passions

2016年5月5日BBC英语新闻收听：微软已从网上撤下一款人工智能软件

Hello, this is David Austin with the BBC news.

Belgian police have arrested six people in Brussels as a majorinvestigation continues into Tuesday's suicide attacks. The USSecretary of State John Kerry is due to travel to Brussels todayto discuss security and express his condolences amid reportsthat the two brothers involved in the bombings were on a US terrorism watch list before theattacks. From Brussels, here is Anna Holligan. “The arrest in the Skarbeck district followed houseto house searches. Residents said they heard explosions during the raids, but the cause wasunclear. The FBI has refused to confirm whether Ibrahim El Bakraoui who carried out the attack atZaventema airport and his brother Khalid responsible for the metro bombing were known to USauthorities saying disclosure would impair the government's ability to investigate and counteractterrorism. John Kerry's visit comes at a time of consternation with many questioning Europe'scompetence on counter-terrorism.”

French police have spent the nights searching a block of flats in Paris following the arrest of a manaccused of planning a terror attack in France. The interior minister said a plot that was at anadvanced stage had been foiled by the arrest of the suspect in the suburb of Argenteuil. HughSchofield is in Paris. “Police sealed off the block of Argenteuil late in the evening and they havebeen searching it overnight. This morning, media reports say they found a small quantity ofexplosives. The man whose arrest led them to the place has not been named. This morning, it'sbeen reported the man is known to the authorities having been convicted in his absence inanother European country for helping recruit volunteers for so called Islamic state in Syria.”

The trial is due to begin in Turkey today of two senior journalists from one of the country's oldestnewspapers Cumhuriyet. Can Dundar the paper's editor-in-chief and its Ankara bureau chiefErdem Gul are accused of spying after publishing reports claiming that the Turkish governmenttry to smuggle weapons to rebels in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally filed acriminal complaint against them. The two men denied the charges.

Trading has begun for the first time at the Yangon Stock Exchange in Myanmar. Shares from justone company a conglomerate called FMI are available though only to Burmese investors. JennaFischer has this report. “The first share traded for 31,000 kyat. That's about 25 US dollars. Justone stock, but for that you get a tiny stake in a sprawling conglomerate that includes an airline,property, a bank, even hot air balloons. Whether the Yangon stock exchange becomes a sleepyvanity project or a vibrant source of capital remains to be seen. Very few Burmese companiesmeet the standards of transparency and expertise required to list. Most of the largest businesseshere are run by well-connected individuals, many of whom are still subject to sanctions.”  JennaFischer. World news from the BBC.

The Afghan army says Taliban militants have shot dead a senior army officer in the city ofKandahar. Brigadier general Khan Agha was walking with his son after visiting a mosque whenthey were attacked by gunmen. Both were wounded and General Agha died later from his injuries.The two assailants were shot dead by his bodyguards. The Taliban have said they carried out theattack.

Police in Malaysia say they've arrested 15 suspected members of the militant group Islamic state.They say the suspects were trying to obtain chemicals to make bombs and were planning tolaunch attacks.

The American Secretary of State John Kerry says Russia and the US have set a target date inAugust for the warring parties in Syria to draw up a new draft constitution. After talks withPresident Putin in Moscow, Mr. Kerry said they had agreed to press the Syrian government andrebels to speed up talks on the political transition. However, he did not say whether Mr. Putin hadadmitted the President Assad should step down as part of that transition. “Russia will have tospeak for itself as to what it's going to choose to do in order to help Mr. Assad make the rightdecisions. But we agree today on what we announced that we would accelerate the effort and tryto move the political process forward.” From Kerry.

Microsoft has pulled from the internet artificial intelligence software that was designed to respondto social media comments by chatting like a teenage girl. The program's chat bot character Taywas grounded when she began to make racist, sexist and other offensive remarks. The softwarewas designed to learn from conversations with real people.

The Rolling Stones have arrived in Cuba for a landmark free concert that expected to attract half amillion people later on Friday. The concert which comes three days after a historic visit to Cuba byPresident Obama is being seen as another sign of real change on the island. And those are thelatest stories from BBC news.
【key point】
constitution n. 宪法；体制；章程；构造；建立，组成；体格

transition n. 过渡；转变；[分子生物] 转换；变调
mosque n. 清真寺

assailant n. 攻击者adj. 袭击的；攻击的
conglomerate n. [岩] 砾岩；企业集团；聚合物vi. 凝聚成团adj. 成团的；砾岩性的vt. 使聚结；凝聚成团

sprawling adj. 蔓生的，不规则地伸展的
trial n. 试验；审讯；努力；磨炼adj. 试验的；审讯的

accused n. 被告v. 指责；控告（accuse的过去式）
foiled adj. 有叶形装饰的v. 阻止（foil的过去式和过去分词）

convict n. 罪犯vt. 证明…有罪；宣告…有罪

explosives n. 爆炸物，[化工] 炸药；爆炸品（explosive的复数）
raid n. 袭击；突袭；搜捕；抢劫vt. 袭击，突袭vi. 对…进行突然袭击

counteract vt. 抵消；中和；阻碍