美联社新闻一分钟 2005-12-14

1. Despite protests, convicted killer¹ Stanley Tookie Williams is executed, the Crips gang co-founder's case stirred national debate about capital punishment and redemption.

2. Gunmen kill a Sunni Arab parliamentary candidate as militants² target a top Shiite politician in the last day of campaigning before the Iraqi election.

3. Iraqi expatriates begin voting, tens of thousands are expected to cast ballots³ Tuesday through Thursday in the United States and around the world.

4. The Federal Reserve's expected to hike interest rates another quarter-point as the Fed appears closer to ending its campaign of great increases.

5. The film "Brokeback Mountain" ropes in seven Golden Globe nominations⁴, including Best Drama, and honors for actor Heath Ledger⁵ and director Ang Lee.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

0. capital punishment
capital punishment
Capital punishment is punishment which involves the legal killing⁶ of a person who has committed a serious crime such as murder.
Most democracies have abolished capital punishment.
N-UNCOUNT
= the death penalty

1. redemption
1 redemption redemptions
Redemption is the act of redeeming⁷ something or of being redeemed⁸ by something.
He craves⁹ redemption for his sins.
...redemption of the loan.
...regional differences in the frequency of cash redemptions and quota¹⁰ payment.
N-VAR

2. expatriate
expatriate expatriates
An expatriate is someone who is living in a country which is not their own.
...British expatriates in Spain.
N-COUNT

3. hike
4 hike hikes hiking hiked
To hike prices, rates, taxes, or quantities means to increase them suddenly or by a large amount. (INFORMAL)
It has now been forced to hike its rates by 5.25 per cent.
TSB's monthly credit card rate is now hiked from 1.95% to 2.05%.
The federal government hiked the tax on hard liquor.
VB
= raise

4. rope in
rope in ropes in; roping in; roped in
If you say that you were roped in to do a particular task, you mean that someone persuaded you to help them do that task. (mainly BRIT, INFORMAL)
Visitors were roped in for potato picking and harvesting.
I got roped in to help with the timekeeping.
PHR-V: usu passive

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

5 ledger   

n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿

参考例句：

• The young man bowed his head and bent over his ledger again.那个年轻人点头应诺，然后又埋头写起分类帐。
• She is a real accountant who even keeps a detailed household ledger.她不愧是搞财务的，家庭分类账记得清楚详细。

6 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。

7 redeeming   

补偿的，弥补的

参考例句：

• I found him thoroughly unpleasant, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. 我觉得他一点也不讨人喜欢，没有任何可取之处。
• The sole redeeming feature of this job is the salary. 这份工作唯其薪水尚可弥补一切之不足。

8 redeemed   

adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。
• He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker's. 他从当铺赎回手表。

9 craves   

渴望，热望( crave的第三人称单数 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• The tree craves calm but the wind will not drop. 树欲静而风不止。
• Victory would give him a passport to the riches he craves. 胜利将使他有机会获得自己梦寐以求的财富。

10 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。