2016考研英语阅读：巴西经济稍好于预期

　　The centre-right UMP, led by Nicolas Sarkozy, a former president, and its conservative alliescame first in the second round of French local elections. The far-right National Front also made sweeping gains in what was another very bad election night for the ruling Socialist governmentof Franois Hollande.

　　法国前总统萨科齐领导的中间偏右的人民运动联盟及其保守派盟友在法国地方选举的第二轮中领先。极右派国民阵线也在大选之夜中获得全面收益。而对于奥朗德执政的社会党政府来说，这是又一个非常糟糕的夜晚。

　　Work continued on identifying the remains of all those who died when a German airliner crashedin the French Alps. The co-pilot is suspected of deliberately flying the plane into the mountains. It has emerged that he had been treated for suicidal depression before getting his licence to fly.

　　在法国阿尔卑斯山坠毁的德国飞机的残骸的辨认工作仍在继续。副驾驶涉嫌故意使飞机飞进山里。有消息称，他在获得驾照之前，一直在治疗有自杀倾向的抑郁症。

　　Peru's prime minister, Ana Jara, resigned along with the rest of the cabinet after being censured in Congress. The opposition held her responsible for failing to supervise the country's intelligence agency, which allegedly spied on thousands of Peruvians, including businessmen, journalists and opposition politicians.

　　秘鲁的情报机构对包括商人、记者和反对党政治家在内的数千名秘鲁人进行监视。反对党认为总理安娜·哈拉应该为未能监督该情报机构而负责。在受到国会的指责后，安娜·哈拉与内阁其他成员集体辞职。

　　Felipe Gonzalez, who was prime minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996, formed a team to defend two jailed members of Venezuela's opposition. It plans to offer legal advice to Leopoldo López, who was arrested during protests against the country's left-wing regime in2014, and Antonio Ledezma, the mayor of Caracas, who was charged with plotting a coup in February this year. Venezuela's foreign minister accused Mr Gonzalez, a Socialist, of acting asa “lobbyist for international and local right-wing interests”.

　　前西班牙首相费利佩·冈萨雷斯(1982年至1996年在任)组织了一个律师团队，欲向委内瑞拉两位狱中的反对派人士利奥波德·洛佩斯(2014年抗议委政府时被捕)和安东尼奥·莱德斯马(加拉加斯市长，被控阴谋政变)提供法律援助。委外交部长指责冈萨雷斯先生(后者是社会主义者)简直是“国内外右翼势力的说客”。

　　Brazil's economy grew by 0.1% last year, slightly better than had been thought. One reason for this was that it counted R&D as an investment rather than as a cost, in line with international accounting standards. This year output will be depressed by spending cuts and higher interest rates. The economy is expected to contract by about 1%.

　　巴西经济去年增长0.1%，稍好于预期。原因之一是该国采用国际通行的会计标准，将研发视作投资，而非成本。去年由于削减开支和利率提高，巴西的生产总量受到抑制。该国经济据信将萎缩0.1%。

　　Out of the frying pan…?

　　才出狼穴…?

　　The government in Thailand said it would soon end the martial law it introduced last May. But itwants to bring in possibly more draconian restrictions under Article 44 of a new constitution that will give it wide-ranging powers to detain anyone who threatens to “disrupt or suppress”national security.

　　泰国政府宣布，将结束自去年五月开始的戒严。但是可能将根据新宪法第44条，施以更严苛的限制。这部新宪法赋予政府广泛的权力，任何人如涉嫌“危及国家安全”，皆得拘捕之。

　　A blogger who posted writings criticising Islam was hacked to death in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Washiqur Rahman's murder comes just a month after Avijit Roy, a liberalBangladeshi writer based in America, was killed in a machete attack during a visit to Dhaka toattend a book fair.

　　瓦什可·拉赫曼在孟加拉首都达卡遇袭身亡。拉赫曼先生是知名博主，素来批评伊斯兰教。仅仅一个月之前，达喀尔还发生过一次类似事件：当时阿维吉特·罗伊(自由派孟加拉作家，旅居美国)在出席一次书展时，被弯刀砍死。

　　In Singapore a teenager was arrested after a video he posted celebrating the death of Lee KuanYew, the city-state's long-serving prime minister, appeared to criticise Christianity. The 16-year-old was charged with breaking Singapore's strict hate-speech laws and will be tried as anadult.

　　新加坡一位青少年发布视频庆祝开国总理李光耀离世，似乎还顺带黑了基督教一把，结果被捕。新加坡对言论向来严加管控，这位少年显然触犯国法，并将以成年人身份受审。

　　Not doing their homework

　　没做作业

　　A deadline passed for countries to submit their proposals on tackling greenhouse-gasemissions in time for a big conference in Paris in December at which a new climate treaty will be signed. Disappointingly, only a handful of countries, including America, but not China, have handed in their plans, making negotiations ahead of the conference all the more tricky.

　　12月将于巴黎召开联合国气候大会，届时将签署一个新的气候协议。各国曾同意在某个时点之前提交本国关于处理温室气体排放的计划，以期大会能取得实质成果。遗憾的是，只有一小部分国家(包括美国但无中国)提交了本国的计划，这使会前协商更显黯淡。

　　Harry Reid of Nevada, who has led the Senate Democrats since 2005, said he would not seekre-election in 2016. He endorsed Chuck Schumer of New York to succeed him as minority leader. His Senate seat is now up for grabs; and there is a chance that America will finally beable to store nuclear waste safely in Yucca Mountain, a site in Nevada that Mr Reid long blocked.

　　内华达州的哈利·雷德自2005年起担任参议院民主党领袖。他说自己不会在2016年寻求连任，并支持纽约州的查默·舒默作为接班人。这样一来，雷德先生的参议院席位就算是插上草标了。值得一提的是，亚卡山脉颇适于储藏核废料，而雷德先生态度鲜明的反对这一构想。如今他虽然还未离任，可已经有人打起了亚卡山脉的主意。

　　Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, asked the state legislature to amend the state's new“religious freedom” act to make it clear that it does not allow businesses to discriminateagainst gay people. The law has sparked protests and boycott threats. The governor of Connecticut banned state-funded travel to Indiana, although Connecticut also has a nearlyidentical law, as do about 20 states in all. Arkansas's legislature passed a similar bill on March31st.

　　印第安那州长迈克·彭斯要求州立法机关修订该州的“宗教自由”法案，以明示在商业行为中不允许歧视同性恋人士。这一法案曾激起抗议，甚至有人声称要抵制它。康奈狄格州长禁止使用州立资立前往印第安那，虽然该州也刚刚通过了同样的法案，并且两个州并非特例，而是加入了一个近20个州的大家庭。阿肯色州于3月31日通过了类似法案。

　　【重点讲解】

　　1.more or less 差不多，几乎;大约

　　例句:I've more or less finished reading the book.

　　我差不多已经把这本书全看完了。

　　2.accuse of 指责，控告

　　例句:She accused the official of corruption.

　　她指控这位官员腐败。

　　3.because of 因为;由于

　　例句:He was not a particularly good shot because of his eyesight.

　　他视力不好，算不上是一个出色的射手。

　　4.responsible for 为…负责，是造成…的原因

　　例句:And who was responsible for that deregulation?

　　谁应该为这种放松管制负责?

【英语阅读资料】这里有↑↑↑