NEWS HEADLINGES
Iraq has reacted defiantly to the American and British air raids on targets near Baghdad. President Sadam Hussein vowed to fight until victory on land, in the air and at sea. China and Russia have also 1)condemned the air strikes. But the United States defended the 2)raids saying Iraqi air defenses were threatening allied aircraft 3)patrolling the air 4)exclusion zones imposed after the Gulf War. The latest Iraqi casualty figures say two civilians were killed and twenty people were injured in the attacks. The Iraqi capital Baghdad this morning the public mood on first glance appeared to be on of 5)resignation. Iraq had suffered another attack 6)at the hands of American and British aircraft. There was little ordinary Iraqi's could do about it. In total, twenty-four American and British aircraft were involved in last night's attack. They fired their missiles from south of the 33rd parallel where Iraqi aircraft are not allowed to fly. But their targets were above the parallel and near Baghdad as close as five miles. The installations hit were radar units and command control centers which the 7)Pentagon claims were some distance from civilian areas.
Japan got its latest warning flag that there's a long way to go before it's on the road to economic recovery. It recorded its first monthly trade 8)deficit in four years last month. The January trade deficit 9)tumbled to $824 million mainly because of the economic 10)slowdowns in United States and Asia in general. Exporters Nippon Steel, NEC and Matsushita Electric Industrial among others have all noted that sales are slowing to those regions.
Now European finance ministers are expected to 11)reprimand the Irish government today after they meet in 12)Brussels. They've been alarmed by December's budget in the Irish Republic which cut taxes and increased government spending. The other European countries fear this will 13)stoke up inflation and 14)undermine the stability of the Euro, the single 15)currency.
Finance ministers from the European Unions 15 states are holding their regular monthly meeting in Brussels. They've been given the 16)tricky task of 17)handing out some public criticism to the government of the country with the most successful economy, the Irish Republic. In the last five years Ireland has 18)boomed growing by an average eight percent a year, unemployment has reached its lowest level for 20 years and task prices in 19)Dublin became more expensive than in London.
Executives of the plan Hong Kong Disneyland met with business leaders and government officials this week for a status check of development plans. Disney's second Asian park is scheduled to open in 2005.The Hong Kong government is providing nearly three billion US dollars in land and financial 20)subsidies. The chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts says everything's on schedule and going as planned.
Residents across the South Eastern United States are cleaning up after a storm with near 21)hurricane force winds through the region. At least two people were killed and hundreds of thousands of people were left without electricity as heavy rain and strong winds made their mark on five US states. Officials said it may take days to restore power in some areas. In Texas a military medical 22)evacuation team used a helicopter to three children and a driver from the roof of a school bus. The bus had been swept into a rain swollen creek.
Finally in sports Real Madrid and Leeds are through to the quarterfinals of the European Champions League. But we start tonight's 23)wrap up of soccer action with 24)penalties deciding a semi-final clash in Brazil.
The semi-final first leg of the Rio-Sao Paulo 25)tournament ended 1-nil in Sao Paulo's favor. In the return leg in Rio Fluminense made the most of home advantage opening the scoring with a strike from Marco Brito. And seven minutes later Brito added a second from outside the penalty area. Sao Paulo pulled a goal back on the arrow when Franca made it 2-1 on the night and 2-all on aggregate. It took 18 penalties to decide the winner with Ilan sending Sao Paulo into the finals against Botafogo.
