BBC在线收听下载:沙特拒绝担任安理会非常任理事国

短语讲解：

1. Saudi Arabia’s refusal to take up its seat on the United Nations Security Council a day after it was elected for the first time has provoked a mixed response.

take up 开始从事；接受（提议）；占用
例句：Sometimes it needs more power to lay down than to take up.
有时放得下比拿得起更需要一种力量。

2. A United Nations investigator has called on the United States to publish details of the number of civilian casualties caused by US drone strikes.

call on 拜访（某人）；叫；号召；要求
例句：I call on my parents on occasion.
我有时去拜访我的父母。

3. Ben Emmerson had spent a year travelling to countries which have seen drone strikes like Pakistan as well as talking to officials in the US and elsewhere involved in carrying them out.

as well as 也，又
例句：That implies criticism as well as support.
这句话暗示着夫妻间的相互支持以及相互批评。
involve in 使参与[陷入，牵扯到]
例句：Do not involve in that matter, otherwise you will.
千万不要卷入那件事情中去，否则你将自食其果。

4. In Pakistan, he says he was told by the government that at least 400 civilians had been killed and possibly many hundreds more.

at least 至少
例句：Read at least 30 books.
至少读30本书。