夏说英文晨读2016年1月

1月玩弹少年金正恩再次惹怒中国亲爹America flew a B-52 bomber—capable of carrying nuclear weapons—over South Korea in a show of support following North Korea’s test of a purported hydrogen bomb. The Pyongyang regime responded to a similar move after a nuclear test in 2013 by threatening to attack the United States. South Korean media also said an American aircraft-carrier would shortly take part in a joint naval exercise.Purported: 据称的Hydrogen bomb：氢弹Regime：政权Joint naval exercise：联合海军演习厄尔尼诺现象究竟是什么Satellite mapping of sea-surface heights suggests that the strong El Niño weather phenomenon resembles that of 1997-98, one of the strongest on record, according to America’s space agency, NASA. The current El Niño has been blamed for droughts and flooding around the world, and unusually warm weather in the northern hemisphere. Satellite mapping: 卫星地图Resemble：与……相似Drought: 干旱Hemisphere：半球夏老师代表所有晨读同学问候安倍晋三全家Japan and South Korea reached an agreement to resolve their long-running dispute over “comfort women”—Koreans forced into sexual slavery by Japan during the second world war. Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, made a “heartfelt apology” and Japan will pay ¥1 billion to a South Korean-administered fund for the surviving women. Long-runningdispute：旷日持久的争端Comfortwomen：慰安妇Heartfelt：衷心的伊朗玩火在美军航母边上放火箭America said that the Iranian navy carried out “highly provocative” rocket tests near American warships in the Strait of Hormuz last Saturday. The waterway is a vital sea route for oil tankers, which Iran has threatened to blockade in the past. The incident comes despite a recent improvement in relations, following this year’s nuclear deal between Iran and America and other powers.Provocative：挑衅的Waterway：航道Route：路线Oil tanker：油轮Blockade：封锁德意志银行在华撤资，经济寒冬要来了么？Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest lender, agreed to sell its 20% stake in Hua Xia, a Chinese bank, to PICC Property and Casualty, an insurer, for 23 billion yuan. The salewill bolster Deutsche’s capital ratio. John Cryan, its newish chief executive, has al ready announced big job losses and ruled out a dividend this year and next.Insurer：保险商Bolster:提升Ratio：比例Ruleout：取消Dividend：分红中国第二艘航母年内下水China said on Thursday that it was building its first home-designed aircraft-carrier. Its only existing carrier, the Liaoning, commissioned in 2012, is a refitted Soviet-era vessel, more than 25 years old. China is embroiled in territorial disputes with several other countries in the South China Sea, where it has built artificial islands to reinforce its claims.Home-designed: 自行设计Refitted：改装的Aircraft-carrier：航空母舰Reinforce：加强Commissioned: 服役Embroil：卷入Territorial：领土的中国股市熔断Trading in China’s stockmarkets was suspended yesterday after the CSI 300 index dropped by 7%, triggering new “circuit-breakers”—and sharp fal ls elsewhere. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 2.4% and Germany’s DAX 4.3%; the S&P 500 was 2.3% down shortly before Espresso was published. Gold and American Treasury bonds rose. Tensions in the Middle East made oil markets jittery: Brent crude rose by more than 4% before falling back.CSI 300 index: 沪深300指数Trigger: 引发Circuit-breaker: 熔断FTSE 100：富时100指数Shed：跌落DAX：德国法兰克福指数American Treasury bonds: 美国国债Jittery：紧张不安什叶派与逊尼派真心弄不清Djibouti followed Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Bahrain in severing diplomatic ties with Iran. Qatar recalled its ambassador from Tehran, following similar moves by the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Jordan and Turkey expressed support for the Saudi stance. Oman deplored the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Iraq offered to mediate.Djibouti: 吉布提Severing: 中断Diplomatic ties：外交关系Recall：召回Ambassador：大使Stance：立场Oman：阿曼Deplore:强烈谴责Diplomatic missions: 外交使团Mediate：调停美联储内部对于加息有分歧The Federal Reserve published the minutes of its meeting last month at which it raised American interest rates for the first time since 2006. Although policymakers voted unanimously for the increase, some said the decision was a “close call”; they expressed“concern” that inflation was well below the Fed’s 2% target and that inflation expectations might move lower if it remained subdued.Minute: 备忘录Unanimously：一致地Closecall：微小的票差Subdue：压制欧洲难民潮恐将再建柏林墙Amid fears of uncontrollable movements of migrants, the Schengen passport-free travel zone buckled further. Sweden imposed border controls on travellers from Denmark. In response, Denmark instituted temporary spot-checks on its frontier with Germany. Germany said Schengen was “in danger”. A spokesman for the many commuters between Sweden and Denmark likened the move to a new Berlin Wall. Buckle:垮掉Impose: 实施Institute：实行Spot-checks: 检查站华为手机出货量完爆某米某锤，世界第三，致敬Huawei said that it shipped 108m smartphones last year, 44% more than in 2014, cementing it in third place behind Apple and Samsung. Its consumer division’s sales grew by