BBC News with David Legge
One of the giants of American industry, General Motors, hasresumed trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, 18 months after being rescued from bankruptcy by the US and Canadian governments. The two countries pumped $50bn into the firm, and the initial share offering is expected to reduce the US government's stake in the company by half. Neville Isdell is one of GM's board members.
"This is huge. This is the whole new General Motors.This is a 102-year-old company that sadly went through a bankruptcy process that is being reborn and reborn based on what is important and that is the designing, the building and the selling of the world's best cars."
Greece hasunveiled deep new spending cuts aimed at reducing its budget deficit by almost $7bn tocomply withthe terms of a European Union and IMF bailout. Forty per cent of the projected savings will come from the national health service. The Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou insisted the latest cuts were vital for long-term growth.
"We all understand that the battle has not been won yet, but we are at a better stage to focus our attention on the bigger problems because obviously the problem is not low-income pensions; the problem is the wasteful state, the public corporations, how to fight tax evasion and how all these are at the base of creatingviablegrowth in the country."
Prosecutors from the International Criminal Court have begunpreliminaryinvestigations in Nigeria and Honduras to establish whether there are cases there involving war crimes or crimes against humanity. The court's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC had started inquiries into last year's coup in Honduras after receiving reports of possible human rights abuses. Hedeclined togive details about the investigations in Nigeria.
Astronomers say theydetected the first planet from outside our galaxy, the Milky Way. The Max Planck Institute in Germany said the Jupiter-size planet and its star were from a dwarf galaxy which wasabsorbed into the Milky Way billions of years ago. Dr Robert Massey is with Britain's Royal Astronomical Society.
"The nice thing about this discovery is that it's the first hard evidence of a planet around a star which was actually once not in our galaxy.Now there's every reason to believe that planets are really quite widespread throughout the Universe, not just in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, but also in all the thousands of millions of others there are.But this is the first time we've got hard evidence of that."
A report says a dual epidemic of tuberculosis and HIV infection in Swaziland is threatening towipe outentire generations. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres found that life expectancy in Swaziland had halved over the past 20 years, from 60 to just 31. Swaziland already has the highest HIV/Aidsprevalencein the world and one of the highest rates of tuberculosis.
World News from the BBC
President Obama has described the ratification of a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia as a "national security imperative". He called on the US Senate to vote on the Start II treaty before Congressbreaks upfor the year. His Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said the US couldn't afford to postpone the issue.
The committee which awards the Nobel Peace Prize says six countries have declined to attend the ceremony in Oslo at which this year's prize will be given to a jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo. China had warned ofconsequences if governments showed support for Mr Liu. The six not attending are Russia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Morocco, Iraq and China itself.
The Italian government has announced that it's capturedall buttwo of the 30 most wanted mafia criminals. It follows the arrest on Wednesday of the man said to be the financial brains behind the Neapolitan Casalesi clan, Antonio Iovine. The Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said he was confident the remainingfugitives would soon be caught.
"The number of mafia members arrested is 6,754, 28 of whom are on the list of the most dangerous criminals. We're only missing two from that list, Matteo Messina Denaro and Michele Zagaria, and the net is tightening around them as it did for Antonio Iovine."
Protests linked to the outbreak of cholera in Haiti have spread to parts of the capital Port-au-Prince. Haitian police fired tear gas at demonstrators who set up barricades and threw rocks at UN vehicles. Some Haitians have blamed peacekeepers from Nepal for bringing the disease into the country, an accusation denied by the UN.
An American teenager suspected of being the "Barefoot Bandit" has pleaded not guilty in a Seattle court to stealing several aircraft and flying them without a pilot's licence.Nineteen-year-old Colton Harris-Moore is accused of flying all the way from Indiana to the Bahamas. The nickname arose from reports he did not wear shoes.
BBC News
1.resume vt.vi.重新开始; 重新获得;重新占用;恢复,重返
例句:We'll stop now and resume at two o'clock.
我们现在停下来, 到两点再干。
2.unveil v.使公之于众;揭露
例句:The plan was unveiled with the approval from the Minister.
经部长同意该计划被公之于众。
3.viable adj.切实可行的;可实施的
例句:The scheme is economically viable.
这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
Engineers are still trying to come up with a commercially viable replacement for internal-combustion engines.
工程师在设法制造一种在商业上切实可行的发动机来取代内燃机。
4.preliminary adj.初步的, 预备的, 开端的
例句:They are taking preliminary steps in preparation for a possible war.
