美联社新闻一分钟 2006-10-01

1. A bombshell on Capitol Hill as Florida Congressman¹ Mark Foley announced his sudden resignation in the wake of questions about suggestive e-mails he wrote a former teenage male congressional page. In a brief statement, Foley apologized to his family and constituents² but didn't address the contents of the e-mails.

2. A fifteen-year-old charged in the shooting death of a school principal complained that schoolmates picked on him. A criminal complaint filed against the rural Wisconsin teens says the boy felt his teachers and his principal weren't doing anything about it.

3. Family members of the 100 victims killed in a 2003 nightclub fire in Rhode Island are outraged³ over what they consider to be a lenient⁴ sentence for the owners of the club. In a plea bargain, Mike Derderian was given four years in prison, his brother Jeffrey received no jail time.

4. The government is officially lifting its two-week-old warning about most fresh spinach⁵. The warning now applies only to packaged produce that has already been recalled due to E. coli contamination.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. bombshell: n-count
A bombshell is a sudden piece of bad or unexpected news.

2. pick on: phrase
If someone picks on you, they repeatedly criticize you unfairly or treat you unkindly. (INFORMAL)

3. lenient: adj.
Is someone in authority is lenient, they are not as strict or severe as expected..

1 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

2 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

4 lenient   

adj.宽大的，仁慈的

参考例句：

• The judge was lenient with him.法官对他很宽大。
• It's a question of finding the means between too lenient treatment and too severe punishment.问题是要找出处理过宽和处罚过严的折中办法。

5 spinach   

n.菠菜

参考例句：

• Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.据说吃菠菜能使人强壮。
• You should eat such vegetables as carrot,celery and spinach.你应该吃胡萝卜、芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜。