BBC 英语新闻.docx

BBC 英语新闻 BBC新闻听力100篇News Item 1 The Japanese government has played down concern about a possible nuclear meltdown, followinga big explosion at a nuclear power station in the north of the country. The blast occurred a day after thearea was hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami. A top government offcial, Yukio Edano, said a steelcontainer encasing the nuclear reactor had not been ruptured by the blast.News Item 2 Fifty thousand Japanese military personnel had been ordered to join the huge rescue and reliefoperation following the earthquake and tsunami. More than 1,000 people are feared dead. About 400 bodieswere found in the town of Rikuzentakata, and Japanese media reports say 10,000 people are unaccountedfor in Minamisanriku. Damian Grammaticas in the port of Sendai says the scenes of devastation there areastonishing.News Item 3 International disaster relief teams have been sent to Japan. The United Nations said a nine strong UNteam of experts would include several Japanese speakers. Britain said it was sending expert assistance afterreceiving a request from Japan. Singapore is also deploying an urban search and rescue team. Americanforces stationed in Japan have already been involved in rescue operations, and more than 50 territories andcountries have offered assistance.News Item 4 As offcials in Japan struggle to assess the extent of the damage following the tsunami caused by amassive earthquake, its been announced that some 300 people are known to have been killed and morethan 500 are unaccounted for in the area around the northern coastal city of Sendai. The 8.9-magnitudequake, the biggest ever recorded in Japan, sent a wave of water several meters high sweeping far inland.Its epicenter was about 130km off Japans east coast. In the capital Tokyo, several hundred kilometersaway, buildings swayed violently during the quake, which was followed by a series of powerfulaftershocks.News Item 5 Slowly but relentlessly, Colonel Gaddafis forces seem to be winning the battle for Ras Lanuf.Opposition fghters are still in the town, but they are under intense pressure. The bombing from governmentwarplanes continued today, and theres a big plume of smoke from the oil installation which was hit acouple of days ago. Theres no sign of either the rebel fghters or the local population beginning to fee thearea. If Ras Lanuf falls, it brings the frontline closer to the main opposition-held city of Benghazi. 1News Item 6 Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators have marched in cities across Yemen after Fridayprayers, demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. At least six people were wounded whensecurity forces fred at protesters in the southern port city of Aden. In the capital Sanaa, where supportersof the government also held a rally, police set up roadblocks to keep the two sides apart.News Item 7 The American State Department spokesman PJ Crowley has described the treatment of the U.S.soldier suspected of passing material to the Wikileaks website, Private Bradley Manning, as “ridiculous”,“counterproductive” and “stupid”. Private Manning has been charged with offences including aiding theenemy, and hes being held in solitary confnement in prison. Mr. Crowley said however that it was rightthat Private Manning was being held in jail.News Item 8 The abolition of the death penalty was approved by the Illinois state assembly in January and has nowbeen signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn. Supporters of capital punishment had urged him to veto thechange, but in a statement, the governor said hed concluded that executions had no deterrent effect oncrime, and that the death penalty system was inherently fawed. Illinois has a dark history of miscarriagesof justice. Since 1977 when capital punishment was reinstated in America, 20 death row inmates in the statehave been exonerated. The last execution in Illinois was in 1999.News Item 9 In London, the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee has heard evidence about the recentlyannounced cuts to the budget and output of the BBC World Service. Its director Peter Herrick told thecommittee that the value of the organization was highlighted by its comprehensive coverage of the currentturmoil in Arab countries. He said that if the cuts had come into effect earlier, that coverage of the eventswould have been seriously diminished. Mr. Herrick also acknowledged thered been damage to the WorldService, although he was optimistic about its future.News Item 10 French police have found 25 million dollars worth of stolen jewelry hidden in a drain outside Paris.Detectives found 19 rings and three sets of earrings concealed in a plastic container set into a cement mouldat a house outside the French capital. Investigators believe many of the items were stolen from the luxuryHarry Winston boutique