomed the announcement by President Obama that the United States is shelving plans for a missile defensive system in Europe. He said

President Obama had taken a responsible step by abandoning plans to base long range interceptors

in Poland and the Czech Republic.

BBC News Item 40

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been sworn in for a second term as Iranian President. However

hundreds of opposition supporters disputing the election result gathered outside the parliament

defying an official ban on protests. John Iion reports.

In a ceremony broadcast live on state TV, Mr. Ahmadinejad took the oath of office as prescribed in the Iranian constitution. He went on to defend the election result. The speaker of

parliament Ali Larijani criticised the west for their hastiness in condemning the result. But outside,

专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇 90_专四听力

opposition protesters gathered to give their contrary view. They were met by hundreds of riot

police. Western countries declined to give their official congratulations, though

ambassadors from

Britain and the European Union were present.

BBC News Item 41

The head of the UN nuclear agency Mohamed ElBaradei has given Iran and three world powers the text of a draft deal aimed at reducing concerns about Iran?s nuclear programme. The

IAEA wants Iran to allow most of its uranium to be shipped abroad for further enrichment before

12

being returned for use in a civilian research reactor. Jon Leyne reports.

The deal would mean Iran gets the fuel it needs and stays off pressure for more sanctions. The outside world sees Iran?s enriched uranium taken out of the country and processed in a way

that will make it more difficult for Iran to make nuclear bombs. But Iran?s still not signed up publicly on the crucial element, the shipping out of Iran of its precious stocks of enriched uranium,

and that could be hard for the Iranian government to accept, in light of the prestige President

Ahmadinejad has attached to the nuclear programme.

BBC News Item 42

Iran has agreed to let inspectors from the United Nations Nuclear Agency visit its recently rebuilt second uranium enrichment plant. They will go there on Oct. 25th, the day was set during a

visit to Tehran by the head of the agency Mohammed ElBaradei. The revelation last month said

Iran was building an underground facility near Qom heightened international concern that it?s

secretly trying to develope nuclear weapons. But Mr. ElBaradei gave an upbeat assessment to

relations with Iran.

I have been saying for a number of years that we need transparency on the part of Iran. We

need co-operation on the part of the international community. So I see that we are at the critical

moment. I see that we are shifting gears from confrontation into transparency and co-operation.

In Washington President Obama?s top security advisor said things appeared to be moving in the

right direction.

BBC News Item 43

There?s been a day of bloodshed and turmoil in Kyrgyzstan with the opposition saying it

set

up an interim government. However it is still not clear who is in control or where President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is. Rayham Demytrie sent out this report from the capital, Bishkek. As night fell, widespread looting began in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, hundreds of protesters

were moving from one shop to another, setting buildings on fire and causing more chaos on the

ground. Random gunshots could be heard all across Bishkek. An interim government has been set

up in Kyrgyzstan. It is being led by an opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva. In a comment of a

Russian TV channel she said that the situation in the country remains tense and difficult. Early on

Wednesday, the country?s prime minister resigned. Some reports suggest that the Kyrgyz?s

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is in the south of the country in the city of Osh.

BBC News Item 44

The Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has refused to admit defeat after his political

opponents dissolved parliament and demanded his resignation. Latest reports from the capital

Bishkek say there was heavy shooting as night fell. From Bishkek, Richard Galpin now reports.

After the bloodshed yesterday, this morning the main leaders of the opposition announced they?ve

taken control of the country, forming a temporary government and dissolving parliament. But at a

news conference here in the capital, they admitted there were concerns that the president was

trying to rally his supporters in the south of the country in order to fight back. The opposition

wanted him to resign immediately, but Mr.Bakiyev has told BBC he has no intention of quitting

13

and still considers himself to be president.

BBC News Item 45

The acting president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan has dissolved the government. The announcement comes a month after he assumed executive powers because of the long illness of

President Umaru Yar?Adua. Peter Greste reports from Abuja.

There has been talk of a cabinet reshuffle for weeks now, ever since the national assembly

moved Goodluck Jonathan from vice president to acting president two months ago. But few

people expected the wholesale dissolution that came on Wednesday. He made no public statement,

but the outgoing Information Minister Dora Akunyili said parliament?s secretaries would take

charge of the ministries until a cabinet is appointed. Not all ministers will lose their jobs, some

will be reappointed, but this kind of sweeping change makes it clear the acting president is trying

to assert his control over the cabinet made up largely of President Yar?Adua?s appointees. BBC News Item 46

Burmese officials have hinted many times that Aung San Suu Kyi may be released. But it?s

the first time in recent months that a putative date has been attached to the idea.

The comments are reported to have been made by a senior minister at a provincial town meeting four days ago. It?s a measure of how tightly information is controlled in Burma that it?s

taken this long for the reports to filter out.

Aung San Suu Kyi?s own lawyer told the BBC he?d heard the rumour but could not confirm it. And if indeed she is released in November, key questions about the terms of Aung San Suu

Kyi?s possible freedom remain. Would there be conditions attached? Would her activities be

restricted? And, crucially, would her release come before or after planned elections?

There is also the matter of the legal appeal against Aung San Suu Kyi?s current detention. The Supreme Court is due to deliver its verdict in the next couple of weeks. But if the military

government says she?ll continue to be detained until at least November, the court?s decision has

been somewhat undermined.

BBC News Item 47

Forget that still unwritten report or the backlog of paperwork building up on the desk, on this

cold and rainy mid-week night there can be no excuses to stay late in the office. South Korea?s

Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs will be turning off all the lights at 7pm in a bid to

force staff to go home to their families and, well, make bigger ones. It will repeat the experiment

once a month.

