Politics this week (2020.06.20) Part.01

Brazil reported a record 35,000 new cases of covid-19 in a day. Even that grim figure is widely regarded as an undercount. India is now recording tens of thousands of new infections each week. In America, Florida, Texas and Arizona set daily records for new cases. Although many places are easing lockdowns, Anthony Fauci, the leading adviser to the White House on infectous diseases, warned that the pandemic is far from over: “The numbers speak for themselves.”

• grim
  • unpleasant and depressing 令人不快的，令人沮丧的
• undercount
  • [statistics] 低估
• set a record
  • 创造纪录

Beijing went into “wartime mode” to battle an outbreak of covid-19, the first in the Chinese capital after eight weeks with no cases reported of local transmission. Many of the cases are linked to a wholesale food market.

• wholesale
  • [only before noun] 批发的

A court in China sentenced the country’s former insurance regulator, Xiang Junbo, to 11 years in prison for accepting 18m yuan ($2.5m) in bribes. Mr Xiang had also served as deputy governor of the central bank.

• insurance
  • 保险；保险业
• regulator
  • （某行业等的）监管者，监管机构
• bribe
  • 贿赂

At least 20 Indian troops were killed in a fight with Chinese soldiers in the Galwan valley, the first combat deaths on the disputed Sino-Indian border in 45 years. China did not say how many of its soldiers died. The brawl involved nail-studded clubs and stones rather than guns. Tensions have increased since April, when the Chinese army encroached on Indian-claimed territory.

• troop
  • [pl.] soldiers, especially in large groups 士兵
• Sino-
  • （构成名词和形容词）中国的，中国人（的）
    • Sino-Japanese relations 中日关系
• brawl
  • a noisy and violent fight involving a group of people, usually in a public place 喧闹，斗殴，闹事
• nail-studded club
  • “钉头棒”
  • nail
    • 钉子；指甲
  • studded
    • 布满（或有很多）… 的；用饰钉装饰的
  • club
    • 击棍（一头粗一头细）
• encroach
  • (disapproving) 侵占（某人的时间）；侵犯（某人的权利）；扰乱（某人的生活）

North Korea blew up the building used for meetings between its officials and those from South Korea. It said the explosion was retaliation for unflattering leaflets about its supreme leader, sent over the border via balloons by defectors, whom North Korea called “rubbish-like mongrel dogs”.

• retaliation
  • 报复
• unflattering
  • making sb/sth seem worse or less attractive than they really are 贬损的，有损形象的
• mongrel
  • 杂种狗

A court in the Philippines found Maria Ressa guilty of libel for alleging links between a businessman and a judge. Ms Ressa is the boss of Rappler, a news website that is critical of the country’s strongman president, Rodrigo Duterte. Her lawyer said the message to other journalists was “Keep quiet, or you’ll be next.”

• libel
  • （文字）诽谤，中伤
• be critical of sb/sth
  • 批评
• strongman
  • 铁腕人物，独裁者

Steven Mnuchin, America’s treasury secretary, said his government will nominate Mauricio Claver-Carone, a staff member of Donald Trump’s National Security Council, to lead the Inter-American Development Bank. All the bank’s four presidents since its founding in 1959 have been from Latin America. The US has 30% of the bank’s shares, the largest stake of any country.

• treasury secretary
  • 财政部长
• nominate
  • 提名，推荐；任命
• Inter-American
  • 美洲国家之间的
• stake
  • 股份；赌注

Venezuela’s Supreme Court removed the leaders of two opposition parties, Justive First and Democratic Action. It replaced them with men whom the parties had previously expelled for being stooges of Nicolás Maduro, the country’s dictator.

• expel
  • 把 … 开除（或除名）
• stooge
  • 走狗，傀儡，受人驱使的人

America’s Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act makes it illegal to fire workers for being gay or transgender. More than half the states allowed such discrimination. The 6-3 majority decision was written by Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee.

• Civil Rights Act
  • 民权法案
• discrimination
  • 歧视，区别对待
• appointee
  • 被任命者，被委任者