CNN 2009-08-13

Hello everyone, I'm Catherine Callaway at the CNN Center in Atlanta with a look at what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

President Obama is fighting what he calls "health care reform scare tactics" head-on. (It's) At a town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire yesterday, the President accused special interests of using their influence to scare and mislead people. President Obama plans to hold more town hall meetings in Montana and Colorado later this week. The White House has also launched a website to counter some of the critics out there.

Rescuers are defying treacherous¹ flood waters to try and reach typhoon survivors² in Taiwan. Typhoon Morakot is considered Taiwan's most destructive storm in some 50 years. It killed 103 people and 61 people are missing and feared dead. It wiped out entire villages in the southern and central parts of Taiwan. People have been stranded³ for days, still waiting for help.

A Los Angeles area prison still lockdown days after a riot injured hundreds of inmates⁴ there. Here are some of the first pictures of the destruction that was caused by the riots on Saturday in Chino, California. 11 inmates are still hospitalized after this. Around 1100 others had to be moved to other facilities. It is believed that racial tensions sparked the riot.

Police in Texas have arrested a US soldier who, they say, was working as a hit man for the Mexican drug cartel. 18-year-old Private First Class, Michael Jackson Apodaca was one of three men. He was arrested  Monday in El Paso. They are suspects in the shooting death of a member of the cartel who was working as an informant for the US.

A woman attacked the Mona Lisa painting in Paris. The Louvre Museum says that she threw an empty mug at the Mona Lisa portrait last week. That mug shattered, but it didn't damage the painting because that painting is actually behind protective glass. However, the glass cracked. Police say the woman went to a psychiatric ward⁵. It's unclear why she targeted the painting.

And those are the headlines for you this hour, stay with CNN for more on these stories and other news of the day.

 

1 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

4 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。