The country now has one of the world?s lowest birth rates, lower even than neighbouring Japan, and boosting the number of newborn children is a priority for this government, staring into

the abyss of a rapidly ageing society, falling levels of manpower and spiralling health care costs.

The Ministry of Health, now sometimes jokingly referred to as the “Ministry of

Matchmaking”, is in charge of spearheading that drive and it clearly believes its staff should lead

by example. Generous gift vouchers are on offer for officials who have more than one child and

the department organises social gatherings in the hope of fostering love amongst its bureaucrats.

14

But critics say what is really needed is wide-scale reform to tackle the burdensome cost of childcare and education that puts many young people off from starting a family. BBC News Item 48 4

In Germany, if you think your financial advisor has been giving you bad advice and messing

up your investments, you can complain to the regulators, you can go to the police. But in Bavaria,

one group of pensioners stands accused of employing a much more direct method of registering

their dissatisfaction. They?re on trial for kidnapping their financial advisor and holding him hostage.

Four senior citizens, aged between 63 and 79, had invested nearly three and a half million dollars in the US property market and lost it all in the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. They?d

concluded that the man who?d handled the investment should now reimburse them. According to prosecutors, last summer the pensioner posse plus one accomplice abducted the

financial advisor outside his house, tied him, gagged him, put him in a box and transported him in

the boot of a car 450 kilometres to a lakeside retreat.

He claims to have spent four days locked in the cellar there and to have been tortured. After

agreeing to their demands, the prisoner was allowed to send a fax to Switzerland arranging

payment. He concealed the phrase “call the Police” in the text and the alarm was raised. Soon after

a crack team of commandos came to the rescue.

On the opening day of the trial, the 74 year old alleged ringleader of the gang avoided using

the word “kidnap”. He said he and his co-defendants had only wanted to treat their guest to a

couple of days holiday in Bavaria.

BBC News Item 49

Thousands of people, many visibly shocked, have gathered outside of the presidential palace

in the Polish capital Warsaw after President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of top officials

were

killed in a plane crash in western Russia. The Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the crash the

most tragic event in Poland?s recent history. The plane came down in a forest as it?s trying to land

in fog at Smolensk airport. There were no survivors. Adam Easton reports from Warsaw. Thousands of people gathered outside the presidential palace in Warsaw in a

spontaneous

show of mourning. Families, young and old, brought flowers. Others lit candles. The pavement in

front of the building is carpeted with flickering flames. The scale of the disaster is unprecedented

not just the president, but most of the commanders of the armed forces, many leaders from the

country?s main opposition party and senior state and church officials died in the crash. BBC News Item 50

The man expected to be Japan?s next prime minister Yukio Hatoyama has held his party?s election victory as a revolution. Exit polls suggest the center left Democratic Party of Japan has

won by landslide, crushing the liberal democrats who have dominated Japanese politics for half a

century. Roland Buerk reports from Tokyo.

Japan has now beginning a process that has only been through once before since 1955 the

transition of power from liberal democratic party to a new government. Yukio Hatoyama must

15

nice steer the world second biggest economy back to sustainable growth after a crushing recession

and tackle record unemployment. The Democratic Party plans to forge a diplomacy less subservient to the United States, and improve relations with its Asian neighbors. They?ve also

promised to expand the welfare state, even though Japan is already deeply indebted, and rapidly

aging population is straining social security budgets.

BBC News Item 51

Unemployment in Japan rose to 5.7% in July, the highest figure since the Second World War.

The raise came as companies laid off workers because of the world recession. The new figures

come early days before the general election in Japan. Our correspondent Roland Buerk reports

from Tokyo.

The state of Japan?s economy is the key issue in the election campaign. So use of the

专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇 90_专四听力

unemployment rates has risen to the 5.7% is a blow for the Prime Minister Taro Aso. Opinion poll

shows his liberal democratic party was already on course for defeat on Sunday for only the second

time in more than 50 years. 3,590,000 Japanese were out of working in July, over a million more

than a year ago. Japan?s crossing recession is officially over but the benefits yet to be felt by

families and workers.

BBC News Item 52

Cuba has accused President Obama of not doing enough to end the US trade embargo against

the island despite his promises to improve ties. Mr. Obama has reopened a dialogue with Havana a

little earlier this week. He said it was in America?s national interest to extend the 47-year-old

embargo for another year. In the first official Cuban reaction to the decision, the Foreign Minister

said US sanctions should be lifted without conditions.

BBC News Item 53

As forecasters say that a cloud of volcanic dust spreading from Iceland across Europe show

some signs of moving, officials have expressed hope that up to half of all flights across Europe

could operate on Monday. The European Transport Commissioner and Spanish minister for

Europe were speaking after talks with the air traffic agency, Eurocontrol. Warren Bull reports.

After adopting a cautious approach up till now, the airline industry has increasingly pushed the European authorities to end the flight restrictions which have caused travel chaos in Europe

and beyond. Several airlines, including KLM and Lufthansa, have expressed anger that the

decision to ground flights appears to have been taken solely on the basis of the computer simulation. They say they?ve carried out their own test flights and reported no problems. Conscious of a need to show strong leadership over the air travel crisis, European Union transport

ministers are expected to hold an emergency video conference on Monday.

BBC News Item 54

Officials in the Philippines say at least a hundred people have died in floods and landslides in

the north triggered by a week of heavy rain. This follows two storms in the past two weeks which

have already left about three hundred people dead. Reports said that even some

evacuation centers

16

had been flooded. Danny Vincent reports from the capital Manila.

Officials say that 30 cities were hit by the landslide through the night where residents taken

to the rooftops of their houses for refuge. The northern Philippines have been pounded by heavy

rain following the second typhoon in just over a week to hit the nation. Typhoon Parma has

lingered in the north of the country turning into a tropical depression. It follows Typhoon Ketsana

which killed more than 300 people when it?s hit on September 26.

