CNN 2011-01-08

PHILLIPS: A minivan does some major damage in a smash and grab robbery that's caught on tape. Vancouver, Washington tops our look at Cross Country this morning. Police reviewing the surveillance tape of a local bowling¹ alley² hit by a pair of robbers who used a minivan to heist an automated³ teller⁴ machine out of the lobby. The owner says the damages to his business, far more than the cash that was taken from that ATM.

Firefighters in New Jersey⁵ got an early start to their workday, about 1:30 this morning. Condominium complex under construction went up in flames. No injuries reported.

Commuter⁶ traffic this morning in southern California has improved immensely since yesterday. Sunday's rain and snow helped close Interstate 5 and other roadways, leaving some motorists to spend hours, if not the night, freezing in their vehicles. As the weather improved, roads were finally reopened.

Well, we can't stop talking about the great dead bird caper⁷ of 2011. The mystery thickens. Several hundred dead red-winged black birds, starlings, sparrows, and grackles have now turned up in Louisiana near Baton⁸ Rouge⁹. It's not clear what killed them just yet.

So far, no one will say this bird kill is related or linked to one just 360 miles north of Beebe, Arkansas. But the similarities are right there. Up to 5,000 of the same types of birds pretty much fell out of the sky over the weekend in Beebe. It's not clear just yet what killed them, either. Early reports say that massive trauma¹⁰, not disease. But people in the town aren't buying some of the theories. Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kelly Mayo still can't imagine what caused this bird to fall out of the sky and nosedive into his backyard.

KELLY MAYO, BEEBE, ARKANSAS RESIDENT: We haven't touched them. That's the exact way he's been since the 1st.

LAVANDERA (on camera): You can see what looks like maybe like a little bloodstain on one of these brown leaves.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Arkansas livestock¹¹ officials say some birds showed signs of massive trauma, but no evidence they were poisoned. But what caused the trauma? Some officials suggest it was New Year's fireworks or lightning from a storm. Residents here aren't buying those theories.

MAYO: Fireworks? I can't imagine fireworks would strike, you know, 4,000, 5,000 birds and drop them in a one or two-square mile area. It just doesn't sound feasible to me. LAVANDERA (voice-over): Beebe, Arkansas has developed a love/hate relationship with these black birds. Just ask Charles Moore, who lives right next to a wooded area where tens of thousands of the birds live.

CHARLES MOORE, BEEBE, ARKANSAS RESIDENT: To go out and do a simple thing to get a paper, sometimes we'll take an umbrella with us. The sky is just black with them. Then, there's going to be a lot of droppings.

LAVANDERA (on camera): And you've just got a target on your head, right?

MOORE: Oh, yes. Exactly.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): We walked through the wooded area behind Moore's home. Dead birds are still everywhere. And Moore says the ones still alive are acting¹² strange. Some even struggling to fly.

LAVANDERA (on camera): I think I see one over here.

MOORE: Is he alive?

LAVANDERA: It's a bird that probably should have flown away.

MOORE: Yes. I can't imagine a bird letting us get that close. That bird is sick, as well.

LAVANDERA: Can you see it?

LAVANDERA (voice-over): We tried to get a better vantage point of the wooded area where these birds flock to when we came face-to-face with one of the dying blackbirds.

LAVANDERA (on camera): I feel terrible. All of a sudden, I'm driving and I see the bird just kind of flop¹³ up onto the hood¹⁴ of the car here and just fluttering up this way, and it went over the back and now, it's sitting over there on the side of the road.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The little bird couldn't get off the road.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Pull him off over here.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): As I stood there, the little black bird died in my hands.

(on camera): It's terrible.

(voice-over): Ed Lavandera, CNN, Beebe, Arkansas.

1 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

2 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

3 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

4 teller   

n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员

参考例句：

• The bank started her as a teller.银行起用她当出纳员。
• The teller tried to remain aloof and calm.出纳员力图保持冷漠和镇静。

5 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

6 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

7 caper   

v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏

参考例句：

• The children cut a caper in the yard.孩子们在院子里兴高采烈地乱蹦乱跳。
• The girl's caper cost her a twisted ankle.小姑娘又蹦又跳，结果扭伤了脚踝。

8 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

9 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

10 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

11 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

12 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。

13 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

14 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。