BBC news 2010-04-24 加文本

1.The International Monetary Fund and the European Commission have promised to act swiftly after Greece said it needed to activate a 60-billion-dollar rescue package agreed in principle last week.

in principle原则上; 基本上
 
例句：Her idea is sound in principle.
      从原则上来说, 她的观点是正确的。

      They are agreed in principle but not in detail.
      他们的看法在大体上是一致的, 但是在细节上有所不同。

2.The authorities here are on alert for social unrest.

on alert警戒

例句：The troops were placed on full alert.
      部队处于全面戒备状态。

3.Seasoned left-wing political activists acknowledge that 24-hour strikes and frequent demonstrations have failed to persuade the government to water down its austerity programme.

water down削弱; 使缓和

例句：In the negotiations, they agreed to water down their original stiff demand to one acceptable to both sides.
      在谈判中, 他们同意把原来的强硬要求降低到双方都可以接受的地步。

      The story was watered down so much it was no longer interesting.
      故事情节已被冲淡, 再也没有趣味了。

4.No group has yet said it carried out the attacks but officials in Baghdad have blamed al-Qaeda, saying that the bombings were in revenge for the killing of two high profile al-Qaeda operatives on Sunday.

in revenge for出于对…的报复,为报复…

例句：The village was bombed in revenge for protecting enemy soldiers.
      这座村庄因掩护敌人士兵而遭到报复性轰炸。

5.Harry Taylor told the court that he bore no grudge against people of faith and left the images in the prayer room in a tribute to John Lennon whose song "Imagine" referred to a world with no religion.

in a tribute to向某人表达敬意，做状语，动词形式：

pay a tribute to称赞,歌颂,表达敬意

例句：We pay tribute to his courage.
      我们赞赏他的勇气。

      I want to take this opportunity to pay a public tribute to him.
      我愿借此机会公开各他表示敬意。