BBC News Item 55

The Prime Minister of Samoa says 77 people were killed and 150 injured by a tsunami in the

South Pacific. At least 24 people died on American Samoa. Thousands of people?s homes have

been destroyed and the final number of deaths is expected to be higher as Phil Mercer reports from

Sydney.

A brutal act of nature has shattered parts of Samoa and neighboring American Samoa. The

rescue effort is continuing with pledges of international support led by the United States. The

number of dead has slowly increased since the tsunami struck after dawn and there are fears it will

keep on rising as emergency teams reach isolated areas. Foreign tourists including a British

toddler and a 6-year-old Australian girl are among the deads. Officials believe that many of the

victims were washed out to sea as their homes were destroyed by waves reportedly up to 11

meters high.

BBC News Item 56

The latest attack, on an Evangelical Christian church, caused limited physical damage just a burned door and a charred entranceway. But the political implications may be more serious.

Tensions have flared after Malaysia?s High Court ruled that a Roman Catholic newspaper, the

Herald, was permitted to use the word “Allah” to describe God in its Malay language editions.

Muslim groups argue that Christians using a word so closely associated with Islam could be a ploy

to win converts.

Christians make up around 9% of the population in the majority Muslim state. Most non-Muslims are ethnically Indian or Chinese. The row over the use of the word “Allah” has

exposed deep resentments over the treatment of minorities and freedom of religion in Malaysia.

A government minister told foreign diplomats on Monday the church attacks were the work of extremists. “These were not just attacks on houses of worship” he said, “these were attacks on

the values and freedoms all Malaysians share.” Under the slogan “One Malaysia”, the government

has made racial harmony a central policy. Its commitment to that policy is now being severely

tested.

BBC News Item 57

Pope Benedict?s personal preacher has compared criticism of the Pope over the way the Church has dealt with sex abuse allegations to what he called the “collective violence” suffered by

the Jews. In his Good Friday sermon in St. Peter?s Basilica in Rome, Father Raniero Cantalamessa

quoted from a letter from his Jewish friend who had said the accusations reminded him of the

“most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism”. Here is our Rome correspondent Duncan Kennedy.

17

The comments were made in the presence of Pope Benedict by one of his inner circle. Whether the Pope knew about it in advance? “We don?t know. We don?t know this sort of things”.

Hard to imagine that it wasn?t raised beforehand with Pope Benedict that these comments were

going to be coming and expressed the kind of opinion that many, many of his inner circle, many,

many of his supporters believe that the Pope is getting a hard time because of all this allegation

and scandal about priestly sexual abuse. But in no way in their view is Pope Benedict involved

what they say is that he was not part of the cover-up; he was part of the clean-up in all of this.

BBC News Item 58

As leaders from nearly 50 countries meet in Washington for a major summit on Nuclear Security, Ukraine has pledged to eliminate stockpile of highly enriched uranium by 2012. Ukraine

will also convert several nuclear research facilities to use low enriched uranium. The summit, the

biggest international meeting hosted by the US since 1945, has been called by president

Obama.

Our diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus reports from Washington.

The timing may have been choreographed for the decision by the Ukraine authorities is just

the sort of news president Barack Obama wants to hear. This summit is all about securing stocks

of fissile material, highly enriched uranium and plutonium could potentially be used by terrorists

to build a nuclear bomb. US officials said that Ukraine has sufficient highly enriched uranium for

several nuclear weapons. This will be removed with some help from the United States. This is a

precedent Obama would like other countries to follow and just to underscore the gravity of the

potential threat. John Briton, a senior US counter-terrorism official, has warned that al-Qaeda has

been seeking material for a nuclear bomb for over 15 years and that interest remains strong.

BBC News Item 59

The sound of gun shots and explosions echoed through the centre of Srinagar after gunmen

opened fire in Lal Chowk, the main square in the city?s commercial district. After a relatively quiet

period in Kashmir, there have been several recent attacks four soldiers were killed in an ambush by militants last week.

But this latest attack is even more audacious, right in the heart of one of the most heavily policed cities in the world. Violent separatist groups, some of them backed by Pakistan, have taken

up arms against Indian rule against Indian rule in Kashmir for 20 years. The fighting is far less

intense than it was in the 1990s, but a political solution to Kashmir?s problems remains elusive.

So it?s been a bloody start to the New Year in this highly sensitive region, which has been divided between India and Pakistan for decades.

In another sign of the complexity of the conflict, four Pakistani soldiers have been killed by a

suicide bomber in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It?s a worrying development for the Pakistani

authorities, which suggests that Taliban militants may be trying to expand their area of operations.

BBC News Item 60

NATO troops in Afghanistan have rescued a reporter of the New York Times newspaper who

had been held by the Taliban in the northern province of Kunduz since Saturday. The New

York

Times said the journalist Stephen Farrell was unharmed after being released in the gun battle.

18

Chris Morris reports from Kabul.

A military operation led by NATO forces rescued Stephen Farrell from a village in the northern province of Kunduz where he had been kidnapped last week while reporting on the

aftermath of a NATO airstrike. In remarks quoted on the New York Times website he says he

heard British and Afghan voices as bullets started flying around. That suggests that British troops

were involved in the rescue although there has been no confirmation of that. Stephen Farrell?s

colleague Sultan Munadi, an Afghan interpreter who?s worked for the New York Times for several

years was killed in the exchange of fire.

BBC News Item 61 70

A day of commemorations will begin in Poland shortly to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 2nd World War. The first ceremony will take place at dawn on the Westerplatte

peninsula near Gdansk. Greg Morsbach reports.

