听力原文： Brussels The European Union's competition authorities have been aggressively bre

听力原文： Brussels

The European Union's competition authorities have been aggressively breaking up monopolies. Airlines, telephone companies and energy companies are just a few of the industries that have been forced to allow their customers to choose to buy their services from someone else. And once competitors appear, the prices paid by customers tend to fall. But that liberalization often put the European Union into conflict with national governments, such as France and Germany, whose natural instinct was to protect industries that employed thousands of people. Now the national governments are rewriting the EU's governing treaty, and the draft version being considered by the EU's leaders in Brussels appears to scale back the commitment to a level playing field.

Baghdad

Iraq is again suffering from severe petrol shortages with many people saying the situation is worse since the U.S. and British invasion. Iraq has the world's third largest reserves of oil, but thousands of people now queue for as long as a day at petrol stations. As the queues have grown, they've become a magnet for insurgent attacks. There were two bombings aimed at petrol queues on Sunday with at least ten people killed and injured. With electricity as unreliable as ever, people need fuel not just for cars but generators at home, essential to power air conditioners to cope with the rising summer heat.

London

Police in London say that they have found a second bomb packed into a car. That car had been parked near another car containing a bomb, which police defused overnight in the heart of London's theater and entertainment district. Peter Clark, the head of London's anti-terrorism command, made the announcement at a news conference just a short time ago. The vehicle was found to contain very similar materials to those that had been found in the first car in Haymarket earlier today. There was a considerable amount of fuel, gas canisters and nails. This, like the first device, was potentially viable and was made safe by the explosives officers.

Tehran

Iran has accused the British government of insulting Islam by awarding a knighthood to the author of The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie. Parts of the novel—such as the parallels between one of the main characters, a shady, businessman-turned-prophet, and the prophet Mohammed—were judged to be blasphemous. In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, who was then leader of Iran, issued a fatwa, condemning the author to death. Mr. Rushdie was then moved from one safe house to another thirty times. The threat to his life only subsided in 1998, when a new, reformist government took power in Iran and gave assurances that it no longer wished him any harm. But the fatwa has never formally been rescinded.

Washington

The Clinton campaign has raised more money in the first three months of this year than all nine Democratic candidates combined in the equivalent period for the 2004 election. The Clinton team made their declaration early, ahead of the legal deadline and ahead of their main rival, Senator Barack Obama. There are suggestions that he too has raised twenty-million dollars instead of fifteen-million dollars analysts previously estimated. If that's confirmed this week, it will cement his position as Mrs. Clinton's main challenger.

Questions:

6.What have been the EU's competition authorities doing？

7.What is the main problem that Iraq faces now？

8.What have police in London done in recent days？

9.What did Iran accuse the British government of？

10.How much money has been raised by Senator Barack Obama for presidential campaign？

(26)

A．Encouraging industrial mergers and acquisitions.

B．Curbing monopolies in certain industries.

C．Re-writing the EU's governing treaty.

D．Solving their conflicts with national governments in EU.