英语高级听力listentothis3原文5-6

Lesson 5

Section One: News in Brief

1. The House began debate today on a three-year bill to combat trafficking and use of illegal drugs. The measure has the support of most representatives and House Speaker Thomas O’Neill says he expects it to pass by tomorrow. Among other things, the bill would increase penalties for violators, provide money to increase drug enforcement and coast guard personnel,and require drug producing countries to establish eradication programs as a condition of US support for development loans.

2. A cultural exchange between the US and the Soviet Union may face an American boycott unless US News and World Report correspondent, Nicholas Daniloff, is freed from a Moscow jail. An American style town meeting is scheduled to take place in Latvia next week, but the two hundred seventy Americans due to take part say they won't go if Daniloff remains in jail. They add the decision is a personal one and is not being made by the Reagan Administration in retaliation for the Daniloff detention.

3. Egyptian and Israeli negotiators have reached agreement on resolving the Taba border dispute, clearing the way for a summit between the two countries to begin tomorrow. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres will meet in Alexandria. Details of the Taba agreement have not been made available.

Section Two: News in Detail

Tapescript

The United States House of Representatives is debating an omnibus drug bill and expects to pass the measure tomorrow. Though the bill has attracted strong, bipartisan support, NPR's Cokey Roberts reports the debate on the issue points up the differences between political parties.

When Congress returned from the Fourth of July recess, House Speaker Tip O'Neill said there was only one thing members were talking about in the cloak-room: drugs. The Democrats quickly pulled together chairmen from twelve different committees to draft a drug package. Then, stung by criticism that they were acting in a partisan fashion, the Democratic leaders invited the Republicans to join them in the newly declared war on drugs. So, when the bill came to the House floor today, the party leaders led off debate. Texas Democrat Jim Wright,

'It's time to declare an all-out war, to mobilize our forces, public and private,national and local, in a total coordinated assault upon this menace, which is draining our economy of some two hundred and thirty billion dollars

this year, slowly rotting away the fabric of our society, seducing and killing our young. That it will take money is hardly debatable. We can't right artillery with spitballs."

The question of j List how much money this measure will cost has not been answered to the satisfaction of all members. Democrats say it's one and half billion dollars over three years, with almost seven hundred thousand for next year. Republicans claim the price tag will run higher and are trying to emphasize other aspects of the drug battle, aspects which they think play better in Republican campaigns. Minority leader Robert Michel, 'The ultimate cure for the drug epidemic must come from within the heart of each individual faced with the temptation of taking drugs. It is ultimately a problem of character, of will power, of family and community, and concern, and personal pride."

Among other items, the bill before the House increases penalties for most drug related crimes, sets the minimum jail term of twenty years for drug trafficking and manufacturing, authorizes money for the drug enforcemen t administration and prison construction, beefs up the ability of the coast guard and customs service to stop drugs coming into this country, and creates programs for drug education.

The various sections of the measure give House members ample opportunity to speak on an issue where they want their voices heard. Maryland Democratic Barbara McCulsky was nominated for the Senate yesterday. Today, she spoke to the part of the bill which funds drug eradication programs in foreign countries. "When we fought yellow fever, we didn't go at it one mosquito at a time. We went right to the swamp. That's what the Foreign Affairs section of this legislation will do. It will go to the swamps, or where cocaine is either grown, refined, or manufactured."

Republican Henson Moore is running for the Senate in Louisiana. He spoke to the part of the drug bill which changes the trade laws for countries which deal in drugs.' We're moving to stop something; it's absolutely idiotic. It needs to be stopped: this situation of where a country can sell legally to us on the one hand and illegally to us under the table, selling drugs in this country poisoning our young people and our population."

Section Three: Special Report

Tapescript

Today in China, in Nanjing, balloons, firecrackers and lion dancers mark the dedication of the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies. For the first time since World War II, Chinese and American students will attend a graduate institution in China that is administered jointly by academic organizations that are worlds apart figuratively and literally. NPR's Susan Stanberg reports.