70 years ago to the day, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on a Polish

military outpost in the Baltic peninsula. This heralded the start of the Second World War, a conflict

that claimed more than 50 million lives. 70 years old leaders and top officials from nations such as

Germany, Italy, Ukraine, France, the U.S., Russia and Poland are reattending a series of ceremonies on the Polish coast. Moscow is sending a top-level delegation with Prime Minister

Vladimir Putin scheduled to deliver a speech commemorating the event seven decades ago.

BBC News Item 62

A coup attempt appears to be under way in Niger. Soldiers have forced their way into the presidential palace and taken the head of state Mamadou Tandja to a military barracks. Johnny

Hawk reports.

Latest information says President Tandja has now been separated from his ministers and taken to an unknown military camp. French diplomats have confirmed that he?s indeed in the

hands of a mutant faction of the army after soldiers stormed the presidential offices where cabinet

meeting was under way. The heavy exchanges of fire which broke out on Thursday

专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇 90_专四听力

afternoon have

left at least 3 people dead and 10 injured. Exactly which part of the military carried out the operation remains unclear. Niger has been rocked by months of political crisis after the president

changed the constitution to remain in power.

BBC News Item 63

On the second day of a major offensive against the Taliban in the southern Afghan province

of Helmand, NATO-led forces have killed 12 civilians by mistake. A NATO statement said two

rockets veered off target. Martin Patience reports.

According to military officials, the two rockets were supposed to target insurgents who they

say were firing from a compound. But the weapons missed their target by 300 meters, killing the

civilians in Marjah. In a statement, NATO-led forces say they?ve suspended the use of this particular rocket while they investigate. Despite the deaths, commanders say the operation is

proceeding as planned. Progress, however, has been slow in Marjah town as forces clear homemade bombs and booby traps from roads and compounds.

19

BBC News Item 64

Scientists at the world?s largest particle accelerator have successfully collided beams of protons at the highest energy levels ever seen. There was cheering in the control room at CERN,

the European nuclear research center in Switzerland as one of the biggest and most complicated

scientific experiments got fully underway. The experiment is seen as a major

breakthrough in

efforts to understand the fundamental nature of the universe. Doctor Martin White is a research

fellow at CERN.

“One of the great mysteries of the universe is that most of the mass in the universe is some

kind of dark matter. It?s some kind of particle that doesn?t match anything we?ve seen before. And

if you look into space, you can see this because you can see its gravitational pull. So wonder thing

is that we hope to get, recent and earlier, an effective scene in the next two years of some idea of

what this dark matter is.”

BBC News Item 65

Scientists say they can now definitively back, the long held theory that a huge asteroid striking the earth some 65 million years ago was responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs

more than half of all animal species on the planet. The scientists finally discounted an alternative

theory that volcanic eruptions caused the dinosaur?s demise. Our science correspondent Pallab

Ghosh reports.

The popular conception is that dinosaur?s reign supreme until they were suddenly eradicated

from the face of the planet. The theory goes that a giant asteroid crashed into the earth, wiping out

half of all life on earth. Some scientists though say that those evidences that dinosaur survived the

asteroid impact and became extinct some 300,000 years later. But a new analysis of all the

available research has backed the view that it was a giant asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

BBC News Item 66

It has been an ambitious project. Laying a 17,000 kilometre fibre optic cable under the sea linking Europe and Asia with East and Southern Africa. Seacom, a Mauritius-based company, is

today officially launching the arrival of a fast broadband internet service in Kenya, Tanzania,

Mozambique and South Africa.

It should be commercially available in a few weeks? time.

Three other fibre optic cables are due to become operational soon including one which is backed by the Kenyan government. In theory the region could be on the brink of an internet

revolution. But it all depends how well the service is rolled out across the region. BBC News Item 67

It?s 60 feet long, made of lightweight, fuel-efficient material and can carry eight people out of

this world and back.

The first commercial spaceship was unveiled by Sir Richard Branson, who hopes to start passenger trips within two years. The price tag: ￡130,000.

“In time we hope to get that price down and down and down so that, you know, one day, people can think: ?Shall I take my family on holiday to the Caribbean or maybe we should try

20

space travel this year?? That?s our aim.”

Those that can pay will get the ultimate three-hour thrill ride. The spaceship rockets to 62 miles above the earth?s surface. Passengers will feel weightless for up to five minutes before

heading down through the atmosphere and gliding back to earth.

Organisers say some 300 have already signed up. Space, as a tourist destination, may be

step closer.

BBC News Item 68

The United States government has announced the plans that it says will ensure that the all traffic on the internet is treated equally regardless of how much behind with it to takes up. The

head of Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski said it is vital to safeguard

open and neutral internet. Maggie Shiels has more.

In the major speech to a Washington think tank Julius Genachowski outlined the roadmap for

all operators including wireless to follow. He is meant to ensure that the internet service providers

can not block or slow down internet traffic like the ban with hogging video downloads. Mr. Genachowski?s move to extend the rules to wireless is going to more people getting on line using

a mobile phone. Gigi Sohn of public knowledge backs the inclusion of wireless operators because

she says wireless is the next frontier and where the great growth of internet accesses is going to

come from.

BBC News Item 69

Two of the astronauts took part in the first moon landing 40 years ago today have called for a

new effort to send the manned machine to the planet Mars. They were speaking at a rare public

reunion of the crew of the Apollo 11 mission. Command module pilot Michael Collins said the

future of space exploration should be directed at getting to Mars.

“Mars was always my favorite as a kid and it still is today. As soon as your bodies go, the moon is not a particularly interesting place. But Mars is. And Mars is the closest thing to earth?s

sister that we found so far.”

