美联社新闻一分钟 2006-03-27

1. Tragedy on the race track. IndyCar driver Paul Dana was killed in a two-car crash during this morning's warm-up for the season-opening IRL race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The other driver, Ed Carpenter, is awake and alert at a Miami hospital.

2. Conflicting reports about a clash at a mosque¹ in eastern Baghdad. Radical² Shiites say 18 people were killed by U.S. and Iraqi forces. Iraqi police say 22 people died, and the American military says 16 insurgents³ were killed by Iraqi special forces with U.S. troops on the scene as backup.

3. The grim task of sift⁴ing through debris⁶ for victims of Hurricane Katrina continues. Crews found a body of a child believed to be 10 years old yesterday. The young victim (was) found in the uninhabitable Ninth Ward⁷.

4. Tourists are flocking into the nation’s capital for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The two-week event is expected to bring about 1 million people to the city. The blossom is expected to hit their peak bloom tomorrow

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. alert :adjective
quick to see, understand and act in a particular situation:
e.g. I'm not feeling very alert today - not enough sleep last night!

2. on the scene :
to arrive:
e.g. I phoned the police and they were on the scene within minutes.

3. backup :noun [C or U] (ALSO back-up)
(someone or something that provides) support or help, or something that you have arranged in case your main plans, equipment, etc. go wrong:
e.g. We're going to need some professional backup for this project.

4. grim :adjective grimmer, grimmest
worried or worrying, without hope:
e.g. When he lost his job, his future looked grim.

5. sift :verb [T]
to make a close examination of all the parts of something in order to find something or to separate what is useful from what is not:
e.g. The police are sifting⁵ the evidence very carefully to try and find the guilty person.

6. uninhabitable :adjective
if a place is uninhabitable, it is impossible to live in
e.g. Much of the country is uninhabitable because it is desert.

7. peak :adjective
used to talk about the best, highest, or greatest level or amount of something
e.g. Gasoline prices are 14% below the peak level they hit in November.

1 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

4 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

5 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

6 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。

7 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。