BBC在线收听下载:政府放弃调停 南非铂矿罢工谈判失败

短语讲解：

1. This is a serious blow for South Africa's economy and for tens of thousands of families affected by the country's longest strike.

tens of thousands of 千百万; 千千万万
例句：Over several years, he received tens of thousands of pages.
几年之后，他收到了数万页的资料。

2. Government inspectors in England has found a number of schools have been infiltrated by radical Muslims who use intimidation to impose their ideology on them.

a number of 许多的; 一些
例句：A number of drawbacks come to mind.
下面就是一些不好的方面。

3. Investigation follows reports that some veterans have died because they hadn't seen a doctor in time.

in time 迟早;  最后; 及时
例句：Can it resolve its problems in time?
它能及时解决自身的问题吗？

4. The report also showed that staff scheduling visits faked appointment times to meet performance goals, covering up the true scale of the problems.

cover up 盖起来;  裹住; 掩盖;  掩饰
例句：How can you cover up your mistake?
你怎么能把自己的错误掩盖起来呢？

5. At the end of last month, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki resigned, after reports of problems initially emerged.

at the end of 在…结尾，在…末端
例句：It was low hundreds at the end of last year, and is up 600%.
去年年底还只有几百个，但现在已经增长了600%。

6. The 52-year-old man was hurt by falling rocks nearly 1,000 meters below ground while exploring the Riescending Cave in the German Alps close to the Austrian border.

close to 离…近; 与…关系密切; 近乎; 临近
例句：China used to be close to zero.
以前中国的金融混乱程度接近于零。