美联社新闻一分钟 2006-03-10

1. The Arab based company that was set to take over port operations in the United States is backing out of the deal. The company owned by the government of Dubai says it plans to transfer the operations that it is buying at 6 US ports to a US entity¹ after opposition² from Congress.

2. President Bush signed the renewal³ of the Patriot⁴ Act Thursday. The act gives police and intelligence agencies enhanced powers to hunt for information and share with each other.

3. A former teacher who was holding 23 people hostage at a high school in France surrendered peacefully Thursday. Authorities say the man suffers from depression. No one was injured.

4. College-bound students who took the SAT tests last October may have received the wrong scores. The firm that administers the test says there were errors with scoring for about 4,000 students who may have had scores lowered by as much as 400 points.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. back out : phrasal verb
to decide not to do something that you had said you would do:
e.g. They backed out of the deal the day before they were due to sign the contract.

2. entity :noun [C] FORMAL
something which exists apart from other things, having its own independent existence:
e.g. The museums work closely together, but are separate legal entities⁵.

3. enhance :verb [T]
to improve the quality, amount or strength of something:
e.g. These scandals will not enhance the organization's reputation/image.

4. bound :adjective [after verb]
certain or extremely likely to happen:
These two young musicians are bound for international success (= are certain to be successful).

1 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

4 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

5 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。