Today in history：January 25

英语自学网

　　January 25
        　　IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said he was "profoundly saddened"
        　　1999: Olympic officials face bribery charges
        　　England have
        　　Six members of the International Olympic Committee face expulsion following
an inquiry into a corruption scandal which has deeply shaken the Olympic
movement.
        　　The six were identified at the end of an investigation by the IOC into
allegations of corruption during the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt
Lake City, in Utah.
        　　In all, the investigation named 13 IOC officials who are alleged to have
taken cash or services in return for helping Salt Lake City win the right to
host the Olympics.
        　　Three have already resigned, and six have been suspended ahead of a formal
decision by the IOC in March on whether or not to expel them.
        　　Three more are facing further investigation, while another is likely to be
reprimanded .
        　　The IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, said he was "profoundly
saddened" at the conduct of the individuals concerned.
        　　"These members have done great harm to the Olympic ideal," he told a news
conference.
        　　The report also recommended radical changes in the way cities are chosen to
stage the summer and winter games.
        　　They include the setting up of a special committee of just eight elected
IOC members to choose Olympic venues. The rest would be banned from official
visits, or even entertaining guests from bidding cities.
        　　The scandal broke last month, when a senior IOC member, Marc Hodler,
alleged that a number of countries were resorting to bribery in their bids to
stage the Olympic Games.
        　　Salt Lake City is reported to have paid up to $800,000 in cash and
favours.
        　　They included direct payments to IOC officials, as well as funding medical
expenses, internships and university scholarships for relatives.
        　　It has also emerged that one of the organisers of the Sydney 2000 Olympic
Games offered tens of thousands of dollars to IOC members the night before the
vote on who would host the Games, although it is believed the offers were not
accepted.
        　　Those claims are being investigated, as are allegations of bribery in the
decision to award the Japanese town of Nagano the Winter Games in 1998.
        　　Looting became a problem after the quake
        　　1999: Colombia quake leaves hundreds dead
        　　Artificially 1969:
        　　The At least 300 people have been killed and 1,000 have been injured in an
earthquake in Colombia, South America.
        　　It is the most powerful quake to hit Colombia for 16 years, measuring six
on the Richter scale. Aftershocks were felt as far afield as the capital,
Bogota.
        　　The quake struck the heart of the country"s coffee-growing region, about
the capital, Bogota, toppling tower blocks, hotels and historic churches.
        　　Scores of people were trapped in the rubble, or caught in landslides
triggered by the earthquake. Thousands have been left homeless.
        　　The regional capitals of Armenia and Pereira were the worst hit. In
Armenia, about 10 miles (17km) south of the epicentre, even single-storey homes
were destroyed by the quake.
        　　Phone and power lines have also been brought down. The Colombian
authorities have imposed a dawn-till-dusk curfew to allow the rescuers to work
unhampered.
        　　The Colombian president, Andres Pastrana, postponed a trip to attend a
World Bank meeting in Germany and flew instead to Pereira to see the devastation
for himself.
        　　Geo-seismic engineer Zygmunt Lubkowski said: "If we ensure building and
bridges are constructed properly, we can prevent the sort of loss of life which
has been observed in Colombia."
        　　Most of the buildings which collapsed, including many churches, were built
before 1984 when a new, tougher, building standards were introduced.
        　　Vocabulary:
        　　reprimand : an act of criticism and censure; rebuke formally(申斥)