美联社新闻一分钟 2006-06-07

1. A lawyer for one of the terror suspects in Canada says his client is accused of wanting to behead the prime minister. 15 of the suspects accused of plotting a massive terror attack in southern Ontario were in court today along with a swarm¹ of media.

2. The body of a young woman killed in a collision and mistakenly buried in someone else's grave was exhume²d today in Gaylord, Michigan. Authorities incorrectly identified a female survivor⁴ who was in a coma⁵ as Laura VanRyn, and told the parents of Whitney Cerak that she had died.

3. In Artesia, New Mexico, not far from the US-Mexico border, President Bush is pushing immigration reform legislation. Speaking to border patrol agents, Bush said Congress is making progress toward a bill that would allow foreigners to get temporary work permits.

4. And in honor of today's date--- June 6, 2006, there is a hot party going on in Hell--- Hell, Michigan that is. The abbreviation 666 signifies the devil according to some interpretations⁶ of the Bible.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. behead : verb
If someone is beheaded, their head is cut off, usually because they have been found guilty of a crime.
e.g. Charles I was beheaded by the Cromwellians.
= decapitate

2. grave : n-count
A grave is a place where a dead person is buried.
e.g. They used to visit her grave twice a year.

3. exhume : verb
If a dead person's body is exhumed³, it is taken out of the ground where it is buried, especially so that it can be examined in order to find out how the person died. (FORMAL)
e.g. His remains⁷ have been exhumed from a cemetery⁸ in Queens, New York City.

4. 666
The Number of the Beast is mentioned in the Book of Revelation of the Christian⁹ New Testament¹⁰ and has long been accepted to be 666. In some interpretations of Christian eschatology the "Beast" is believed to refer to an entity¹¹ controlled by an Antichrist. The number 666 also has many mathematical properties. The number 666 retains a peculiar¹² significance in the culture and psychology¹³ of Western societies. Just as many people try to avoid the "unlucky" number 13 (a fear of which is called "triskaidekaphobia"), so people find ways to avoid the "Devil's number", even in contexts that would seem on first sight to be far removed from superstition¹⁴. The fear of the number 666 is known as "Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia".

1 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

2 exhume   

v.掘出，挖掘

参考例句：

• His remains have been exhumed from a cemetery in Queens,New York City.他的遗体被从纽约市皇后区的墓地里挖了出来。
• When the police exhume the corpse,they discover trace of poison in it.警方掘出尸体，发现有中毒的痕迹。

3 exhumed   

v.挖出，发掘出( exhume的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Marie Curie's remains were exhumed and interred in the Pantheon. 玛丽·居里的遗体被移出葬在先贤祠中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His remains have been exhumed from a cemetery in Queens, New York City. 他的遗体被从纽约市皇后区的墓地里挖了出来。 来自辞典例句

4 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

5 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

6 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

10 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

11 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

12 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

13 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

14 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。