美联社新闻一分钟 2006-07-31

1. Dozens of women and children were killed after an Israeli air strike hit the southern Lebanese town of Qana overnight. Many world leaders are outrage¹d over the attack and have stepped up demands for a ceasefire.

2. Elections were held in the Congo Sunday for the first time in more than 4 decades, 33 people are on the ballot³ for president. The European Union sent troops to help secure the vote.

3. Wildfires continue to burn in the west. Hundreds of firefighters battle blazes in South Dakota. Their efforts have been hamper⁴ed by high winds and temperatures climbing over 100 degrees.

4. And record-setting temperatures are crippling communities across the nation. Meteorologists say more than 60 percent of the U.S. is in need of rain.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. outrage : verb
If you are outraged² by something, it makes you extremely shocked and angry.

2. hamper : verb
to prevent somebody from easily doing or achieving something
e.g. Our efforts were severely⁶ hampered⁵ by a lack of money.

3. cripple : verb
To cripple a machine, organization, or system means to damage it severely or prevent it from working properly.

4. meteorologist : n-count
a scientist who studies meteorology
meteorology : n-uncount --- 气象学
Meteorology is the study of the processes in the Earth's atmosphere that cause particular weather conditions, especially in order to predict the weather.

1 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

2 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

3 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

4 hamper   

vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子

参考例句：

• There are some apples in a picnic hamper.在野餐用的大篮子里有许多苹果。
• The emergence of such problems seriously hamper the development of enterprises.这些问题的出现严重阻碍了企业的发展。

5 hampered   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions. 恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. 圣彼德堡镇的那些受折磨、受拘束的体面孩子们个个都是这么想的。

6 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。