BBC News Item 70

Pythons, bats and giant armadillos are among the longest sleepers at over 18 hours a day.

Human babies need 16 hours, and most of us probably feel we need around eight hours sleep to

function well.

Professor Jerry Seigel from the University of California, Los Angeles, conducted a study of the sleep times of a broad range of animals and found that they vary widely. Some, like migrating

birds, can survive long periods without sleeping at all. He believes that shows sleep evolved to

conserve energy:

“It?s animals that are needlessly active that will not survive, but animals that are most efficient and use their waking time to do vital functions, and are otherwise asleep that will survive.”

Sleep helps make best use of limited resources. In humans, when we?re awake, our brain accounts for 20% of the energy we use when just sitting around. Sleeping also makes us less likely

21

to get injured and less likely to be detected by predators.

BBC News Item 71

British and Canadian scientists say they have identified a potential treatment for sleeping sickness which kills about 50,000 people a year in Africa. The scientists at the University of

Dundee in Scotland were funded to research diseases neglected by major pharmaceutical companies One of them, Professor Mike Ferguson told the BBC the drug works by disabling a

human enzyme essential to the parasite which causes sleeping sickness.

BBC News Item 72

An American government panel has recommended that pregnant women, health-care workers,

children and young adults up to the age of 24 should get priority for the swine flu vaccine released

later this year. But the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices conceded the policy may

change if not enough vaccine is produced by October. Doctor Ann Schuchat of the Center for

Disease Control said the pregnant women were particularly vulnerable.

It is vital for pregnant women who have respiratory illness and fever to get early treatment. We think antiviral medicines for them can be lifesaving, and that?s a very important message. We

also think it is important for them to get seasonal influenza vaccine, and today the committee

recommended that when vaccine is available, and we have a decision to go forward that the

pregnant women really out of consider getting the H1N1 vaccine.

BBC News Item 73

The United Nations top health official has said the worldwide spread of swine flu is now unstoppable. Doctor Margaret Chan was speaking at a global forum in Mexico where the virus

first took hold. Andy Gallacher reports.

The head of the World Health Organization was keen to promote Mexico as a safe destination

despite its suffering the largest number of fatality since the outbreak began over two months ago.

Leaders and experts from across the world here in Cancun to see what lessons can be learnt so far

but the advice is still the same. The best way to avoid catching the virus is simple: wash your

hands and avoid coughing and sneezing in public.

BBC News Item 74 HIV

President Zuma said he was revealing his HIV status to promote openness, and to eradicate

the silence and stigma that accompanies the AIDS epidemic. He told a crowd at a hospital near

Johannesburg that he?d now had four tests all negative. Mr. Zuma?s sex life has been the focus

of intense scrutiny and criticism in South Africa. He has three wives and has also admitted to

having unprotected sex with other women.

But if his private life is controversial, his public stance on AIDS has been broadly welcomed

here. His predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, questioned mainstream AIDS science, and delayed the

provision of life-saving drugs. Mr. Zuma, in contrast, is taking a much more proactive role. The

campaign he?s now backing hopes to get 15 million people tested over the next year, and provide

drugs to 80% of those needing them.

22

South Africa is the worst affected country in the world. According to UN figures, almost one

in eight people are HIV positive.

BBC News Item 75

Research has revealed that 35,000,000 people around the world are suffering from the brain

destroying illness dementia, about truth of much higher figure than previously estimated, about

two third of suffering living in the developing countries where people are now living longer enough to face the illness. One of the researchers Dr. Robert Stewart says it?s important that

people caring for those with dementia are supported properly.

Most of the countries in the world now have outside charities that support care-gavers, and

one of the key things they have to certify against in the early stages, is the outcome of diseases is

not a natural part of aging, it is a disorder yet increased with ages, but it is not the same of all the

age.

专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇 90_专四听力

BBC News Item 76

There?s more evidence that vegetarians are less likely the meat-eaters to develop cancer. The

study of more than 60,000 people in the British Journal of Cancer suggests they have a lower risk

of getting cancers of the stomach, bladder and blood. Adam Brimelow reports.

The life-time risk of developing cancer in the general population in the UK is about one in three or 33%. This study suggests among vegetarians it?s significantly lower, 29%. There?s already

evidence that eating a lot of red and processed meat can raise the risk of stomach cancer. But the

reduced rate of blood cancers among vegetarians including leukemia, multiple myeloma and

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma was a surprise. The authors say more research is needed to back up their

findings and to try to explain these differences.

BBC News Item 77

An international team of doctors and scientists is calling for more focus on the causes of death among young people around the world, age between 10 and 24, saying the issue is largely

ignored by policy makers. A study published in the medical journal the Lancet found that 40% of

adolescent deaths are caused by various forms of injury. Jill McGivering reports.

Until this research was published there were little data on how many young people die worldwide in which countries and for what reasons. Now a pattern is emerging. The study suggests the death rate is strongly linked to how poor a country is. Most deaths are in the developing world driven by high rate of infectious disease and of maternal mortality. But globally

40% of adolescent deaths are caused by types of injury including road traffic accident, suicide and

violent attacks.

BBC News Item 78 ”

One of Britain?s most popular reality TV programmes has returned to our screens for a fifth series. The Apprentice sees 16 ambitious individuals competing for a job with electronics tycoon

Sir Alan Sugar.

With endless talk of credit-crunches, redundancies and cut-backs, it may come as no surprise

23

that thousands of plucky hopefuls applied for the show. The chosen 16 will compete in a series of

business tasks and do their best to escape elimination. Not one of them wants to hear the fateful

words: you?re fired.

