美联社新闻一分钟 2007-08-08

1. Efforts to reach six Utah coal miners trapped more than 1500 feet underground will take at least three days. That's according to one of the mine's owners who says rescuers aren't sure the men survived the cave-in. There has been no word from them since they became trapped yesterday.

2. Hot, humid air is blanketing much of the nation this week. Officials have declared a heat emergency in parts of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The heat index topped 100 degrees in Tennessee where officials predict the hot weather will continue through Thursday.

3. In court today the two men charged in the Connecticut home invasion that left a mother and her two daughters dead. Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes didn't enter pleas and uttered only a "yes" or a "no" to questions. Prosecutors¹ will seek the death penalty if the men are convicted.

4. The famously liberal Dutch are heading towards the right. They are campaigning to ban "magic" mushrooms sold legally as long as they are fresh. The crackdown comes after the death of a 17-year-old French girl who ate the psychedelic fungi² and jumped from a building.

WORDS IN THE NEWS


1. word: [singular, U]
a piece of news or a message

2. humid: adj
used to talk about the weather or the air when it is slightly wet and makes you feel uncomfortable

3. blanket: verb
to cover something with a thick layer

4. index: noun
a standard by which the level of something can be judged or measured

5. top: verb
to be higher than a particular amount

6. plea: noun
a statement by someone in a court of law saying whether they are guilty or not

7. utter: verb
to say something

8. crackdown: noun
action that is taken to deal more strictly³ with crime, a problem, protests etc

9. psychedelic: adj
致幻的，产生迷幻效果的

10. fungi: noun
fungus的复数形式，真菌

1 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

2 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

3 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。