美联社新闻一分钟 2006-10-06

1. Amish families gather to bury four of the five young girls gunned down inside their rural Pennsylvania schoolhouse. The families are pleading for privacy as they pray, while five other girls caught in the attack continue to fight their injury.

2. The House ethics¹ committee is meeting today to decide how to investigate the Mark Foley e-mail scandal. The committee will also investigate House Speaker Dennis Hastert who's been criticized for failing to take action after being warned about the messages.

3. A US spokesman says it's highly unlikely that the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq was killed in a raid by US forces. Iraqi officials are performing DNA² tests on the militant³ to be sure the body is not that of Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

4. You might want to carry on your luggage next time you fly. The government says more than 14,000 pieces of luggage were lost each day by airlines this past August. The spike⁴ in lost bags has been blamed on tight security and short staffing

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. spike: n-count
A spike is an abrupt⁵ sharp increase.

1 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

2 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

5 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。