时间:2019-02-13 作者:英语课 分类:英语听力精选进阶版


英语课

Somali Pirates Take Hostages 索马里海盗扣押人质


You might have been forgiven for thinking that piracy 1 on the high seas was the stuff of Hollywood movies or historical novels, but Somali pirates have made 92 attacks this year, resulting in 36 successful hijackings.


Their most audacious and significant attack to date came on Saturday with the capture of the Saudi-owned Sirius Star and its crew of 25 (including two Britons) which was taken 450 nautical 3 miles (830km) off the coast of Kenya.


The move was described as "unprecedented 4" by the US Navy due to the size of the vessel 5 and the distance of the attack from the pirates’ usual theatre of operations; the Sirius Star is the biggest ship taken by pirates so far, weighing three times more than an American aircraft carrier and capable of carrying 2m barrels of oil, valued at around $100m (683m Yuan).


The pirates, who are often armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, usually hijack 2 ships in the Gulf 6 of Aden using powerful speedboats to approach merchant ships which they board using grappling hooks and rope ladders.


Once the crew has been taken hostage, the pirates direct the ship to a port in Somalia where the crew and boat are held until a ransom 7 is paid. There are currently 14 ships and 268 crew being held in pirate-friendly Somali ports.


Given that senior UN officials estimate that the pirates earn more than $100m (683m Yuan) a year from ransom payments made by ship owners, many ask why more military interventions 8 don’t take place.


NATO warships 9 are in the area but US Navy officials have told the BBC they can "not be everywhere". That said, an Indian Navy frigate 10 attacked and sank a Somali pirate 'mother ship' on Wednesday morning after coming under fire.


Most hijackings, however, do end peacefully although it can be a lengthy 11 process. On Wednesday the Hong Kong ship MV Great Creation and its crew of 25 Chinese and one Sri Lankan were released after two months of captivity 12.


GLOSSARY 词汇表


piracy on the high seas 公海上的海洋大盗


hijackings 劫持


audacious 放肆的,大胆的


Saudi-owned 沙特阿拉伯籍的(油轮)


crew 全体船员


navy 海军


vessel 船只


theatre of operations 战域,战区


aircraft carrier 航空母舰


barrels of oil (2百万)桶原油


rocket-propelled grenades 火箭推进榴弹


powerful speedboats 大功率的快艇


board 登船


grappling hooks 钩锚


taken hostage 被当作人质扣押


port 港口


ransom 赎回


military interventions 军事干涉


NATO warships 北大西洋公约组织舰艇


mother ship 母舰



n.海盗行为,剽窃,著作权侵害
  • The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
  • They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。
v.劫持,劫机,拦路抢劫
  • Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。
  • The hijack take place just after the plane take off.劫持是飞机刚起飞后发生的。
adj.海上的,航海的,船员的
  • A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
  • It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。
adj.无前例的,新奇的
  • The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
  • A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管
  • The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
  • You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂
  • The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
  • There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救
  • We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
  • The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。
n.介入,干涉,干预( intervention的名词复数 )
  • Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
  • The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网
军舰,战舰( warship的名词复数 ); 舰只
  • The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后,敌舰退出了海战。
  • The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。
n.护航舰,大型驱逐舰
  • An enemy frigate bore down on the sloop.一艘敌驱逐舰向这只护航舰逼过来。
  • I declare we could fight frigate.我敢说我们简直可以和一艘战舰交战。
adj.漫长的,冗长的
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
  • The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。
n.囚禁;被俘;束缚
  • A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
  • He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。
学英语单词
a little from column A, a little from column B
abandonment charge
abkar
aerial-spraying
aerosolizing
air mapping aeroplane
alfoxden
ancylus fluviatiliss
audience holding index
autowaves
bimen
blade carrying axle
brooder pneuminia
call sb's bluff
carbon neutrality
charver
clavus hexagona
clean-sheet
closure of horizon
color register
compensatory duty
delline
dictyosome (perroncito 1910)
diurate
dowghter
effective cathode current
effective-power
ehrenbergs
elutriator-centrifugal apparatus
Enantiocladia
energy salinity gradient
enfored marriage
equivalence ratio
escoparone
expected returns
fibre-optics image dissection camera
five-stages
fullsails
galathea genkai
general planning
Geocyclus
germany internet providers
greine
haidinger's brush
Haller's fretum
hepatopathies
hierarchy computer control system
homefields
how do I get to the train station
hypophysiotropic
II Maccabees
interaction absorption
interlap
isomyristin
labor usage variance
lamplet
Legal System of Ship ArrestAustralia
leucylnegamycin
Maghreb Common market
maize gluten meal
medium of change
merillat
mis-specifications
Money draws
more striking
mulder
navigation computer control
noiselets
noncollector
nonlobed
oilless air compressor
orifice control valve
pad-bake method
panchayat forest
paroxysmal stage
photoelectric double-slit interferometer
practically
profycy
protalus rampart
ram's-head
reform of the financial system
respectablizes
Romano di Lombardia
russian monetary units
saivo
Septics
simple theodolite
single crank double action press
soupconnait
spell-checker
sporting clays
Staphylococcus haemorrhagicus
storm splitting
supermethods
switch turn
thermocouple sensing system
too big for his boots
tragicomedy psychology
underdrains
unexplained variance ratio
urgings
wrecking tug