panda是什么意思News+Item+1-24+听力原文

2021年1月19日发(作者：艾菊)
News Item 1
The Cuban President Raul Castro has announced a major cabinet reshuffle, removing 11 ministers
from
office
including
two
of
the
country's
most
prominent
politicians.
State
television
said
the
cabinet chief Carlos Lage and the Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque would both step down in
line with plans to make the island's government more compact and functional.



This is the first major political shake-up since Raul Castro officially took over the presidency
just over a year ago. More than ten top officials have been dropped or replaced and four ministries
merged.
President
Raul
Castro
had
announced
last
year
that
he
intended
to
restructure
the
government,
but
such
a
large
scale
cabinet
reshuffle
has
not
been
seen
in
Cuba
since
the
revolution. All of those affected by the changes had originally been appointed by Cuba's former
leader Fidel Castro.
News Item 2




More bad news for the American housing market:
The Mortgage Bankers Association says housing repossessions are at their highest rates ever, led
by
California
and
Florida.
And
loan
payments
at
least thirty
days
late
are
at
their highest
since
1985.




Problems in the housing market represent the greatest risks to the economy.




Central
bank
chief
Ben
Bernanke
says
helping
the
economy
is
now
more
important
than
fighting
inflation.
He
told
the
Senate
Banking
Committee
last
week
that
conditions
are
more
difficult now than they were in 2001. That was the last year in which the American economy was
in a recession.




Most
economists
define
a
recession
as
at
least
six
months
of
economic
shrinkage.
The
economy
was
still
growing
at
last
report,
but
very
little:
just
six- tenths
of
one
percent
from
October to December. That was down from almost five percent for the July-to-September period.
News Item 3




Weeds can take control of productive land. Crops generally produce several hundred seeds
per
plant.
But
each
weed
plant
can
produce
tens
or
even
hundreds
of
thousands
of
seeds.
And
some buried seeds can survive up to forty years, or even longer.




Eradicating weeds means you have to remove all the seeds and roots so the plants will not
grow back. But birds or the wind can reintroduce them to the land.




A more common way to deal with weeds is to control them enough so that the land can be
used for planting. Experts advise using two or more control methods.




Chemical
weed
killers
or
natural
treatments
like
corn
gluten
can
suppress
weed
growth.
Dense
planting
of
a
crop
can
also
act
as
a
natural
control.
Bill
Curran
is
a
professor
of
weed
science at Penn State, in University Park, Pennsylvania. He says dense planting is one of the most
common methods for suppressing weeds.




He says a dense, competitive crop that quickly shades the soil will help suppress many weeds.
The seeds need light to grow, so blocking the sun will reduce weed growth.
News Item 4
In the United States, federal law requires public schools to provide special education services to
children with any disability. Specialists commonly provide these services while the children attend
the same schools, and often the same classes, as other students.

But today we look at three private schools that serve only students with learning disabilities.
The
Hillside
School
in
Pennsylvania
accepts
up
to
one
hundred
twenty-eight
children.
The
students
are
ages
five
to
thirteen.
They
have
disorders
with
language,
writing
or
working
with
numbers. They may also have attention deficit disorders.

Each class has no more than eight students. Hillside administrators say the main goal is to prepare
students
to
learn
effectively
in
a
regular
school.
Teachers
and
specialists
develop
individual
learning plans for the students, which is something a public school may also do.

Development director Kathy Greene says most students remain at Hillside for about three years
before leaving for a regular classroom setting.
News Item 5
The World Health Organization is urging countries to follow six policies to prevent
millions of
deaths linked to tobacco use. The six policies are known as MPOWER, spelled M-P-O-W-E-R.

The letter M means monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies. The P is for protecting people
by establishing smoke-free areas. O is for offering services to help people stop smoking. The letter
W
means
warning
people
about
the
dangers
of
tobacco.
E
is
for
enforcing
bans
on
tobacco
advertising and other forms of marketing. And R is for raising taxes on tobacco.

A World Health Organization report says raising taxes is the single most effective way to reduce
tobacco use. A study found that governments now collect an average of five hundred times more
money in tobacco taxes each year than they spend on control efforts.

The report says tobacco now causes more than five million deaths a year. It predicts this number
will rise to more than eight million by the year two thousand thirty. By the end of the century, it
says, tobacco could kill one billion people -- ten times as many as in the twentieth century.

