AU news 0727

Good morning. Kevin Rudd’s hand-picked health reform advisor has warned Australia is wasting much of the 94 billion expenses each year on health services, and will not be able to afford even the current flawed system without major reforms. Later this morning, the prime minister will release the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission’s report on what’s wrong with our healthcare system. It’s made more than 120 recommendations.

The US has launched a fresh diplomatic offensive in the Middle East. Special envoy George Mitchell met the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv to try to kick-start negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He’s also held talks in Syria. His trip is part of President Barack Obama’s push for better relations between Israel and the Arab world.

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been taken to hospital after falling ill while jogging in Paris. Officials say he’s suffered a minor nerve attack, and is now recovering after undergoing a series of tests.

And Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador has taken out his second Tour de France crown, finishing well ahead of Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck and former champion Lance Armstrong.

I’ll be back with more news in an hour.

• New Words
• Pronunciation
• Simple Meaning

• hand-picked
•  
• If someone is hand-picked, they are very carefully chosen by someone in authority for a particular purpose or a particular job.

• reform
•  
• Reform consists of changes and improvements to a law, social system, or institution.A reform is an instance of such a change or improvement.

• flawed
•  
• Something that is flawed has a mark, fault, or mistake in it.

• healthcare
•  
• 医疗保健

• fresh diplomatic offensive
•  
• 新的外交攻势

• special envoy
• /ˈenvɔɪ/
• 特使

• kick-start
•  
• To kick-start a process that has stopped working or progressing is to take a course of action that will quickly start it going again.

• jogging
•  
• the activity of running slowly and steadily as a form of exercise

• nerve
•  
• Nerves are long thin fibres that transmit messages between your brain and other parts of your body.

• cyclist
•  
• A cyclist is someone who rides a bicycle, or is riding a bicycle.

• crown
•  
• In sport, winning an important competition is sometimes referred to as a crown.

• National Health and Hospital Reform Commission
•  
• 国家卫生和医院改革委员会

• Middle East
•  
• 中东

• Israeli
•  
• 以色列

• Palestinians
•  
• 巴勒斯坦人

• Syria
•  
• 叙利亚

• Barack Obama
•  
• 贝拉克·奥巴马

• Nicolas Sarkozy
•  
• 尼古拉斯·萨科齐

• Tour de France
•  
• 环法自行车赛

• Luxembourg
•  
• 卢森堡

转载于:https://www.cnblogs.com/cnxyang/archive/2009/11/15/1602579.html