专四听力训练VOA100篇.docVIP

1 VOA 100 VOA News Item 1 Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations sealed the agreement in Bangkok Thursday. They met on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting. The agreement creates one of Asia’s biggest trading areas and integrates India’s fast growing economy with 10 of its neighbors. Trade between India and ASEAN amounts to $40 billion each year. Under the pact, India and ASEAN will eliminate tariffs on various goods by 2016. VOA News Item 2 Britain’s political life has been dominated for the past three decades by two parties the Conservatives, now led by David Cameron, and Labor headed by current Prime Minister Gordon Brown. But a third party, the Liberal Democrats, are turning this election into a three-horse race. Their campaign was given a major boost by Britain’s first ever televised debate last week; Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg emerged as the clear winner. Viewer polls taken after this second debate, which focused on foreign policy, showed there was no runaway victor. The last time Britain had a hung parliament was in 1974. A final televised debate is to take place next Thursday, followed by the election on May 6. VOA News Item 3 On the second day of debate all signs continued to point toward an easy confirmation win for Sotomayor, the 55-year-old federal court judge nominated by President Barack Obama earlier this year. Although most of the 40 Senate Republicans are likely to vote against her, the decision Wednesday of Missouri Senator Kit Bond added to the number of Republicans who have committed to voting for her. Senator Bond, who is one of several Republicans retiring from the Senate next year, said while he respects and agrees with the legal reasoning others in his party used to oppose Sotomayor, lawmakers have an obligation to show deference to a president’s choice of a nominee. VOA News Item 4 Foreign ministers of the Southern African Development Communit