AP美联社一分钟新闻 2008-09-13（在线收听）

1. Hurricane Ike sent waves crashing over a seawall as it steamed toward Texas Friday. The powerful storm is threatening to devastate coastal towns and batter America's fourth largest city. Ike's eye was forecast to strike near Galveston late tonight or early tomorrow.

2. Pakistan's main opposition party said that country could pull out of the war on terror. The warning comes after a deadly attack by US forces along the Afghanistan border.

3. During a French pilgrimage Pope Benedict is encouraging a role for religion in shaping public policy. That has angered advocates of secularism in that country. The pope is also expected to denounce fundamentalist fanaticism during a meeting with cultural figures including several Muslim leaders.

4. And just seven weeks before the election, John McCain is slightly ahead of Barack Obama.That's according to a new AP-GFK poll of likely voters.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

１.seawall n[C]

a wall built beside the sea to stop the water from flowing onto the land

2.devastate vt.

to lay waste;destroy

3.batter vt.

heavily and repeatedly with violent blows

4.secularism

is generally the assertion that certain practices or institutions should exist separately from religion or religious belief. Alternatively, it is a principle of promoting secular ideas or values in either public or private settings. It may also be a synonym for "secularist movement". In the extreme, it is an ideology that holds that religion has no place in public life.

5.fundamentalist n.[C]

someone who follows religious laws very strictly
Muslim fundamentalists

6.fanaticism

Fanaticism is an emotion of being filled with excessive, uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby.