2016年6月英语四级听力改革短篇新闻练习(15)

　　听力材料：

　　Votes have been cast across the United States in atightly fought presidential election with campaigningcontinuing even on polling day itself. The Republicancandidate Mitt Romney is taking the rare step ofcampaigning in two battleground states as voting takes place. Speaking to supporters outsideCleveland, Ohio, he said it was critical that as many people go to the polls as possible.

　　People are making calls to get folks out to vote, because they know we get folks out to votewe'll have the real change, we really needed in this country. And I'm so excited about theprospects. I've got to tell you, I'm buoyed by the spirit of the people across the nation, theenthusiasm, the support, the energy. It is just amazing. Thank you.

　　By contrast, the Democrat incumbent, Barack Obama held his final rally late on Monday.Opinion polls have suggested that Mr Obama has a narrow lead in most of the key states, butthe result will be very close.

　　We feel confident, we've got the votes to win, but it's going to depend ultimately on whetherthose votes turn out. And so I would encourage everybody on all sides just to make sure thatyou exercise this precious right that we have and that people fought so hard for us to have.

　　Special measures have been put in place to facilitate voting in large parts of the eastern UnitedStates still affected by last week's massive storm, while the majority of polling stations inNew York are said to be working normally, some have had to rigged up in tents. Underemergency legislation people have been allowed to vote wherever they can get to with specialbuses provided to transport them.

　　The main Islamist group occupying northern Mali says it rejects all forms of extremism andterrorism. The Ansar Dine group urged the Malian government and other armed movements toengage in political dialogue following talks with the regional mediator, President BlaiseCompaore of Burkina Faso. Richard Hamilton has more.

　　Ansar Dine which controls the feeble town of Timbuktu, a large tracts of the Arab northerndesert is thought to have stoned people to death and amputated the hands of thieves under astrict interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia. But now it seems to be talking about peace. Thisapparent turnaround may be because of the very real threat of military intervention byinternational forces. West African army chiefs have been meeting in the capital Bamako todiscuss such an operation in the north. And despite a long arduous process involvingconsultation with the United Nations, they are now very close to finalizing details of thataction.

　　Several people have been killed in a bomb attack in the Syrian capital Damascus. The officialSyrian news agency Sana said the blast took place in a northwestern suburb. The Londonbased Syrian observatory for human rights said three bombs exploded killing at least tenpeople.

　　BBC News

　　Turkey's ruling AK party has submitted to parliament proposals aimed at transforming thepowers to the president. Under the existing constitution, the president has a largelyceremonial role. The current Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he intends to runfor the role of the president when the elections are held in 2014. Here is Tom Esslemont.

　　Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics for ten years. As Prime Minister, he'srestored economic stability to a country once steeped in crisis. He's brought to heel Turkey'spowerful military diminishing its ability to intervene in politics. To him it must feel as thoughthere is little standing in his way to become a president and doing so obtaining more power. Ifsuccessful he would continue to appoint ministers and under his party's plans make decisionswithout being hamstrung by parliamentary bureaucracy.

　　Canada and India have reached a deal that would allow Canadian companies to export uraniumand nuclear reactors to India. The announcement was made in Delhi by the visiting CanadianPrime Minister Stephen Harper and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

　　Police in Venezuela have seized a stash of more than two and a half ton of Marijuana in thestate of Tachira. The drug was hidden in a container which police said had come fromneighbouring Colombia. One Venezuelan man was arrested. Police say they are working withtheir counterparts in Colombia to track down the smuggling ring which sent the consignment.

　　Spain's constitutional court has dismissed an appeal by the governing Popular Partychallenging the legality of country's gay marriage law. The conservative Popular Partyclaimed that the law was against the constitution which, it said, recognised only the union of aman and a woman as marriage. The court rejected the argument and upheld the law which waspassed seven years ago by a socialist government.

　　And that's the latest BBC News