12-28-07

北京称奥运比赛场所均完工仅一例外 (Beijing Says All Olympic Venues But One Completed)

奥运会的组织者说，明年北京奥运会的所有比赛场所，除能够容纳9万1千人的国家体育场“鸟巢”之外，都已经完工。北京奥组委执行副主席蒋效愚星期五说，37个比赛场馆中的36个将在12月31号之前完工。因外部斜条格结构而被称为“鸟巢”的国家体育场应该在明年3月完工。

蒋效愚说，游泳馆明年1月进行一次试用比赛。北京奥运会组织者为了赶在明年8月8号奥运会开幕之前完成所有的比赛场馆，让建筑工人每天轮班24小时工作。

北京为这次奥运会花费了大约400亿美元。但是准备工作并不是没有争议。大赦国际和其它人权组织都抗议在奥运会之前强迫居民拆迁，并把抗议人士关进监狱。

Olympic organizers say all the venues for next year's Games in Beijing have been finished except for the massive, 91-thousand seat National Stadium known as "the Bird's Nest." Beijing Games executive vice president Jiang Xiaoyu said Friday that 36 of the 37 venues will be complete by December 31st. The National Stadium, nicknamed the Bird's Nest because of its exterior lattice work, should be finished by March.

Jiang said the aquatics venue is ready for a test event in January. Chinese Olympic organizers have had crews working 24 hours a day to complete the venues in time for the start of the Games on August 8th of next year.

Beijing has spent an estimated 40-billion dollars getting ready for the Games. The preparations have not been without controversy. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have protested the forced eviction of residents and imprisonment of protesters ahead of the Games.

布什家德州旧居被人为纵火毁坏(Texas Home of Bush Family Damaged by Arson)

美国西南部德克萨斯州当局表示，布什总统童年旧居失火是被人有意纵火。这所住房位于布什总统的父亲、前总统乔治.H.W.布什建立的博物馆和图书馆的庭院里。当局表示，房子的前廊在星期四早上的大火中受到的损失比较大。

目前还没有确定纵火的嫌疑人。布什一家在1948年9月搬入这个有两间卧室的小房子里，一直住到1949年4月。。当时现任总统布什只有2岁。2004年，这所房屋被数以百计的志愿者修复，并且在同一年从原来的地点被搬到博物馆的庭院里。

Authorities in the southwestern U.S. state of Texas say a fire that damaged the former childhood home of President Bush was deliberately set. The home is located on the grounds of the museum and library established by Mr. Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush. Authorities say the home's front porch sustained much of the damage from the early Thursday morning fire.

No suspects have been identified in the arson. The Bush family moved into the small, two bedroom home September 1948，when the current President Bush was two years old and lived there until April 1949. The house was restored in 2004 by hundreds of volunteers. It was moved from its original location to the museum grounds that same year.