新闻短讯
伊拉克对英美两国在巴格达附近的空袭作出了对抗性反应。萨达姆·候赛因总统誓要奋战到底，直到陆海空三军大获全胜。中国和俄罗斯谴责了这次空袭。但美国辩解说，是伊拉克空防军队首先挑衅正在边界外巡逻的联合空军才发起空袭的。边界线是海湾战争后建立起来的。最新的伤亡统计数字表明，空袭中有两人死亡，20人受伤。今天一早，伊拉克公众的情绪乍看起来似乎对此已麻木不仁。伊拉克遭受了英美空军的另一次空袭。伊拉克老百姓对此毫无办法。昨晚共有24架英美飞机参与空袭，它们从纬度33度以南的地方发射导弹，这是伊拉克飞机的禁区。但它们的目标在纬线以上，与巴格达距离只有5英里。遭摧毁的装置是雷达和指挥中心，美国国防部声称离居民区还很远。
日本最近收到警报，经济恢复之路还很漫长。上个月它的记录里出现了四年来的第一个月交易赤字。由于美国和亚洲经济发展速度的滑坡，一月交易赤字跌至八亿两千四百万美元。出口商日本钢铁公司，日立公司和松下电器公司和都注意到上述地区交易的滑坡。
有消息说欧洲财政部长今天将在布鲁塞尔会面，并对爱尔兰政府作出谴责。当12月爱尔兰共和国的预算中提到减税和增加政府开支时，各国部长已对此感到非常吃惊。其他欧洲国家则担心此举会引起通货膨胀，并影响单一货币欧元的稳定性。
欧盟15国的财政部长在布鲁塞尔举行每月一次的常规会议，他们将要巧妙地完成一项任务，对爱尔兰共和国政府--也是经济最成功的政府提出批评。在过去5年里，爱尔兰的经济以平均每年8%的速度增长，失业率达到20年来的最低水平，都柏林的物价甚至比伦敦的还要高。
香港迪斯尼乐园工程执行人本周会见商界要人和政府官员，逐项检查建造计划进展情况。迪斯尼的第二个亚洲乐园将在2005年开放。香港政府将提供30亿美元的土地和财政拨款。沃尔特·迪斯尼乐园和度假地的董事长说一切顺利，都在按部就班地进行。
美国东南部的居民现在都在进行打扫清理，因为一场风力强劲的暴风雨刚刚席卷这个地区。五个州内，至少有两人死亡，成千上万的人仍然忍受着暴风骤雨肆虐后留下的后患--停电。政府官员称，有些地区还需要数日才能恢复电力。在德克萨斯州，一辆学校巴士被卷入一条暴雨聚成的洪流中，一个军事医疗疏散小组用一架直升飞机从车顶上救出了三名儿童和一名司机。
最后来看体育新闻，欧洲冠军联赛皇家马德里和利兹联队进入四分之一决赛。在今晚最后的足球新闻中，我们先看看在巴西举行的一场半决赛，由罚点球来决定胜负让人着实捏了一把汗。
里约热内卢-圣保罗锦标赛半决赛中，圣保罗队主场作战首先攻入一球，以1比零获胜。接下来弗鲁米嫩塞队占尽主场优势，一开场马可·布里托就以一记劲射得分。7分钟后布里托梅开二度，从罚球区外又进一球。尽管弗朗卡为圣保罗队扳回一分，当晚还是以2-1落败，双方总分以2-2踢平。结果共罚了18个点球后，伊兰为圣保罗队攻入决定性的一球，这样圣保罗队进入决赛将与博塔福古队展开对抗。
1) condemn v. 谴责；非难
2) raid n. [军事]袭击，空袭
3) patrol v. 巡逻，巡视
4) exclusion n. 排斥，拒绝
5) resignation n. 屈从；辞职
6) at the hands of 被；受
7) pentagon n. 五角形。the Pentagon，五角大楼，即美国国防部，位于美国弗吉尼亚州的一幢正五角边形建筑。
8) deficit n. 亏损，赤字
9) tumble v. 急骤下跌；跌落
10) slowdown n. 减速；降低生产速度
11) reprimand v. 申斥；谴责
12) Brussels n. 布鲁塞尔，比利时首都
13) stoke v. 拨旺；司炉
14) undermine v. 削弱……的基础；使……垮台
15) currency n. 通货，货币
16) tricky a. 善施妙计的；爱耍花招的
17) hand out 把……拿出来；分发
18) boom v.（商业、城市等）迅速发展；繁荣
19) Dublin n. 都柏林，爱尔兰共和国首都。
20) subsidy n. 拨款；资助
21) hurricane n. 飓风
22) evacuation n. [军事]撤退，疏散
23) wrap up （非正式语）结束（一项活动）
24) penalty n. [体育]（因犯规）受罚
25) tournament n. 锦标赛；联赛