Lesson 89 Part I

Lesson 89

Part Ⅰ Warming-up Exercises

Dictation: News Items

Training Focus:

Speed and accuracy in writing down the news

Students at this stage may not find it difficult to understand Special English news programs. However, writing down the news quickly and accurately may still be challenging to most of the students. Speed and accuracy in writing are the training focus in this drill.

Directions: You are going to hear two news items. Listen carefully. Write down every word you hear.

Key:

1．Officials at Washington's National Zoo are hoping that America's female giant panda is about to give birth. The giant panda Ling Ling has shown some signs that  she is preparing to give birth. She is eating less and has been building a nest of bamboo shoots. It is very rare for a panda to give birth in a zoo. People are watching Ling Ling all the time, so if she does give birth, zoo officials can immediately take care of the baby panda. Ling Ling and the male giant panda Shing Shing were gifts from China to the United States.

2．Australia's National Farmers' Federation says the country's agriculture is facing a crisis, because of long periods without rain. Some areas of Australia have had no rain for more than four years.

Lesson 89 Part Ⅱ News

Lesson 89

Part Ⅱ   News

Ex. Ⅰ

Directions: Complete the summary for each news item.

Key:

1．environmental and other problems

2．nuclear radiation poisoning on Pacific island

3．refugee problems

4．reaching Venus

Ex. Ⅱ

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the information you get from the news.

Key: (see tapescript)

Tapescript:

News   (2'31")

Canada

American Secretary of State George Shultz is in Halifax, Nova Scotia for two days of talks with Canadian officials. They are discussing environmental, investment and international questions. On Sunday Mr Shultz and Canadian Foreign Minister Allan MacEachen discussed environmental problems concerning acid rains. Acid rain is a form of air pollution caused by coal-burning factories in the United States. The pollution falls to earth, and severely damages animal and plant life in Canada and the northeastern United States. Canada wants the United States to take action on a problem to deal with this situation.

Wellington

New Zealand says it is sending two scientists to the small Pacific island Mururua to test the area for signs of nuclear radiation poisoning. France has carried out a number of nuclear tests on Mururua.

Geneva

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says there are now 10,000,000 refugees in the world. UN Commissioner Paul Hartline said the refugee problems will continue for a long time. He said the refugee problem must be solved by governments, not by his office. The UN official asked for 381,000,000 dollars to carry out refugee programs next year.

Space News

The Soviet news agency TASS says a Soviet space vehicle has reached the planet Venus after a 130-day flight. The spacecraft Venera 15 was launched June 2. It traveled 330million kilometers before going into orbit around Venus. TASS said another Soviet spacecraft will reach Venus within a few days.

Lesson 89 Part Ⅲ News

Lesson 89

Part Ⅲ   News

Ex.

Directions: Complete the summary for each news item.

Key: 1．Clash between police and anti-nuclear demonstrators

2．movie about nuclear war on TV

3．no plans to place Soviet missiles in Hungary

4．dismissal of government committee and re-establishment of vice presidency

5．Vietnamese withdrawal from Kampuchea

6．sending special ambassadors to Beijing and Moscow

7．Meeting between Romanian and Chinese premiers

Tapescript:

News  (3'33")

Here's the news in Special English.

This is Al Ross reporting.

Police have clashed with several thousand anti-nuclear demonstrators outside West Germany's parliament building in Bonn. Demonstrations took place as the parliament debated whether to approve NATO plans to base new American medium-range missiles in West Germany. Police arrested 130persons and later released them.

Reports say more than 100 million Americans watched a movie on television Sunday night about nuclear war. A study done before and after the movie was shown says that the film had no immediate effect on Americans' opinions about the United States defense policies.

A top official of the Hungarian Communist Party says Hungary has no plans to place Soviet missiles there. The official said there is no need to place Soviet missiles in Hungary because it does not share borders with any NATO countries.

The Philippine ruling party has voted to dismiss the country's top government committee and re-establish the office of vice president. The ruling party will present its proposals to the Philippine National Assembly next year. Earlier Mrs Imelda Marcos, wife of the president, announced her resignation from the committee.

Thailand says Australia agrees that Vietnamese forces should withdraw from Kampuchea, but may disagree on the way to bring about such a withdrawal. Thailand's Foreign Minister Siddi Savetsila spoke to reporters after a meeting in Bangkok between Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and top Thai officials.

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau has sent special ambassadors to Beijing and Moscow to discuss ways to case tensions between East and West. Mr Trudeau told reporters in Dacca that he will decide whether to visit China and the Soviet Union after hearing the reports from his ambassadors.

Romania's Premier Constantin Dascalescu has met in Beijing with Chinese Premier Zhao Zhiyang. China's official Xinhua News Agency said the talks were friendly. Earlier this year Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang visited Romania.

That's the news in Special English, Al Ross reporting.