It should also be noted that this year?s budding apprentices are not going to be allowed to forget the grim economic climate quite so easily. At the launch of this year?s TV show, Sir Alan

announced that some episodes have been “specifically made towards recognition of what difficult

times we are in”. The tasks will as usual be gruelling tests of business acumen, team-working and

leadership skill. They will also make for some hilarious viewing. British viewers will be shaking

their heads in disbelief at the crazy decisions of the wannabe apprentices.

BBC News Item 79

It?s a highly unusual legal situation where the author of a piece of fiction is taken to court because the action takes place in a particular locality, and the owners of that locality feel their

name has been dragged through the mud. Yet that?s what?s happened in the case of Lalie Walker?s

book, Aux Malheurs des Dames.

The Marché Saint-Pierre, where the murder story unfolds, is a well-known fabric store near

Montmartre. In the book, staff members go missing as voodoo dolls are pinned to the walls and

rumours swirl around the behaviour of the shop?s managers.

In their plea, the real-life owners of the Marché Saint-Pierre say it?s a registered trade mark

and that no one can write about it without prior permission. They say their image has been seriously harmed by the book, and they want damages of two million euros more than two and

a half million dollars.

The author Lalie Walker is mystified. “If you can?t set stories in real-life places,” she says, “then you might as well just give up.”

BBC News Item 80

Easyjet has been under investigation here in France since 2006 when an inspection of their

operations at Paris Orly airport showed they?d failed to register 170 employees to the French

authorities.

The budget airline is accused of breaking strict labour laws and is now being pursued by the

state prosecutor for millions of euros in unpaid social security and health insurance contributions.

The budget airline insists that its staff were hired under British contracts and therefore were not

subject to French rules. Orly airport, it claims, was merely a rest area for its workers and it was the

planes themselves, and not France that served as their workplaces.

The French authorities point out however that most of the Easyjet staff lived and paid their taxes in France and many were working solely on internal flights between Paris and Nice. BBC News Item 81

An earthquake that struck the remote Chinese province of Qinghai is now known to have killed almost 600 people and injured thousands. The tremor wrecked the town of Jiegu. The BBC

correspondent in the province says cold and rain are hampering relief operations. A local teacher

told the BBC?s Chinese service that almost all residential housing in Jiegu had collapsed, and so

24

had its school.

The extents of the destruction of houses is very bad. More than 80% of the residential houses

built with mud and brick have collapsed. And many people have been buried or trapped underneath. We are now helping people to carry out rescues on their own, but we lack heavy

lifting equipment.

BBC News Item 82

Thousands were left stranded for a second day after the cold weather brought severe disruption to transport across the country.

Some 30 highways have closed in the north of China and in Beijing the city?s Capital airport

saw 90% of flights cancelled or delayed on Sunday. By early Monday, around 40% of flights had

been disrupted.

In some parts of Beijing, 33cm of snow fell, the heaviest in more than half a century.

Volunteers have taken to the streets with snow-shovels to clear the drifts. School children saw

their new year holiday extended by the severe weather. Here and in neighbouring Tianjin they

were given the day off.

More snow is expected across the north of China, although Beijing is expected to remain clear, but temperatures in the capital, already at minus 14, could drop even further. BBC News Item 83

Research into the icecap of North Pole has found that it is melting so quickly than Arctic Ocean could lose most of ice during summer time in as little as ten years. Scientists of Cambridge

University say recent expedition to the Arctic led by explorer Pen Hadow found ice was much

thinner than expected and less dense, making vulnerable to rapid melting. Mr. Hadow said the

finding should act as a wake-up call.

The long-term view for the global community, this is definitely not good news. But if we can

see this for what it is which is the biggest visual cue that we are going to get to manage our

relationship with the planet better, then that is a good thing.

BBC News Item 84

At one point the water in the central part of Venice was 1.56m above sea level. It hasn?t been

that high since 1986. Venice gets regular flooding at this time of year but this was the fourth

deepest on record.

Dozens of homes and businesses were inundated. Scores of people had to move out, though

there are no reports of serious injuries.

With mopping up still underway, the authorities say they don?t yet know the final cost of repairs. They?ve appealed to the government for money from a special fund to help in the clear-up.

The all-time record for high water was in 1966 when it reached nearly two metres. The city then suffered widespread and devastating flooding.

BBC News Item 85

Indonesian officials say a powerful earthquake off the coast of the island of Sumatra has 25

killed 13 people. The quake destroyed many buildings and cut communications in and around the

city of Padang. Residents say people are trapped in the rubble and some bridges have collapsed.

The quake which had a magnitude of 7.6 was felt hundreds of kilometres away in Singapore and

Malaysia. From Jakarta here is Karishma Vaswani.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had issued a tsunami alert minutes after the earthquake

hit off the coast of west Sumatra but then lifted it. The tremor was felt as far away as Indonesia?s

capital city, Jakarta. There have been reports of buildings and houses collapsing in the city of

Padang, Sumatra?s capital, which is near the epicentre of the earthquake.

BBC News Item 86

It?s the world?s first historical thesaurus, grouping words by meaning and by date. And it survived fire, lack of funds and the death of some of its founders.

Tomorrow the work will finally be unveiled to academics prior to its publication in October. Professor Christian Kay of the University of Glasgow began work on the project as a 28-year-old research assistant. She?s now 69 and thinks it will be invaluable to scholars not just of

linguistics but of cultural and social history.

“You know, if you?re interested in something like clothes, it?s very interesting to see what people have been wearing for the last 1,300 years. So I was looking at a whole list of words to do

with trousers and there were words that would never have occurred to you probably that these

words meant trousers.”

That?s where a thesaurus beats a dictionary, she says. But it?s much harder work to compile.

In the early days they simply wrote the words on slips of paper and grouped them in different

ways.

