历史上的今天-Today in History 2010-12-11

 December 11th, 1936Britain’s King Edward the VIII becomes the first and only monarch¹ to voluntarily give up his country’s throne . Edward abdicates² in order to marry an American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson and he takes the title of the Duke of Windsor.

“I have found it impossible to carry out the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.” Edward’s brother becomes King George VI. George’s daughter becomes Queen Elizabeth II more than 15 years later and remains³ on the throne to this day.

1941World War II widens even further as Nazi⁴ Germany and Fascist⁵ Italy declare war on the United States. America in turn declares war on Japan’s Axis⁶ partners just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

1946Birth of UNICEF, the UN agency devoted⁷ to helping⁸ the world’s children, especially in developing countries.

And 1980Magnum, P.I., starring Tom Selleck as a private eye in Hawaii premieres on TV on CBS.

Today in History, December 11th, Ed Donahue, the Associated Press.

1 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

2 abdicates   

放弃（职责、权力等）( abdicate的第三人称单数 )； 退位，逊位

参考例句：

3 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。

4 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

5 fascist   

adj.法西斯主义的；法西斯党的；n.法西斯主义者，法西斯分子

参考例句：

• The strikers were roughed up by the fascist cops.罢工工人遭到法西斯警察的殴打。
• They succeeded in overthrowing the fascist dictatorship.他们成功推翻了法西斯独裁统治。

6 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。

7 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

8 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。