【讀新聞學英文】2022.08.22 英國新聞

Strike 罷工

For the past three days, the strike on the railway, Tube and buses has brought London traffic to a halt.

過去三天，鐵路、地鐵和巴士的罷工讓倫敦的交通幾乎完全停滯。

Although traffic has begun to gradually resume, the Criminal Bar Association (“CBA” in short) has announced that members of the association will start a strike “on an indefinite basis” from 5 September. This announcement  means that the court Cases in England and Wales will be stopped as there would be no barristers to prosecute and defend those accused of crimes, while indirectly affecting the workload of prisons and law enforcement agencies.

雖然如今交通已開始逐步恢復，但刑事律師協會（The Criminal Bar Association，簡稱「CBA」）就發出通知，協會的成員將會由9月5日開始「無限期」的罷工，這個通知意味著法院將會停止審理案件，同時也會間接影響監獄和執法機關的工作量。

In addition, nearly 2,000 workers at Britain’s largest container port are on an eight-day strike that could disrupt supply chains and compound an already rocketing cost of living crisis.

此外，英國最大的集裝箱港口的近2000名工人正持續進行為期八天的罷工，這個罷工行動可能會造成供應鏈中斷，從而令本就不斷攀升的生活成本危機更加雪上加霜。 

Vocabulary

• on an indefinite basis 無限期地
• barrister (Noun) 律師
• prosecute (Verb) 起訴
• defend (Verb) 辯護
• accuse (Verb) 指控

Source

Barristers vote to escalate strike action over pay (https://news.sky.com/story/barristers-vote-to-escalate-strike-action-over-pay-12679015)

Felixstowe strike: Workers at UK’s biggest container port continue with eight-day walkout in pay dispute (https://inews.co.uk/news/felixstowe-strike-workers-container-port-eight-day-walkout-pay-dispute-1807802)

Accident 意外

A woman has been killed and three other people injured after cars crashed before veering onto the tracks of a London Underground line. Services on the Piccadilly line were halted in the morning after the collision near Park Royal Underground Station in west London.

一場在倫敦地鐵線軌道之前發生的交通意外，導致一名婦女喪生，三人受傷。這場車禍在倫敦西部的皇家公園地鐵站附近發生，皮卡迪利線的服務因此而在早上停止服務。

Vocabulary

• veer (Verb) 轉向
• tracks (Noun) 軌道
• collision (Noun) 碰撞

Source

Range Rover crashes into a parked Tesla which was using a charging point and ends up on railway track leaving one woman dead and three injured – closing the Piccadilly Line (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11133535/A40-Park-Royal-crash-One-dead-three-injured-Piccadilly-Line-closes.html)

Cost of Living 生活開支

UK inflation could hit 18.6% by January 2023 as energy price cap rockets and pushes up the cost of living. British Gas offers a £400 discount on energy bills to help its customers from inflation crisis. Plans to enable households to get discounts on electricity bills if they cut use of high power activities such as cooking or using washing machines at peak times are set to be announced in the next two weeks. 

隨著能源價格上限飆升並推高生活成本，到 2023 年 1 月，英國的通脹率可能達到 18.6%。 British Gas 推出 400 英鎊的能源賬單折扣，以幫助其客戶擺脫通貨膨脹危機。在未來兩週內，如果家庭減少在高峰時段做飯或使用洗衣機等耗電量大的電器，也能獲得電費折扣。 相關的細節將會在未來兩週公布。

Source

UK inflation to hit 18% as energy bills rocket, warns Citi (https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2022/aug/22/cineworld-us-bankruptcy-felixstowe-strike-gas-prices-recession-stock-markets-business-live)

Plans to cut energy bills if peak-time use avoided (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62626908)

British Gas explains how customers will get £400 energy bill discount (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/british-gas-explains-how-customers-24772038)

Cost of Living on Education 教育上的生活開支

A new law to protect parents in England from unnecessary school uniform costs comes into effect from September 2022. State schools will be forced to remove unnecessary branded items from their uniform requirements, allowing parents to shop around or hand clothes down more easily. However, the new legislation requires branding to be kept to a minimum, but does not forbid it, therefore some children will continue to wear some items with school logos, for example blazers.

一項旨在保護英格蘭父母免受不必要的校服費用影響的新法律將於 2022 年 9 月生效。公立學校將被迫從校服要求中刪除不必要的品牌物品，讓父母可以更輕鬆地貨比三家或把校服轉讓。 然而，新立法要求將品牌保持在最低限度，但並未禁止，因此一些孩子將繼續穿一些帶有學校標誌的物品，例如運動夾克。

Vocabulary

• come into effect (Verb) 生效
• hand down (Verb) 轉給下一個
• legislation (Noun) 法例

Source

Do new school uniform rules save parents money? (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62601669)

Technology 科技

Are you using Apple products? The new serious Apple vulnerability – which the company said was being actively exploited – affected iPhones, iPads, and Macs and could allow hackers to take complete control of a victim’s device. A security update is recently released to prevent the attack from taking place. If you are using Apple products, don’t forget to update your iOS version.

你在使用蘋果產品嗎？ 蘋果公司表示一個嚴重的漏洞正被積極利用，這個漏洞影響 iPhone、iPad 和Mac，並可能給予黑客完全控制受害者的設備的機會。 最近，蘋果公司發布了一個安全更新，以防止用戶受黑客攻擊。 如果您使用的是 Apple 產品，請不要忘記更新您的 iOS 版本。

Vocabulary

• vulnerability (Noun) 脆弱性
• exploit (Verb) 開發
• take place (Verb) 發生

Source

What is the new serious Apple vulnerability and how do you protect yourself from it? (https://news.sky.com/story/what-is-the-new-serious-apple-vulnerability-and-how-do-you-protect-yourself-from-it-12676401)

Business 商業

Cineworld has confirmed it is considering filing for bankruptcy in the US as the cinema chain continues to struggle with $5bn worth of debt. But the company, which also owns the Picturehouse chain in the UK, insisted the cinemas “remain open for business” and that there would be “no significant impact” on jobs. Apart from the hard hit by the pandemic, cinema chains also faced tough competition from streaming services. However Netflix also reported a plunge in subscribers recently as the rising cost of living leads to people cutting back.

Cineworld 已經確認它正在考慮在美國申請破產，因為這家影院連鎖店持續面臨價值 50 億美元的負債。 Cineworld在英國還擁有 Picturehouse ，但它堅稱Picturehouse將會「繼續營業」，並不會對員工「產生重大影響」。 除了受到疫情的沉重打擊外，電影院還面臨來自流媒體服務的激烈競爭。 然而，Netflix 指出，由於生活成本上升導致觀眾削減開支，所以Netflix最近也正面臨訂閱人數急劇下降的危機。

Vocabulary

• bankruptcy (Noun) 破產
• struggle (Verb/Noun) 掙扎
• pandemic (Verb) 疫情
• plunge (Noun) 暴跌

Source

Cineworld confirms it is considering bankruptcy (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62629932)

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