CNN 2009-06-09

Hi there, thanks for joining us here on this Monday, I'm Virginia Cha at the CNN center in Atlanta with a look at what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

The State Department says it's deeply concerned about the conviction of two American journalists in North Korea. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to 12 years of prison with hard labor¹ for illegally entering the country. They were detained in March while doing a story on defections along the Chinese-North Korean border. Ling and Lee worked for Current TV which was founded by former Vice² President Al Gore³. The US says it will engage all possible channels to win the reporters' release.

Search teams have recovered the bodies of some 16 passengers from that Air France flight that went down last week in the Atlantic Ocean. Brazilian and French recovery teams have also found more debris⁴ from the airbus including pieces of the plane's wing section, luggage and a leather briefcase⁵ containing an airplane ticket with a reservation code for that flight. The US navy is sending two hi-tech pieces of equipment to help in the search. The towed pinger locators will be used to search for the plane's flight data and voice recorders.

The Supreme⁶ Court says it will not hear an appeal challenging the Pentagon's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. A federal appeals court in Boston dismissed a former army captain's lawsuit⁷ that claimed the policy is unconstitutional. During last year's campaign, President Obama indicated he eventually hoped to repeal⁸ it, but in court papers, the administration said it agrees with the ruling.

President Obama has his sight set on another polarizing domestic issue--healthcare reform. After months of insisting he would leave the details of constructing a new plan up to Congress, he has decided⁹ to take charge of a major push to have a health care reform bill drafted by fall.

The status quo is broken. We cannot continue this way. If we do nothing, everyone's health care will be put in jeopardy¹⁰.

Activating¹¹ the grassroots effort from the campaign is one way to keep your campaign effort alive and it's not a particularly effective way to create a bipartisan solution to an important problem.

Well, as Apple kicks off its much-anticipated developers' conference, much of the buzz is about the possibility of a new iPhone release. The tech company says it will discuss a new version of software for the revolutionary smartphone, which will let users copy and paste messages, search their iPhones and write e-mails and text messages from a wide-screen view. Tech bloggers are hoping for something more though, a 3.0 version of the iPhone hardware. An iPhone 3.0 could include new hardware maybe for a video camera, a better photo camera and a new design.

Those are the headlines this hour, stay with CNN for more on those stories and all your other news of the day.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

4 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

5 briefcase   

n.手提箱，公事皮包

参考例句：

• He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
• He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

8 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

11 activating   

活动的，活性的

参考例句：

• "I didn't say we'd got to stop activating the masses! “我并没说就此不发动！ 来自子夜部分
• Presumably both the very small size and activating influence of fluorine atoms contribute to this exception. 这大概是由于氟原子半径小和活性高这两个原因的影响，氟原子对这种例外做出了贡献。