U.S. actor Jeff Conaway dies at 60

     LOS ANGELES, May 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. actor Jeff Conaway, best known for his roles in the 1970s hit television series "Taxi" and blockbuster film "Grease," died on Friday morning at age 60, local celebrity¹ websites reported.

    The former child star, who began acting² on Broadway when he was only two years old, died in Encino, California after a long, sad life of addiction³ that made him one of Hollywood's cautionary tales.

    He was hospitalized earlier this month at a hospital in Encino, after being found unconscious by his girlfriend Vikki Lizzi on May 11 due to a reported drug overdose. He most recently appeared on " Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew" in 2008.

    "Celebrity Rehab" host Drew Pinsky, who treated Conaway on the show, tweeted that Conaway had not overdosed, but was suffering from a combination of pneumonia⁴ and sepsis.

    Pinsky said Conaway had been placed in a medically induced coma⁵. He never recovered from his coma and was pronounced(宣判) dead on Friday.

    The actor's condition was inevitable⁶ because he had been a serious pill popper for years and the constant substance abuse wore down his body, Pinsky was quoted as saying by celebrity web portal TMZ.com.

    The actor's family took him off life support on Thursday night.

    A native of New York, Conaway began his acting career on Broadway, and burst onto the national scene in 1978 when he starred as T-Bird Kenickie in the iconic musical "Grease," along with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

    Travolta released a statement on the passing of his former co- star, saying he was a "wonderful and decent man."Conaway also became a television regular for playing Bobby Wheeler, a cocky, vain, struggling cab driver on the hit sitcom⁷ " Taxi" from 1978 to 1981, a role which won him a nomination⁸ for a Golden Globe Award in 1978.

    His career was plagued with substance abuse problems since the mid⁹ 1980s. The actor suffered a back injury while filming "Grease, " which led to an addiction to pain killers¹⁰, it was reported.

    On VH1's reality series "Celebrity Rehab," he admitted addictions¹¹ to cocaine¹², alcohol and painkillers¹³. He appeared on the second series of the show and was often seen in a wheelchair as his condition and addictions seemed to worsen.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

4 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

5 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

6 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

7 sitcom   

n.情景喜剧，（广播、电视的）系列幽默剧

参考例句：

• This sitcom is produced in cooperation with Hong Kong TV.这部连续剧是同香港电视台联合制作的。
• I heard that a new sitcom is coming out next season.我听说下一季会推出一个新的情境喜剧。

8 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

9 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

10 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

11 addictions   

瘾( addiction的名词复数 )； 吸毒成瘾； 沉溺； 癖好

参考例句：

• He has removed the stigma of drug addictions. 他已经洗去吸毒的污点了。
• Intelligent people are good at using reason to control excessive addictions. 智慧的人善于用理性来控制过度的嗜欲。

12 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

13 painkillers   

n.止痛药( painkiller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some painkillers to ease the pain. 医生给了他一些止疼片以减缓疼痛。 来自辞典例句
• The primary painkillers - opiates, like OxyContin - are widely feared, misunderstood and underused. 人们对主要的镇痛药——如鸦片剂奥施康定——存在广泛的恐惧、误解，因此没有充分利用。 来自时文部分