2016年6月英语四级听力改革短篇新闻练习(8)

　　听力材料：

　　BBC News with Marion Marshall

　　Rebel fighters in Syria say they've shot down agovernment fighter plane near the border with Iraq.Footage of the attack posted online shows a jetburst into flames amid the sound of heavy gunfire.The rebels say they've captured the pilot. Another video shows rebels questioning a man whoidentifies himself as the pilot. Syrian state television has confirmed the crash, but said it wasdue to technical problems. Kevin Connolly has more.

　　The plane appeared to be a Russian-built MiG-23, and experts say it's decked out in thedistinctive markings of a Syrian air force. A few seconds into the footage, a bright, yellowyorange point of flame appears on the fuselage, and then, almost immediately, blossoms into ahuge ball of light. There's no independent verification of the images. Planes like the MiG-23have given the Syrian government a huge advantage over the rebels; and if one has been shotdown, then it is a significant moment in this conflict.

　　In Norway, an official inquiry into the way police responded to the attacks by Anders BehringBreivik last year has found they could have been avoided. The commission said certainsecurity measures were not heeded, meaning that Breivik was able to plant a bomb close togovernment buildings unnoticed. Caroline Hawley reports.

　　It's just over a year since Anders Breivik set off a bomb at a government building in Oslo, andthen drove to the picturesque island of Utoeya, where, dressed in police uniform, he calmlypicked off his victims. The police themselves arrived on the island more than an hour after thekillings began. Today, the inquiry found that the bomb could have been prevented. Theinquiry also found there'd been communication failures. It took the police too long to issue adescription of Breivik and his vehicle; and it took the police too long to get onto the island.

　　The Vatican has ordered that Pope Benedict's former butler should stand trial for stealingsecret documents from the Pope's private office. Paolo Gabriele and another Vatican employeeare also accused of stealing a check worth $100,000. David Willey reports from Rome.

　　The Pope's private apartment on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican is supposedto be one of the most secure locations in the world. Yet, Paolo Gabriele managed to spiritaway a stack of correspondents which he took home and photocopied, according to Vaticaninvestigators. The Vatican spokesman said inquiries are continuing, and other people workinginside the Vatican may be implicated. The theft has been a deeply embarrassing episode forthe Roman Catholic Church.

　　The Olympic flag has arrived in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, which will host the 2016Summer Games. The flag arrived with the city Mayor Eduardo Paes who received it from hisLondon counterpart on Sunday. It marks the official start of Rio's Olympic preparations whichinclude the building of several sports venues in the next four years. Rio will be the first SouthAmerican city to host the Olympics.

　　You're listening to the latest World News from the BBC.

　　Nearly 1,000 people have fled from wild fires on one of the Spanish Canary Islands. Fanned bywarm winds, the fires on La Gomera have engulfed scrubland and dry valleys, and sentresidents fleeing from the western town of Valle Gran Rey. The fires have damaged part of LaGomera's Garajonay National Park.

　　Police in the United States say three people have been killed in a shooting incident near a Texasuniversity campus. One of the dead was a police officer who first arrived on the scene. Thegunman, who was wounded during exchange of gunfire, has also died. The shooting was closeto A&M University northwest of Houston.

　　Conservationists in South Africa say they've succeeded in reducing the elephant populationafter a five-year contraception program. The number of cubs being born at a park in northernKwaZulu-Natal has now halved. Darts carrying contraceptives are fired from the air, avoiding thedistressing process of hunting and culling the animals. Controlling the elephant population isvital as they often rampage through farms to find the vast quantities of vegetation they need.A district ecologist, Catharine Hanekom, said the results were encouraging.

　　"The really* a * is that * remote application. So we were flying in helicopter. We jostledanimals from the *. The * were for us, and that's basically the impact that * have on thehood."

　　The owners of Cosmopolitan magazine say its long-time editor, Helen Gurley Brown, has died inNew York at the age of 90. Helen Gurley Brown became famous in 1962 after writing thebestseller Sex and the Single Girl – a book of advice and anecdotes on why being singleshouldn't mean being sexless. Widely credited with helping to encourage the female sexualrevolution, she was hired by Hearst which owns Cosmopolitan in 1965 to improve themagazine's fortunes. For the next 32 years, she developed a style which encouraged readers toget everything out of life.

　　BBC News