英语新闻听力教程 杨世登主编 Unit3 Listen to News

Unit 3 UN Activities

Listen to News

Lecturer:

Section A

1. A summit-level meeting of the UN Security Council has formally urged all member nations to outlaw incitement to terrorism. 2. The United Nations is setting up a special fund to help it deal with some of the biggest natural or man-made disasters as soon as possible after they happen. 3. Senior diplomats from the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany gathered in New York today to map out a strategy to deal with Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. 4. The UN Security Council is expected to hold closed-door consultations today on a British-US peacekeeping plan for Sudan’s Darfur region.

5. Hollywood movie star and UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie is appealing for international help in repatriating millions of Afghan refugees now living in Pakistan. 6. Meanwhile the UN Security Council is to hold an urgent meeting at the request of Lebanon today on the crisis. 7. The UN General Assembly has opened in New York with forceful call for action in the Sudanese region of Darfur. 8. The UN is reporting signs of some progress in meeting global antipoverty goals set in 2000. 9. The UN Human Rights Committee has called on the American government to immediately close all secret detention facilities and grant access to the Red Cross to anybody detained in connection with an armed conflict. 10. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the UN’s resolutions against North Korea leave Pyongyang no choice but to return to the negotiating table.

Section B

1. C The United Nations has released new data showing that rich countries have made little overall progress in reducing the output ot the gases blamed for climate change. 2.B Qatar has become the first Arab country to pledge troops for a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, offering to send up to 300 troops to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. 3. A In a speech to the 191-member General Assembly, Mr. Annan urged an enlargement of the Security Council by adding six new member.

4. C World leaders speaking on the second day of the United Nations World Summit have called for reform of the international body and have urged it to play a key role in the fight against terrorism. 5.B The United Nations has launched its biggest annual appeal for humanitarian assistance, asking for 4.7 billion dollars to help the victims of war, famine and natural disasters around the world.

Section C

Item 1

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF is beginning a huge campaign in Pakistan today to immunize 800,000 children affected by the earthquake last month. The agency is sending 600 health teams into towns and mountain villages to vaccinate children against measles, polio, diphtheria and tetanus. UNICEF staff say it would be a race against time to reach children scattered in remote mountain communities before winter snows arrive. The agency has already vaccinated

300,000 children.

Item 2 The UN relief agency says an attack on a displaced persons’ camp in Sudan’s western Darfur region has reportedly left 29 people dead and 10 seriously injured. A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told VOA it’s the first time that a displaced person’s camp has been attacked in more than two years of civil war. The spokesman says up to 300 armed Arab men on horses and camels attacked the camp on Wed.

Item 3 The United Nations World Food Program has appealed urgently for donations of more than 150 million dollars to prevent a food crisis in southern Africa. It warned that almost 10 million people across six countries—Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland—urgently needed foof aid. The shortages are blamed on drought and the effects of HIV/AIDS and chronic poverty. A BBC correspondent in southern Africa says that in Zimbabwe, children in rural areas have already started to show signs of malnutrition. She says some eat only once a day.

Section D

Item 1 The South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon has won the support of all five permanent members of the UN Security Council in his bid to become the next Secretary General of the UN. Mr. Ban had been the favorite to succeed Kofi Annan in the post, and had come first in three previous informal ballots held by members of the Security Council. However, until this latest vote it had not been known whether his candidacy might be vetoed by one of the five permanent member, the US, China, Russia, France or Britain. It’s expected that a formal vote will be held next week. The US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said new candidates could come forward, but that was unlikely.

Item 2

Despite US objections, the UN General Assembly today overwhelmingly voted to create a new human rights council to improve the UN’s ability to deal with human rights offenders. The council replaces the discredited UN Human Rights Commission based in Geneva. US ambassador to the UN john Bolton told the Assembly today that UN made some improvements but they are not enough. Bolton told the Assembly that rules for the new council are too weak to prevent human rights violators from obtaining seats. Under the resolution adopted today, the old commission will be abolished June 16th, and the new council will convene three days later.

Item 3

The UN has welcomed new pledges by donor countries of nearly 600 million dollars to fund relief efforts after the South Asian earthquake. But the UN’s chief relief coordinator Jan England said it was not clear how much was for immediate emergency relief and how much for longerterm work. Pakistan says 79,000 people have died and Mr. England had early warned that hundreds of thousands more could die without an immediate big boost in funds. Winter snow is expected in earthquake zone within weeks. A top Pakistani relief official, General Far …… 此处隐藏：6005字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……