美联社新闻一分钟 2005-12-20

1. President Bush brushing aside congressional criticism, defends secret domestic surveillance as a necessary part of his job to protect Americans from attack.

2. A weapons expert known as Dr Germ is among two dozen former top Saddam Hussein officials released in Iraq, while militants¹ claim they've killed an American hostage.

3. Doctors say Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered no permanent damage from his mild stroke and will be released from the hospital on Tuesday.

4. Afghanistan inaugurates its first popularly elected parliament in more than 3 decades, a major step toward democracy following the ouster of the hardline Taliban.

5. Madame Tussauds dresses its wax celebrity² figures for the holidays. President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair are made up as the cow from "Jack³ and the Beanstalk".

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. brush aside, brush away
brush aside brushes aside; brushing aside; brushed aside
If you brush aside or brush away an idea, remark, or feeling, you refuse to consider it because you think it is not important or useful, even though it may be.
Perhaps you shouldn't brush the idea aside too hastily.
He brushed away my views on politics.
PHR-V
= ignore

2. inaugurate
3 inaugurate inaugurates inaugurating inaugurated
If you inaugurate a new system or service, you start it. (FORMAL)
Pan Am inaugurated the first scheduled international flight.
VB

3. celebrity
1 celebrity celebrities⁴
A celebrity is someone who is famous, especially in areas of entertainment such as films, music, writing, or sports.
In 1944, at the age of 30, Hersey suddenly became a celebrity.
...a host of celebrities.
N-COUNT
= star

1 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。

2 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目