almost 70%, to more than $20 billion. Last month the Chinese telecoms giant estimated that its total revenue would rise by 35%, to $60 billion, most of it from network equipment.Ship: 出货Cement：巩固Division：部门毒枭人生中最后的挽歌The head of Mexico’s biggest drug cartel faces extradition to Americ a after being arrested by special forces. Joaquín Guzmán, known as “El Chapo” (“Shorty”), had escaped from jail in July, via a mile-long tunnel. A meeting with Sean Penn, a Hollywood star who he hoped would portray him in a biopic, reportedly revealed his whereabouts.Drug cartel: 毒枭Extradition：引渡Arrest：逮捕Tunnel：隧道Biopic：传记片Whereabouts：下落于诸病苦为作良医The World Health Organisation declared Liberia free of Ebola, ending an outbreak in west Africa which has killed more than 11,000 people. The WHO says the disease could still flare up again. Scientists announced encouraging news on a new treatment. No vaccine yet exists, though Vladimir Putin said Russia had developed one; he gave no further details.Outbreak: 爆发Flareup：爆发Encouraging：鼓舞人心的Treatment：治疗方法Vaccine：疫苗亚投行正式开张The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a development-finance institution led by China and seen as a rival to the World Bank, opened for business in Beijing. America is not among the 57 founding members—but several of its allies, including Australia, Britain, Germany and South Korea, are. China has put up about 30% of the AIIB’s $100 billion capital and has a voting share of 26%.Infrastructure：基础设施Open for business: 开业Founding member: 创立成员Putup：提供微信潜在的竞争对手正在布局WhatsApp scrapped its subscription fee. The messaging app, bought by Facebook for $22 billion in 2014, has until now cost 99 cents a year (after a free first 12 months). Jan Koum, the founder, said WhatsApp would seek to make money by allowing businesses to communicate with its users—but insisted it would not take third-party advertising or permit spam.Scrap：取消Subscriptionfee：订阅费用Spam：垃圾邮件贵州将有可能成为世界最大的生产基地Qualcomm, the world’s biggest maker of semiconductors for smartphones, formed a joint venture with the government of mountainous Guizhou province in China. The company, of which Qualcomm owns 45%, will make chips for servers—a market dominated by Intel but which Qualcomm is eager to crack. China, for its part, is determined to build a domestic semiconductor industry.Semiconductor: 半导体Mountainous：山区的Chip：芯片Server：服务器Crack：瓦解Domestic: 国内的告诉你一个真实的间谍故事A public inquiry in London reported that Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB officer, was murdered in 2006 by two men working for Russia’s security service, “probably” on Vladimir Putin’s orders. Russia dismissed the report. Mr Litvinenko, a British citizen, helped British and Spanish intelligence investigate Kremlin links to organised crime; he was poisoned with polonium, administered in a cup of tea.Inquiry: 调查KGB: 克科勃Dismiss: 驳回Polonium：钋卖教材的业绩不好，应该是学生们最想看到的Pearson, the world’s biggest educational publisher, issued its second profit warning in three months and said it would cut 4,000 jobs, about one-tenth of the total. The chief executive, John Fallon, blamed “cyclical and policy-related challenges in our biggest markets” that had been more pronounced and persistent than expected. Pearson sold the Financial Times and its 50% stake in The Economist last year.Profit warning: 利润预警Blame：以……开罪Cyclical：周期性的Persistent：持续时间久广州下雪全球变暖的前兆A huge snowstorm hit the American east coast. At least 19 people died. Power supplies to 200,000 were cut and more than 11,000 flights were cancelled. The snowfall in New York, of 26.8 inches was the second-deepest in the city’s histo ry. East Asia also suffered abnormal weather: more than 50 were reported to have died in Taiwan’s coldest snap in decades; Guangzhou, in southern China, saw its first snow since 1929. Snowstorm: 暴风雪Power supplies：电力供应Abnormal：异常的Snap：寒汛期美国大选杀出一个独立参选者Michael Bloomberg is said to be considering standing for the American presidency as an independent. The wealthy media tycoon and former mayor of New York has toyed with the idea on several occasions before, but always concluded that the electoral arithmetic was too daunting. Now the prospect of facing rivals such as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has apparently revived his interest.Stand for presidency: 参加总统竞选Tycoon: 大亨，巨头Mayor：市长Toy with the idea: 考虑某个想法Revive：重新焕发生机Electoral arithmetic: 竞选的胜算Daunting：令人畏惧一群笨蛋弄坏了埃及法老的胡子Egyptian prosecutors charged eight museum workers with the botched restoration of the burial mask of Tutankhamun. Having apparently broken the pharaoh’s beard through carelessness, the accused, including two museum directors, allegedly made several attempts to repair it themselves, using the wrong glue and scratching the 3,000-year-old artifact as they scraped off the traces. It has now been properly restored. Prosecutor: 检察官Botched：拙劣的Restoration：修复Scratch：刮花Artifact：工艺品Scrapeoff：刮掉Trace: 痕迹。