BBC News Item 87

Two Chinese students, who are studying at British Universities, have been awarded prizes for

being the best international students in their respective host countries.

Psychology student Yusi Liu was crowned Welsh international student of the year while Yu

Huai Zhang, who studies management, was named Northern Ireland?s international student of the

year. Both students join 12 regional finalists in next month?s final, where one will become the

UK?s top international student.

BBC News Item 88

Senior Irish Catholican Protestant clergymen have criticized the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion for saying that Catholic Church in Ireland had lost all credibility over the

child abuse scandal. The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said he was stunned and

disheartened by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams? first comment on the crisis.

Robert Prigott reports.

Even Pope Benedict has accepted that the Catholic Church in Ireland has lost moral authority,

saying in his pastoral letter last month that its bishops had lost their effectiveness because of the

way they handled the sexual abuse. But criticism from the leader of another church proved too

much. Dr.Williams has spoken of the colossal trauma caused by the scandal. But they were words

26

Dr.Williams? quickly regretted and he phoned the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin

to express his deep sorrow at the difficulties his remarks had caused.

BBC News Item 89

专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇 90_专四听力

The Pope is ordering a major reorganization of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, a month after a government investigation exposed a church cover-up of a sexual abuse of children

by priests. The announcement comes after Pope Benedict summoned Irish church leaders to Rome.

David Willie reports.

The Vatican announced that the Pope will shortly be writing a pastoral letter to his Catholic flock in Ireland outlining measures he intends to take to ensure there is no reputation of the

pedophile priests scandal which has being cataloged in a devastating recent report by an Irish

government Commission of Inquiry. There has been no word on possible resignations of Irish

bishops but the language used by the Vatican and its communiqué issued after the 90min crisis

meeting chaired by the Pope left no doubt that eventually heads are going to roll. BBC News Item 90

It?s one of Britain?s longest-running TV quiz shows, where the best and brightest from universities all over the country, compete to show off their knowledge on a myriad of topics.

University Challenge first went to air nearly fifty years ago, and over the decades it?s been a

showcase for students facing quick-fire questions on literature, physics, geography and philosophy,

and everything in between.

This year?s final was one of the most keenly watched with students from Corpus Christi College at Oxford University, taking on a team from Manchester University.

BBC News Item 91

Most students in the UK leave school or sixth-form college at the age of 18 and go to study

for three years in a University, but in recent years many students have chosen to take a one-year

break between finishing school and starting university.

This period is called a gap year and is a time when British students can broaden their horizons by visiting foreign countries.

BBC News Item 92

As many as a million Cubans are said to have attend the free concert in Havana?s revolution

square that featured some of the Latin America?s most popular musicians. Many in the crowd

came dress in white to symbolize peace. The 5-hour event included the bands from 7 countries, it

was organized by the Miami base Colombian rock star Wallace.

This concert is just about peace, is just about possibility to get together, you know,

through

music, through art. And this particular case of Cuba have isolated from the rest of community for

many years, just because of ideology. So we just want to come here and saying well, we are here,

we are the same. So that is the reason why we are here to promote peace.

27

BBC News Item 93

So ferocious were the celebrations following Australia?s victory in the 1983 America?s Cup that the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke said bosses who sacked workers for not turning up to

work were bums.

It?s seen as one of the country?s greatest sporting triumphs, but now a Dutch naval architect

has come forward claiming that he designed the famous winged keel that helped propel Australia

II to victory.

Peter Van Oossanen said he had grown tired of the Dutch design team being airbrushed out of

history and that the record should be corrected.

But the businessman Alan Bond, who bankrolled the boat, said the winged keel was 100 per

cent Australian and that any other suggestion was codswallop.

BBC News Item 94

After a meeting between the players and hockey?s governing body over the weekend, there

was hope that a truce had been reached.

But on Monday the whole team refused to go to its world cup training camp in the western city of Pune.

This has angered the governing body, Hockey India, and its president AK Mattoo has told the

local media that it will consider suspending the team if the issue is not resolved soon.

One senior player Prabhjot Singh told the BBC that the players stood united and would not train until they were paid what is owed to them from previous tournaments.

BBC News Item 95

English hopes for World Cup success have suffered a serious setback with the news that striker Wayne Rooney has broken a bone in his foot.

20-year-old Rooney collapsed in agony after a harmless-looking tackle during Saturday?s Premiership game between Chelsea and Manchester United. He was strapped on to a stretcher and

carried off the pitch to the applause of concerned fans of both sides.

BBC News Item 96

Less than a few weeks ago Susan Boyle was a virtual unknown. However, since auditioning

for Britain?s Got Talent, a televised talent competition, she has experienced a

stratospheric rise to

fame. A YouTube video of her audition has been watched by more than 26 million people, making

it one of the most watched videos on the internet in recent times. It is undeniable that technology

such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter has helped to spread the word about Susan?s performance.

So just what is it about Susan that the people find so fascinating? Arguably, it is the fact she

is such a class act. However, many have suggested that her biggest appeal lies in her unassuming

persona.

Susan?s persona and appearance have been somewhat controversial and the initial reaction to

her audition has made many people question whether they are guilty of judging a book by its cover.

With her plain Jane, middle-aged looks and her no-nonsense approach to life, Susan is perhaps the

most unlikely star to be discovered of late.

28

BBC News Item 97

The Nobel Foundation said the work of all three of this year?s physics laureates was groundbreaking. Without their research, modern communications technology including digital

cameras and the internet might not exist.

Charles Kao was born in Shanghai but worked in Britain where in 1966 he developed the idea of transmitting light over long distances using optical glass fibres. Today these fibre cables

carry much of the world?s data and telephony traffic.

