美联社新闻一分钟 2005-11-18

1 President Bush rules out helping¹ North Korea build a civilian² nuclear reactor³ for electricity until it dismantles⁴ its nuclear weapons programmes.

2 Iraq's Shiite Interior Minister says claims Iraqi forces tortured suspected insurgents⁵ seized by US troops are exaggerated.

3 Another sign of congressional unease about Iraq as a hawkish⁶ House Democrat⁷ who voted for the war, calls for the immediate⁸ withdrawal⁹ of US troops.

4 Baseball owners vote unanimously to approve the toughened steroid policy the Players Association accepted earlier this week.

5 Matthew McConaughey is named the "sexiest man alive" by People magazine, prompting the actor to say,"Now I've made it."

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1 rule out -- 1 if you rule out a course of action, an idea or a solution, you decide that it is impossible or unsuitable. 2 if something rules out a situation, it prevents it from happening or from being possible. e.g. A serious car accident in 1985 ruled out a permanent future for him in farming.

2 unease -- n [U] a feeling of worry or slight fear about something// sense/feeling of unease // --As she neared the door, Amy felt a growing sense of unease.// --public unease about defence policy//

3 hawkish -- Journalists use hawkish to describe politicians or governments who are in favor of using force to acheive something,rather than using peaceful and diplomatic methods.
e.g. : He is one of the most hawkish members of the new cabinet.

4 unanimous -- 1 a unanimous decision, vote, agreement etc is one in which all the people involved agree: --It was decided¹⁰ by a unanimous vote that the school should close. 2 agreeing completely about something: unanimous in (doing) sth// --The banks were unanimous in welcoming the news.// -- unanimously adv //

5 steroid-- A steroid is a type of chemical substance found in your body. Steroid can be artifically introduced into the bodies of athletes to improve their strength.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

4 dismantles   

拆开( dismantle的第三人称单数 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• This toy machine gun dismantles easily. 这种玩具机关枪很容易拆卸。
• By contrast, modern scepticism challenges nobody and dismantles only theories of change. 相反，现代的怀疑主义却并不质疑任何人，仅仅摧毁变革理论。

5 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

6 hawkish   

adj. 鹰派的, 强硬派的

参考例句：

• My staff's advice that first day was amazingly hawkish. 在第一天，我的僚属们的意见是令人吃惊的鹰派意见。
• Antiwar groups fear Barack Obama may create hawkish Cabinet. 反战团体担心巴拉克·奥巴马可以创建强硬派内阁。

7 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

10 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。