News Item 6
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement aimed at reducing the release of harmful gases
that are believed to cause climate change. The United States is not part of the agreement. But since
two thousand five, over eight hundred American mayors across the country have agreed to sign
their own version of the protocol. It is called the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
These

cities
are
working
to
reduce
energy
use
and
pollution
in
new
and
creative
ways.
Such
efforts by city governments not only help reserve the effects of climate change. They also help
governments
save
large
amounts
of
money
on
energy
costs.
And,
cities
that
are
leaders
in
this
green movement set a good example to their citizens about the importance of environment issues.
Local leaders have agreed to follow the suggestions of the Kyoto Protocol in their communities.
These mayors have come together to show how acting locally can help solve world problems and
protect the environment.
and renewable materials and re-using materials.
News Item 7




Top Palestinian leaders from the rival Hamas and Fatah factions are meeting in Cairo to try to
hammer
out
an
agreement
that
will
pave
the
way
for
a
unity
government
in
both
Gaza
and
the
West
Bank.
Egyptian
intelligence
chief
Omar
Suleiman,
a
veteran
of
many
previous
mediation
efforts, is chairing the conference.




Participants at the ten-day conference will form five committees to tackle the key issues of
forming
a
unity
government;
preparing
for
presidential
and
parliamentary
elections,
rebuilding
Palestinian security forces, and reorganizing the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
News Item 8




Tuesday's Middle East conference in Annapolis, Maryland, put Israelis and Palestinians back
on the road map to peace. Now the question is, how far will they get?




The

map
is
the
name
for
a
plan
that
is
supposed
to
lead
to
a
permanent,
two-state
solution
to
the
conflict.
The
Quartet
of
the
United
States,
Russia,
the
European
Union
and
the
United Nations launched the plan in two thousand three. The plan did not go far.





But this week Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
agreed to immediately restart negotiations. They promise to seek a peace treaty that furthers the
goal of an independent Palestine.





The two sides have not held serious negotiations in seven years. A committee that will guide
the talks will hold its first meeting December twelfth. The aim is to reach an agreement by the end
of next year.





Many
Arab
countries,
including
Saudi
Arabia
and
Syria,
attended
the
international
conference held by the United States. Iran was not invited.
News Item 9




One of the world's longest serving leaders announced this week that he is leaving office after
just short of fifty eventful years. Fidel Castro of Cuba is eighty-one years old and in poor health.
He named his brother Raul as acting president in two thousand six.





In
a
letter
published
Tuesday,
Fidel
Castro
said
he
was
not
saying
goodbye
to
the
Cuban
people. His only wish, he said, is to





On
Sunday
the
Cuban
National
Assembly
is
expected
to
name
seventy-six-year- old
Raul
Castro
as
president.
The
two
brothers
appear
to
share
very
similar
ideas
about
governing
the
communist-ruled
island.
Fidel
Castro
will
apparently
remain
a
member
of
Parliament
and
is
widely expected to still have strong influence.
News Item 10




Bushfires
in
southeastern
Australia
have
killed
108
people
and
the
authorities
are
warning
that the number of victims could increase as outbreaks continue to burn out of control. Giant walls
of
flame
have
destroyed
hundreds
of
homes,
forests
and
farmland
in
the
country's
worst
ever
wildfire disaster.



Witnesses
recount
seeing
trees
explode
and
the
sky
raining
ash
as
temperatures
reach
47
degrees Celsius.





Up
to
400
fires
raged
around
the
southern
city
of
Melbourne,
where
embers
rode
on
furnace- like
winds
pushing
the
front
forward,
devouring
hundreds
of
homes
and
vast
areas
of
forest and farmland. There are concerns that entire towns may have been lost.
Charred bodies have been found in cars. It is thought many of the victims had tried to escape the
onslaught only to be overcome by its sheer speed and ferocity.

News Item 11




Scientists think they are a step closer to a new drug to treat schistosomiasis. More than two
hundred million people suffer from this parasitic worm disease. Most live in developing nations in
tropical climates. About ten percent of victims become seriously disabled from internal bleeding,
iron loss, organ damage or other effects.





A team in the United States found that chemical compounds known as oxadiazoles can target
an
enzyme
needed
for
the
survival
of
Schistosoma.
This
is
the
group
of
flatworms
that
cause
schistosomiasis.





The scientists tested oxadiazoles on laboratory mice. They found that one compound killed
the parasite at every level of development
–
from larva to adult. The study also showed that the
compound was active against all three major species of Schistosoma worms that infect humans.