BBC news 2009-06-25 加文本

1.It comes shortly before American troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities.

be due to应该

例句：What are you doing here? You were not due to arrive till tomorrow.
      你在这儿干什么呢？你应该明天到才对啊。

2.Eyewitnesses said the security forces use batons and tear gas to break up protests by about 200 people in Teheran, although this can’t be independently confirmed.

break up打碎, 破碎, 分裂, 分解, 驱散, 结束, 衰退, 衰落, 变坏

例句：Stop throwing my books up into the air, you'll break them!
      别把我的书往空中抛，你会把它们弄坏的！

      All feasts must break up in the end; all good things must come to an end.
      天下没有不散的筵席，总有分别的时候。

3.Both the government and the opposition insisted that they won’t back down of their dispute over the reelection of President Ahmadinejad.

back down放弃要求, 取消前言

例句：They refused to back down.
      他们不愿让步。

4.Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is going about his business as if he had shrugged off the challenges of the opposition.

shrug off耸肩表示蔑视, 抖落, 摆脱

例句：It is wrong to shrug off this kind of disease.
      轻视这种疾病是不对的。

5.President Dmitri Medvedev who’s in Nigeria says it’s part of Russian plans for investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector that could amount to billions of dollars.

amount to等于, 相当于

例句：Our pool in the casino amount to two million dollars.
      我们的总赌注上升到了两百万美元。