他们正在为应付一场可能的战争做初步的准备。
5.detect vt.察觉,发觉;侦查,探测;对…检波
discover,find,detect,ascertain
这些动词均有“发现”之意。
discover普通用词,指发现本来存在,但示被认识的事物、真理或情况。
find普通用词,可指偶然发现,也可指经过寻找后得到或重新获得已失去的东西。强调动作的结果。
detect正式用词,强调经过周密观察或研究而有所获得和发现,尤指发现有意隐藏之物。
ascertain较正式用词,指有意搜寻与发现。
6.absorb vt.吸收(液体、气体等); 吸收(热、光、能等)
例句:Dry earth absorbs water quickly.
干土吸水很快。
7.prevalence n.流行,盛行;普遍,广泛
例句:the prevalence of burglaries
盗窃盛行
8.consequence n.结果, 后果
例句:Nobody can tell what the consequences may be.
没有人能说出可能的后果。
9.fugitive n.亡命者, 逃命者
例句:Three fugitives from the prison are still at large.
三名逃犯仍然未被抓获。
1.Greece has unveiled deep new spending cuts aimed at reducing its budget deficit by almost $7bn to comply with the terms of a European Union and IMF bailout.
comply with服从, 遵从
例句:The factory was closed for failing to comply with government safety regulations.
工厂由于未能遵守政府的安全条例而被关闭了。
The rule must be complied with.
这条规则必须遵守。
2.He declined to give details about the investigations in Nigeria.
decline to谢绝,拒绝
例句:Our clients decline to raise their price.
我方客户拒绝提高他们的价格。
3.A report says a dual epidemic of tuberculosis and HIV infection in Swaziland is threatening to wipe out entire generations.
wipe out彻底摧毁, 消灭
例句:The plague once could wipe out a village.
鼠疫曾一度可以夺走整个村庄村民的生命。
We are always ready to wipe out any enemy who dares to attack.
我们时刻准备着消灭一切胆敢来犯之敌。
4.He called on the US Senate to vote on the Start II treaty before Congress breaks up for the year.
break up放假
例句:We break up next week.
我们下周放假。
结束
例句:The party breaks up and the neighbors hurry home.
宴会就此结束, 邻居们匆匆地赶回家去。
5.The Italian government has announced that it's captured all but two of the 30 most wanted mafia criminals.
all but几乎, 差不多
例句:She all but fainted when she heard the news.
听到那消息, 她差点晕过去。
除了…之外(都)
例句:All but one of the passengers were killed in the accident.
除了一个乘客外, 其他人都在这起事故中丧生。
anything but,nothing but,all but,none but
这些短语均由代词加前置词but(除开)构成,但含义各不相同。
anything but(=not at all,by no means,never)表示“决不,根本不”。
nothing but(=only)表示“只不过,除了……以外什么也没有”。
all but(=almost,nearly)表示“几乎,差一点”。
none but(=no one except)表示“只有;除……外谁也不”。
1.This is a 102-year-old company that sadly went through a bankruptcy process that is being reborn and reborn based on what is important and that is the designing, the building and the selling of the world's best cars.
参考翻译:这是一个拥有102年历史的公司,艰难地度过了破产过程实现了重生,公司重生的基础非常重要,那就是世界上最好的汽车的设计,生产和销售。
结构分析:这句话的主干是:This is a 102-year-old company。that sadly went through是定语从句,修饰company。that is being reborn是定语从句,修饰bankruptcy process。what is important是base on的宾语从句。that is的that值得是what is important。
2.Now there's every reason to believe that planets are really quite widespread throughout the Universe, not just in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, but also in all the thousands of millions of others there are.
参考翻译:现在,我们完全有理由相信这种行星在我们的宇宙中广泛分布,不只是在我们的银河系,而且在数千万个其他的星系。
结构分析:这句话的主干是:Now there's every reason to believe,后面是that引导的宾语从句。not just,but also不但而且,相当于not only,but also.
3.An American teenager suspected of being the "Barefoot Bandit" has pleaded not guilty in a Seattle court to stealing several aircraft and flying them without a pilot's licence.
参考翻译:被怀疑为“赤脚大盗”的美国青少年在西雅图法庭拒绝承认曾盗窃几架飞机,在没有飞行员执照的情况下进行飞行。
结构分析:这句话的主干是:An American teenager has pleaded not guilty。suspected of是过去分词做后置定语,修饰teenager。to stealing several aircraft and flying them without a pilot's licence是guilty的具体内容。