Unit 1 Companies News
News 1
The Internet giant Google has made its first significant move into hardware by announcing that it’s to buy the American mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility. Rory Cellan-Jones has the details.
Google’s Android operating system powers more smartphones than any other software. Now with the acquisition of Motorola, it will be able to make its own phones and tablet computers just like its great rival Apple, which has found that controlling everything from hardware to software to shops is the route to huge profits. But what may be more important to Google is the 17,000 patents that Motorola has accumulated over the years. With just about every major player in the industry suing each other at the moment, patents have become an important weapon in the battle for smartphone supremacy.
Helpful Tips
- With just about every major player in the industry suing eachother at the moment, patents have become an important weapon in the battle for smartphone supremacy.
当我们听到 suing each other at the moment 时，应该反应过来它一个定语成分，用来修饰前面的every major player的，指“他们彼此之间相互投诉”。而前一句阐述的是一个背景，引出了后面要叙述的内容。这样一层一层地把句子的结构搞清楚，整个句子就很好听懂了。
News 2
A judge in France has placed the aircraft manufacturer Airbus under investigation on charges of involuntary man slaughter over the case of a plane which crashed into the Athlantic ocean in June 2009. The Air France jet flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went down with the loss of 228 lives. Sam Wilson reports.
This investigation will determine whether there’s enough evidence to put Airbus on trial. A central allegation is that the company knew there were flaws in its airspeed sensors but didn’t act on that information. However, Airbus says it’s not clear the sensors played any part in the crash. The answer may be contained in the plane’s flight recorders, which are still at the bottom of the ocean. On Friday, the judge will decide whether Air France should also face investigation.
Helpful Tips
The Air France jet flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went down with the loss of 228 lives.
此句中的听力难点在于 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris，这里作后置定语，以修饰The Air France jet，意为从里约热内卢飞往巴黎的航班。我们在听的时候容易把它当作一个谓语，与后面的went down搞混，而弄不清楚句子 结构，所以读者要多加注意。The answer may be contained in the plane’s flight recorders, which are still at the bottom of the ocean.
at the bottom of 表示“在……的底部”。另外还有一点需要我们注意的是contain一词，意思是“包含，含有”，在这里引申为“存在于”；firght recorders意为“黑匣子”是飞行专用的电子记录设备之一，世界上所有空难原因都是通过黑匣子找出来的。整个分句的意思即“答案就存在于这架飞机的黑匣子里。” which are …. 是引导的非限制定语从句。
Unit 2 Universal Focus
News 1
The head of the Libyan National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, has flown from Benghazi to the Libyan capital Tripoli for the first time since rebels took control of the city. He was greeted by hundreds of supporters before being driven to a hotel. Mr. Abdul Jalil had until now remained in Benghazi. More from Peter Biles, who watched Mr. Abdul Jalil’s arrival at the airport in Tripoli.
There were chaotic scenes when Mustafa Abdul Jalil emerged from the aircraft that had brought him from Benghazi. Crowds of people surged forward, trying to get close to him. Soldiers struggled to maintain order. Mr. Jalil’s arrival in Tripoli was long overdue. He’d been expected here almost as soon as the city fell nearly three weeks ago. One man at the airport said people wanted to express their gratitude to him for what he’d done for Libya since the uprising against Colonel Gaddafi began in February. Peter Biles inTripoli.
Helpful Tips
- There were chaotic scenes when Mustafa Abdul Jalil emerged from the aircraft that had brought him from Benghazi.
这句中的chaotic是一个比较生疏的词汇，但从后文提到Crowds of people surged forward和trying to get close to him中可推测出chaotic scenes指的是“一片喧闹混乱的景象”。
News 2
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has visited the Somali capital Mogadishu, promising to open an embassy to help distribute aid to the victims of severe drought in the Horn of Africa. Mr. Erdogan also announced that Turkey would rebuild the road to Mogadishu airport, restore a hospital, build schools and drill water wells. And he expressed regret that despite the suffering of the people of Somalia, no other country appeared to have a visible presence there.
“We were deeply saddened by the situation of the children in the two camps we visited. We are here to hear your voice more closely. We are here with our ministers, deputies, businessmen, businesswomen, artists and NGOs. We want to let the world know about your situation with this visit. Actually this is not a problem of Turkey; this is a problem of humanity.”
Mr Erdogan’s visit was the first by a leader from outside Africa in almost 20 years.
Helpful Tips
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has visited the Somali capital Mogadishu, promising to open an embassy to help distribute aid to the victims of severe drought in the Horn of Africa.
这句话中的 promising to…是动名词（现在分词）做伴随状语，指土耳其总理埃尔多安访问了索马里首都摩加迪沙，在此期间，他做出了对外开放大使馆的承诺。而 promise to do sth 是“答应，许诺做某事”的意思。to help distribute aid to…是不定式短语表目的，指开放大使馆的目的是向非洲之角遭受严重干旱的难民分配救援物资。短语distribute…to…是“将……分发，分配给……”的意思。这里指即将开放的大使馆将救援物资分配给难民。Mr. Erdogan also announced that Turkey would rebuild the road to Mogadishu airport, restore a hospital, build schools and drill water wells.
播音员在读到此句中的road，hospital和schools的时候音调上扬，water wells处音调下降，列举并列的事物时，语调这样变化，表明了rebuild the road to Mogadishu airport，restore a hospital，build schools和drill water wells之间是并列关系，我们可以了解到这几项活动具有一定相似性，都是土耳其承诺要对索马里进行的援助。
参考书籍：
- 《每天轻松听一点BBC新闻英语精华》（初级）.中国宇航出版社. 主编：盛红燕
本文仅供个人学习，参考。