BBC News Item 98

Janet Jackson told the audience at the Black Entertainment Television Awards that the entire

Jackson family had wanted to attend the show, but it was too painful. She said she had been

elected to speak on their behalf.

“I?m going to keep it very short but I?d just like to say that to you Michael is an icon, to us Michael is family. And he will forever live in all of our hearts.”

The actor and singer Jamie Foxx led the celebrity tributes, with an upbeat performance. He

said there was no need to be sad and that the night was an opportunity to celebrate the singer?s

achievements.

BBC News Item 99

The Australian parliament has rejected government plans to introduce ambitious carbon trading scheme to tackle global warming. If the government is defeated again, it could trigger a

general election. Nick Bryant reports from Sydney.

The emissions trading scheme was a centerpiece of the Rudd government environmental strategy. Its aim was to cut greenhouse emissions by 5% over the next ten years. Yet the Rudd

government does not control the upper hand of the Australian parliament, the Senate. And the

measure has been defeated by 42 votes to 30. Outside the ruling Labor Party, this was a friendless

measure. Greens senators have called for more stringent reductions. The opposition Liberal Party

believed the scheme would hamper the all imported mining sector that was being rushed through

parliament without proper consultation.

BBC News Item 100

A new study on climate change says catastrophic 4 degree rise in global temperature is increasingly likely to occur within many people?s lifetimes. The studies have been compiled by

one of the world?s leading research bodies monitoring climate change, the Hadley Centre in

Britain. Paul Harper reports.

This latest prediction from the Hadley Centre brings the prospect of devastating change much

closer. He challenges the assumption that severe warming is a threat only for future generations. A

four degree average temperature rise by the 2050s would bring increases of 10 degrees or more in

some areas such as the Arctic and Africa. It could mean a sharp decline in rainfall in some areas,

flooding in others and extinction of about half of all the world?s animal and plant species.

三 : 英语四级听力练习指导

1. 怎样练听力?

有人推荐Step by Step四册书听，还不错，因为英语听力难度是一点点提升的。为了听力，还买了复读机，听不懂的地方就重复听。平时也听一些广播，学校发了收音机的，刚开 始听的是VOA，这个相比BBC慢一点，听了一个星期，没听明白过一则。只知道“this is the Voice of America, signing on.”没办法，还是得坚持。当然，除了听力，平时也会有背单词和阅读，这样对听力也会有帮助，每天六点多醒了后马上起床，条件反射似的打开收音机，边走 边听，刚开始纯属羡慕那播音流利且抑扬顿挫的口语，费劲脑筋去听，打击、崩溃着也就习惯了。慢慢的，从只能听到个别单词的发音，到开始揣测播音的意思，到 基本懂广播意思，这个过程，只有走出来后回忆才会觉得是一笔宝贵的财富和经历，但这个收获过程是很痛苦的，但又是快乐和充实的，因为自己会感觉到自信心、 听力能力的慢慢增长和兴趣的不断增强!

2. 为什么听不懂?

很多人在练习英语听力时，总会抱怨听不懂。就自身经历，有以下几个原因：

(1)练习不够久。刚开始练习肯定会觉得听不懂，可能是自己不熟悉听力的模式，也可能是自己积累太少。练习英语听力时，听不懂时也要坚持听，认真听，反 复听，训练听力的同时，要想学好英语，也得配合其他方法，比如，背单词积累词汇，阅读提高语感，读说短文，练习标准发音(并注意边说边听)。

(2)注意力不集中。有的人听听力总喜欢走神，抓不到关键。喜欢走神是因为个人定力不够，需要先静下心才能练，并且要养成良好的习惯，找到适合自己的方 法是自己真正融入到听力的环境(比如每天同一时刻训练等等);另外一种原因就是，听听力时，很多人和我刚开始一样，非要把每个单词都听懂，一遇到有个不懂 的单词，就停留在想它的意思，而错过了整段听力的核心，导致答题错误，这个也是英语考试时要注意的!

3. 寓听于娱——看电影练听力 ?

总听一些课本和听力试题，很容易让人产生乏味!当然，要听懂外国电影，需要一定的听力程度。现在都有电脑了，在网上也能下到很多适合练听力的电影或美剧，很多人一开始都不习惯看裸片(无字幕)。但是在练习时要记住：

(1)看电影之前先明确目的，是娱乐还是练听力。如果是练听力，就需要反复看，反复听。第一遍看电影可以在网上下载较权威的翻译字幕，熟悉剧情，在更多次看的时候，一定要坚持先听，听不懂拖回去重新听，听个三四遍还没懂就看看字幕吧，然后再听一遍，可以学着练练口语。

(2)选择一部适合练听力的电影或美剧(老友记不错!)，拿出纸和笔，作好随时停顿和记录的预备动作，只记录能引发自己内心感触和共鸣的语句和一些符合自身个性特色的句型及语法，记录的时候最好不要分析思考和尝试记忆，待整个影片观看完毕之后，将统一回顾和整理。

(3)电影或美剧中肯定会有听不懂的内容的，会有native speaker说的东西。所以还是多练，坚持反复听，半懂不懂半猜半懂得坚持听完都行，多看几遍，多听几遍，就明白了，最后再看字幕。

强烈建议不要用复读机，实在是操作痛苦，影响心情，如果想看电影或美剧练听力的，就用复读机的钱去买能飞学习软件吧，里面有很多电影和电视剧资料，功能很强大，那个什么字幕能切成一句句的反复听，而且是双语字幕，能相互切换，这点体验不错，练口语也行。推荐一下!

本文标题：英语四级听力训练-专项训练：12月英语四级精练（三）
本文地址： http://www.61k.com/1062725.html