CNN 2010-12-19

A lot of protests took place around the city's centre, around parliament, we did have some violence riot at this time, and it started with protesters throwing Molotov cocktails¹, and the police so responding, things escalated² for a while, and the parliament minister is getting attacked by a group of protesters as he was leaving the parliament. This was one of the largest protests that we had in a long time. It's the 7th general strike, so far this year, a lot of angry and a number of others uh, that we have government speak, since this summer. The reason for that seems to be the new labor³ laws. What they will do, is, they make a lot easier for employers to fire people and they've put a cap on salaries in the public sector⁴.

This is the tax proposal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for another 2 years. The Senate took up the bill that's the White House and also Republicans to compromise the bill if you will. They have passed the bill that was just passed is going to be taken up by the House tomorrow, we're getting that from the House, the majority leader over there in the House are state lawyers.

Today, the United States has filed the civil lawsuit⁵ in the United States District Court in New Orleans against nine defendants⁶. In a complaint the United States alleges⁷ violations⁸ of federal safety and operational regulations, the national interaction that we had often to say that the investigation⁹ on criminal side is pretty serious, it’s ongoing¹⁰, as involved attorneys from mean justice as well as attorneys from US attorney's office in New Orleans and that matter was proceeding¹¹.

If you could've seen that gentleman's eyes, this was going to happen, you saw him there, this was going to happen. We could've had this place like Fort Knox. He would've shot us when we come out of the building. He was going to do this, there was nothing that we could have done to stop him, you know.

I don't think anything was going through my mind except the fact that this guy was sitting ducks, they were lined up like pigeons on the wire and I couldn't leave them without trying to at least divert or somehow or other diffused¹² situation, or just buy some time until Mike Jones, bless his heart, could get there to help us out.

And It is astounding¹³, just the scale of this first of all, more than half a billion people, about 1 in 12 people on the planet, of almost half Americans are Facebook accounts, Uh, it's not just the scale, but the depth to which Facebook has affected¹⁴ people's life, uh, I think he had the sense of the kind of change he want to make in the world, and uh, I think he hope the Facebook will get as big as he did. And he’s only 26, most of people in their careers, they do not start, you know, disposing of their wealth in charitable way until much later in their lives. But he figured, why wait?

1 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

2 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

6 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

11 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

12 diffused   

散布的，普及的，扩散的

参考例句：

• A drop of milk diffused in the water. 一滴牛奶在水中扩散开来。
• Gases and liquids diffused. 气体和液体慢慢混合了。

13 astounding   

adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)

参考例句：

• There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
• The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊，所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。