in Paris in a raid in 2008.News Item 11 The ruler of Oman, Sultan Qaboos, has announced he is to hand over some of his powers to offcialsfrom outside the royal family. A royal decree said the Legislative Council of Oman would be givenlawmaking powers. Until now, the role of the council has been to advise the Sultan, who has ruled Oman 2for four decades.News Item 12 An agreement by Iceland to pay compensation to Britain and the Netherlands over the collapse ofits banking system has run into problems. President Olafur Grimsson is to put the $5 billion deal to areferendum, even though its been approved by parliament. A previous deal with different repayment termswas overwhelmingly rejected by voters in Iceland last year.News Item 13 President Obama says the U.S. and its Nato allies are still considering a military response to thesituation in Libya where he said the people were facing unacceptable violence. But Russia says its opposedto any military intervention. Nato is engaged in what its Secretary General called “prudent planning”. WhileBritain confrmed it was working to secure a Security Council no-fy zone resolution.News Item 14 A young Mexican woman who gained worldwide attention last year when she took over as police chiefin a town plagued by drug-related violence has been sacked for abandoning her post. Marisol Valles washailed as Mexicos bravest woman in October when she became head of public security in the border townof Praxedis G. Guerrero.News Item 15 Marisol Valles, a 20-year-old criminology student, became police chief in a town when nobodyelse was willing to take the job. Her appointment six months ago made her a sensation worldwide. Butthe mayor of Praxedis Guerrero said she hasnt come back to work since last Wednesday, when she tookpersonal leave to take care of her baby. Local activists told the BBC that Mrs. Valles and her family had fedto the United States after receiving threats of kidnapping.News Item 16 The toy manufacturer Mattel has closed its fagship Barbie store in Shanghai just two years after itopened to much fanfare. The pink-theme, six-foor emporium was launched in a drive to attract Chineseconsumers at a time when the famous doll faced declining sales in the West. But analysts said sales toChinese consumers were poor.News Item 17 Reports from Egypt say democracy activists have been attacked by men in plain clothes armed withknives outside the offces of the interior ministry in Cairo. Its the frst time since the toppling of PresidentMubarak last month that the protesters appeared to have come under such an attack. Over the weekend,activists stormed several offces of the secret police. 3News Item 18 The newly-appointed U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, has stressedthe importance of pursuing a diplomatic settlement in Afghanistan alongside military operations. During hisfrst visit to Kabul, he said the United States supported the Afghan governments move towards talks withthe Taliban, but he said it was important that the Taliban end its alliance with al-Qaeda.News Item 19 Thirteen soldiers in Mexico have been charged with drug traffcking after they were allegedly found inpossession of almost a tone of the synthetic drug methamphetamine and 30kg of cocaine. A local militarycommander said the men had been transporting the drugs from the capital Mexico City to Tijuana, on the U.S.border. President Felipe Calderon has deployed about 50,000 soldiers to help fght the war on drugs. Sincehe came to power, more than 34,000 people have died in drug-related violence.News Item 20 The suspect in the shootings in Tucson, Arizona in January when U.S. congresswoman GabrielleGiffords was seriously wounded has been indicted on a number of new charges. Jared Loughner now faces49 counts, including the murder of six people and the attempted assassination of Ms Giffords.News Item 21 Sixty-one-year-old Alan Gross was driven into the Havana courthouse inside an unmarked van withblacked-out windows. Hes charged with acts against the integrity and independence of Cuba, and prosecutorshave said they are seeking a 20-year sentence. Mr. Gross has already spent 15 months in a Cuban jail, accusedof providing satellite communications equipment, which is illegal in Cuba, to groups on the island.News Item 22 The United Nations food agency says global food prices reached a record high last month. The Foodand Agriculture Organization is warning that costs could spiral even further if unrest in Libya and theMiddle East keeps driving up the price of oil. Rising food costs helped spark the recent protests in Egyptand Tunisia.News Item 23 The commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, has issued a personal apologyfor the killing of nine young boys in Kunar province on Tuesday. Local Afghan offcials say the boys, aged12 or younger, had been gathering frewood when helicopter gunship attacked them with rockets. Nato saysthere was a mistake in relaying information about the position of presumed militants who were fring at aNato base.News Item 24 Britain is to end its international aids to 16 countries. The International Development Secretary 4Andrew Mitchell, told parliament that he wanted to concentrate the money where it would do most good.Nations like Lesotho and Kosovo will lose direct funding, but others like Ethiopia and Bangladesh willreceive more aid from the Department for International Development, or DEFID.News Item 25 Western leaders have been discussing ways to increase pressure on the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafto stop him killing the people rebelling against him and persuade him to step down. The Pentagon inWashington says its repositioning naval and air forces around Libya so that theres fexibility for actionshould government planners require it.News Item 26 Two of Argentinas former military rulers have gone on trial, accused of overseeing the systematictheft of babies from political prisoners. Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone are accused of kidnappingabout 30 babies whose parents were killed or disappeared during military rule. The babies were then givenfor adoption to members of the Argentine military or their allies. Both former leaders are already servinglong sentences for murder and torture.News Item 27 A landslide caused by intense rains has destroyed more than 150 homes in the Bolivian city of LaPaz. The authorities managed to evacuate the poor neighborhood of Kupini Dos before it was crushed bya collapsing hillside. Right across Bolivia thousands of people have been left homeless by weeks of heavyrain.News Item 28 The stage is set in Hollywood for the Academy Awards, the flm industrys biggest night of the year.Hot favorite to win Oscars glory is the British drama The Kings Speech, based on the true story of theattempts by King George VI to overcome a bad speech impediment and lead his nation in the Second WorldWar. But the flm faces strong competition from The Social Network about the Internet site Facebook, aswell as the western remake of True Grit and the ballet thriller Black Swan.News Item 29 An emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva has recommended suspendingLibya from the body. The council also authorized an international investigation into the violence in thecountry with a view to prosecuting those responsible. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights NaviPillay told the council the priority should be the safety of the civilian population.News Item 30 The French fashion house Dior has suspended its star designer John Galliano after he was arrestedat a Paris bar and accused of making anti-Semitic and racist remarks to a nearby couple. Mr. Galliano has 5strongly denied any wrongdoing. His suspension comes just days before the launch of Paris Fashion Week.News Item 31 Republican lawmakers in the American state of Wisconsin have sent out police to search for a groupof Democratic Party politicians. The Democratic state senators left Wisconsin in order to block a crucialbudget bill, which includes controversial plans by the Republican Governor Scott Walker to limit the powerof trades unions. Without the Democratic lawmakers, the Senate cannot reach a quorum and the bill, whichwould have been passed easily by the Republican majority, cannot be voted on.News Item 32 A former Serbian police chief has been jailed for 27 years for his role in the murder of more than700 ethnic Albanians in Serbias province of Kosovo in 1999. Vlastimir Djordjevic was convicted by theinternational tribunal in The Hague on four counts of crimes against humanity.News Item 33 The New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has said its unlikely that many more survivors will befound in the city of Christchurch, hit by an earthquake on Tuesday. Mr. Key said he hadnt given up hope offnding people but that the authorities had to be realistic. At least 70 people have been killed, but up to 300others are missing.News Item 34 A mass polio vaccination campaign is being planned in Burma after a 7-month-old baby was found tohave the virus. Its the frst case there for three years. Burma had been on the point of being declared free ofpolio, a highly contagious virus that can lead to paralysis and which is spread mainly through contaminatedfood and water. Four years ago, the Burmese government immunized nearly 7 million children. Since adrive to eliminate polio began more than 20 years ago, the number of cases has dropped by 99% worldwide.A team from the World Health Organization is already in Burma to work out how to stop its spreading againthere.News Item 35 More than a quarter of a million people have taken part in a march and rally in central London toprotest against the deep public spending c