王曉波:news digest 11-20(高口)

發布時間：2010-02-03

作者：

來源于：昂立外語網站

11 | North Carolina, Cheers, Dad

Binge drinking isn't just for college students anymore. A recent Duke University study found that 23% of men and 9% of women over 50 have more than five drinks in one sitting at least once a month--a level of consumption that researchers warn can pose serious health risks. Those who overindulged, the study found, were often coping with such problems as unemployment, divorce and prescription-drug abuse.

binge drinking 酗酒

overindulge 過度放縱，這里表示酗酒

prescription-drug abuse 處方藥濫用

12 | South Africa, Is She or Isn't She?

It took just under two minutes for Caster Semenya to win gold in the women's 800-m race at the World Athletics Championship on Aug. 19, but it will be weeks before gender tests show whether the 18-year-old South African is in fact a woman. Preliminary results of the tests--ordered after her masculine physique and dramatically improved performances prompted complaints from other runners--showed Semenya had three times the level of testosterone of a typical woman. The sport's authorities are trying to determine whether she has a genetic condition that blurs her gender and gives her an unfair advantage. South Africans, who overwhelmingly support the runner, welcomed her home on Aug. 25. Her family and President Jacob Zuma firmly maintain that Semenya is female.

preliminary 初步的

masculine physique 男性體格

testosterone 睪丸激素

blur 使…模糊

13 | North Korea, A Tentative Thaw

After months of diplomatic tumult, North Korea appears to be re-engaging with its neighbor. On Aug. 23, a high-level delegation from the North attended the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and bore a "conciliatory message" to current leader Lee Myung Bak. And in a rare meeting on Aug. 26, the two sides reopened talks on reuniting families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

tentative 試探的，小心翼翼的

thaw 解凍，融化

diplomatic tumult 外交動蕩

high-level delegation 高層代表團

Kim Dae Jung 金大中

conciliatory message 和解信息

Lee Myung Bak 李明博

14 | Los Angeles, Killing the King of Pop

The Los Angeles Police Department declared Michael Jackson's June 25 death a homicide, opening up the possibility that criminal charges will be brought against Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician who administered the drugs found in the pop star's system. A search-warrant affidavit described a laundry list of drugs administered throughout the night of June 24, culminating with a dose of propofol--usually given as an anesthetic, not a sleep aid--that stopped Jackson's heart. Murray also neglected to dial 911; Jackson's bodyguard reportedly placed the call.

homicide 謀殺

administer 這里表示開出藥物

search warrant搜查令

affidavit 口供，證詞

laundry list 明細清單

culminate 達到頂點，以…告終

propofol 異丙酚，一種強效鎮靜劑

anesthetic 麻醉劑

sleep aid 催眠劑

15 | Florida, A Shrinking Sunshine State

Record levels of unemployment and foreclosures as well as frustration with the state's political leadership have caused 58,000 Floridians to move away over the past year, a trend that marks the state's first peacetime population decline since at least 1900. Florida derives a large percentage of its income from sales and property taxes, which are closely linked to population size. The exodus threatens to exacerbate the state's mounting budget woes and could affect the results of the 2010 Census--leaving Florida at risk of losing some congressional seats.

shrink 下滑，萎縮

foreclosure 斷供，止贖 △

derive 來自于，從…獲得

exodus 大批離去，來自于“出埃及記” △

exacerbate 惡化，加劇

mounting budget woes 不斷嚴重的預算危機

congressional seat 國會席位

16 | Istanbul, War of Words

On Aug. 31, Turkey and Armenia agreed to establish diplomatic ties for the first time, a rapprochement that could thaw a dispute dating back to World War I. The heart of the feud has been Istanbul's refusal to acknowledge the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide"--a near unanimous designation among scholars. Turkey prefers a term that means "mass deportation."

diplomatic ties 外交關系

rapprochement 和睦，親善

thaw 解凍，緩和

massacre 大屠殺

Ottoman Turks 奧斯曼土耳其帝國 △

genocide 種族滅絕

unanimous designation among scholars 在學者中的一致說法

mass deportation 大規模流放

17 | Luxembourg, Record Job Losses in the E.U.

Unemployment in the 16 countries that use the euro as their currency reached a 10-year high of 9.5% in July, though the pace of increase has slackened since earlier this year. Spain has been battered by the crunch--nearly 1 in 5 adults, and 38.4% of citizens under the age of 25, are jobless--while the Netherlands has weathered the downturn nicely, with just 3.4% of its residents out of work. Analysts say the figures underscore the growing gap between more economically stable euro-using countries, such as France and Germany, and more vulnerable members, like Italy and Ireland.

slacken 變緩，減弱

batter 打擊

crunch 緊縮，困境

weather 經歷（困難，逆境）

downturn 下滑

underscore 強調

vulnerable 脆弱的，易受傷害的

18| Brussels, No Fishing

The European Commission is backing a proposal to ban the international sale of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a Mediterranean species depleted by decades of overfishing. An estimated 90% of Europe's bluefin tuna is exported to Japan, where voracious sushi consumption has driven the fish's population to dangerously low levels. The European Union is expected to formally support the measure this month.

Atlantic bluefin tuna 大西洋藍鰭金槍魚

deplete 耗盡，衰竭

overfishing 過度捕撈

voracious 貪婪的

sushi 壽司

19 | Washington, More Space Flight, Please

A blue-ribbon panel is pleading for a more robust space program in a preliminary report to the White House and NASA. Some recommendations: an extension for the International Space Station program and a boost of $3 billion a year in NASA funding. The panel says the future of U.S. manned space flight is on an "unsustainable trajectory" and that the agency's annual budget of $18 billion is not enough to support what "really is rocket science."

blue-ribbon panel 高層小組，“藍絲帶小組委員會”，blue ribbon藍綬帶表示最高榮譽

plead 懇求

preliminary 初步的

manned space flight 載人太空飛行

trajectory 軌道

20| Indonesia, Legal Stoning

Just weeks before moderate lawmakers take over Indonesia's conservative Aceh province, hard-line legislators have pushed through a number of Shari'a-inspired punishments--such as whippings for homosexuality, public lashings for pedophilia and rape, and death by stoning for adultery. Critics say the laws violate international treaties, but overturning them could prove difficult: while some officials voiced concerns, no one voted against the measures.

hard-line 強硬路線

Shari'a 伊斯蘭宗教法律 △

lashing 鞭打

pedophilia 戀童癖

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