美联社新闻一分钟 2005-11-28

1. Iraqi police arrest eight Sunni Arabs in Kirkuk for allegedly plotting to assassinate¹ the judge who prepared the case against Saddam Housein.

2. An earthquake measured at least magnitude 5.9 shakes a sparsely³ populated area of Southern Iran, flattening⁴ seven villages and killing⁵ ten people.

3. Running water is restored to Haerbin, China, five days after a chemical spill forced a shutdown in the city of 3.8 million people.

4. Chechnya, a Southern Russian Republic plagued by violence, corruption⁶ and squalor, begins voting in the latest of series of parliamentary elections.

5. And the night sky of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, is set ablaze⁷ with the light from millions of tiny bulbs adorning⁸ a huge floating Christmas tree

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. sparse²
Something that is sparse is small in number or amount and spread out over an area.
Traffic was sparse on the highway.
ADJ-GRADED

· sparsely
...the sparsely populated interior region, where there are few roads.
ADV-GRADED: usu ADV -ed

2. squalor
squalor
You can refer to very dirty, unpleasant conditions as squalor.
He was out of work and living in squalor.
N-UNCOUNT

3. set ablaze : 烧起, 燃起

4. bulb
1 bulb bulbs
A bulb is the glass part of an electric lamp, which gives out light when electricity passes through it.
The stairwell was lit by a single bulb.
N-COUNT
= light bulb

1 assassinate   

vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤

参考例句：

• The police exposed a criminal plot to assassinate the president.警方侦破了一个行刺总统的阴谋。
• A plot to assassinate the banker has been uncovered by the police.暗杀银行家的密谋被警方侦破了。

2 sparse   

adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的

参考例句：

• The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
• The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。

3 sparsely   

adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地

参考例句：

• Relative to the size, the city is sparsely populated. 与其面积相比，这个城市的人口是稀少的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The ground was sparsely covered with grass. 地面上稀疏地覆盖草丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 flattening   

n. 修平 动词flatten的现在分词

参考例句：

• Flattening of the right atrial border is also seen in constrictive pericarditis. 右心房缘变平亦见于缩窄性心包炎。
• He busied his fingers with flattening the leaves of the book. 他手指忙着抚平书页。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

7 ablaze   

adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的

参考例句：

• The main street was ablaze with lights in the evening.晚上，那条主要街道灯火辉煌。
• Forests are sometimes set ablaze by lightning.森林有时因雷击而起火。

8 adorning   

修饰，装饰物

参考例句：

• Many have gems adorning their foreheads, and gold bands on their arms. 许多人在前额上挂着宝石，手臂上戴着金饰。
• The commandments, or rules, are like pure white pearls adorning the wearer. （喻）戒律洁白，可以庄严人身，好像晶莹可爱的宝珠。