【今日听力】The world this week——Politics

POLITICS

Italy’s general election resulted in a badly hung parliament, with none of the three main political groupings close to a majority. Populist parties did better than expected, winning more than half the vote. Weeks of uncertainty lie ahead, though either one of the two big populist parties—the Five Star Movement and the Northern League—looks sure to end up in power.

【词汇】

hung parliament悬浮议会 Populist party人民党 Five Star Movement五星运动

In Germany the Social Democratic Party’s membership voted to approve a new coalition government with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, paving the way for Mrs Merkel to start her fourth term as chancellor later this month.

【词汇】

pave the way for为…做好准备；为…铺平道路  chancellor总理、大臣

British police said a nerve agent had been used to try to murder Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter. Mr Skripal had been jailed in Russia for passing secrets to British intelligence, but he was released in 2010 under a swap arrangement for the return of Russian agents. The attack is reminiscent of the fatal poisoning in London of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, probably on the orders of the Russian government.

【词汇】

nerve agent神经性毒剂 swap arrangement交易协定 reminiscent of 让人联想到，让人回忆起 on the orders of 依照，奉(…之)命 fatal重大的

Time to talk?

During a meeting with South Korean envoys, Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s dictator, opened the possibility of talks with America about ending his country’s nuclear programme and suggested he would suspend missile tests once negotiations began. Donald Trump welcomed the “possible progress”. Seasoned observers poured oceans of scepticism over Mr Kim’s remarks, wondering if it was a strategy to weaken Chinese and Russian support for sanctions.

【词汇】

envoy使者 dictator独裁者 missile test导弹演习 seasoned经验丰富的；老练的；调过味的

In South Korea Ahn Hee-jung resigned as governor of the province of South Chung-cheong after his secretary accused him of raping her several times. Mr Ahn had been tipped to run for president in 2022. The secretary said she was inspired by South Korea’s #MeToo movement, which has played a part in the resignations of several other prominent figures.

【词汇】

be tipped to被认定会...一定会...  MeToo movement 是女星艾丽莎·米兰诺（Alyssa Milano）等人2017年10月针对美国金牌制作人哈维·温斯坦（Harvey Weinstein）性侵多名女星丑闻发起的运动，呼吁所有曾遭受性侵犯女性挺身而出说出惨痛经历，并在社交媒体贴文附上标签，藉此唤起社会关注。

An outbreak of violence directed at Muslims prompted the government of Sri Lanka to declare a state of emergency for the first time since the end of the country’s civil war in 2009. The unrest was allegedly sparked by the killing of a Buddhist man by a group of Muslims in the city of Kandy. Communal tensions have risen over the past year, fanned by Buddhist nationalists.

【词汇】

Sri Lanka斯里兰卡sparked by 由...引起 Kandy康提，斯里兰卡中部城市 fanned by 由...煽动

Australia and East Timor ended a dispute over their maritime border that had carried on since East Timor’s independence from Indonesia in 2002. They signed a treaty setting the boundaries, which opens the way for both countries to share the spoils from gasfields in the Timor Sea.

【词汇】

East Timor 东帝汶 maritime border海上边界 spoil战利品 Timor Sea帝汶海

Against the backdrop of maritime territorial disputes and nervousness about America’s increased focus on the Pacific, the Chinese government said it would increase defence spending by 8%, to 1.1trn yuan ($175bn). It is the biggest rise in years, though the amount China actually spends on defence is much higher than the official figure.China set its target for ecocomic growth this year at 6.5%. Last year GDP grew by 6.9%.

【词汇】

backdrop背景

Her day in court 

Judicial authorities in Argentina said Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a former president, would face trial on charges of covering up Iran’s suspected role in the attack on a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people. Ms Fernández is not under arrest.

【词汇】

Argentina 阿根廷 face trial接受审判

Brazil’s supreme court said President Michel Temer’s bank accounts could be scrutinised in an investigation into possible corruption involving port permits. Another court denied a petition by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former president, to be allowed to stay out of jail while he appeals against a 12-year sentence.

【词汇】

Scrutinise仔细检查 port permit港口许可证 petition请愿

Venezuela’s electoral authorities postponed a presidential election scheduled for April 22nd until May 20th. Most of the opposition intends to boycott the poll, believing it will be rigged by the socialist president, Nicolás Maduro.

【词汇】

postpone延期

Police in Honduras arrested a senior company executive in connection with the murder in 2016 of Berta Cáceres, an environmental activist. Roberto David Castillo Mejía was president of the hydroelectric company building the dam that Ms Cáceres was protesting against. Prosecutors say he helped plan her murder.

No let up

The regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria stepped up its assault on rebel-held Eastern Ghouta. The bombardment has already killed hundreds of people in recent weeks. A UN convoy, stripped of medical supplies, was allowed to deliver aid to civilians, but had to cut its mission short because of shelling. A Russian military transport plane crashed near the Syrian coast, killing 39 people.

【词汇】

regime政权 Eastern Ghouta东古塔地区 bombardment轰炸 convoy护送队 strip of 剥夺 shelling炮击

Rex Tillerson, America’s secretary of state, tried to improve relations with Africa, two months after Donald Trumpreportedly used foul language to disparage African countries. Ahead of a week-long trip to the continent, Mr Tillerson promised $533m in new aid. He also criticised China’s dealings with Africa, saying it relied on “opaque contracts, predatory loan practices and corrupt deals that mire nations in debt”.

【词汇】

opaque不透明的 predatory loan掠夺性贷款  mire使...陷入泥潭，陷入困境

Voters in Sierra Leone braved long queues to pick a new president. Ernest Bai Koroma, the incumbent, has completed his maximum two terms in office. Over a dozen candidates

hope to replace him. The winner’s first task will be to turn around the economy, which has yet to recover from an Ebola epidemic and a commodities slump.

【词汇】

Sierra Leone塞拉利昂 incumbent现任的  Ebola epidemic埃博拉病毒 slump 下降、暴跌

His next gig 

The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, appointed Michael Bloomberg as his special envoy on climate change. The former mayor of New York has a brief to chivvy governments into meeting targets for reducing green-house-gas emissions. He already jointly oversees an effort to get American cities, states and businesses to reduce their emissions in line with the Paris accord on climate change, which America is in the process of withdrawing from.

【词汇】

secretary-general联合国秘书长 António Guterres安东尼奥·古特雷斯，葡萄牙前总统 special envoy特使 chivvy催促 green-house-gas温室气体 emissions 排放物

The March 5th deadline, by which time the Trump administration had wanted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme to end, came and went. Federal courts have put those plans on hold,leaving around 800,000 of the programme’s Dreamers,immigrants who came toAmerica illegally as children under16, in some uncertainty about their future.

【词汇】

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)暂缓遣返无身份儿童计划，奥巴马时代（2012.06）的移民政策之一。DACA是由奥巴马一手推动的法案，当年已有声音，认为这并不合法，总统并没有创造移民政策的权利。该政策是基于对那些在美国长大的外籍孩子的认可和宽容。这也是一项宽容的移民执行，对于遣返优先级低的非法移民，采取包容的态度。如今，十分重视强化移民管理与强化国家边境安全的川普，十分坚决地要中止这一法案，在他竞选时，已提出了这个想法。