美联社新闻一分钟 2007-03-19

1. Thousands marched to the Pentagon Saturday to mark the upcoming 4th anniversary of the war in Iraq. There was a brief standoff with police, but overall, the demonstration¹ was peaceful.

2. Thousands of travelers left stranded² by a late winter storm are hoping Sunday will be the day they'll finally get to where they're going. The situation was made worse in New York by the icing problems. And some travelers spent more than 12 hours sitting in planes on the tarmac.

3. Palestinians installed a new more moderate coalition³ government Saturday which shares power between Hamas and Fatah. However, Israel says it won't deal with the new government and the Bush administration says it's disappointed by some of the coalition's platform.

4. There are 8 more teams that know they'll still be dancing next weekend. Pitt, North Carolina, Georgetown and Butler are just some of the teams that advanced in the NCAA men's basketball tournament on Saturday.

 

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. brief adj
Something that is brief lasts only for a short time.

2. standoff n-count
A standoff is a situation in which neither of two opposing groups or forces will make a move until the other one does something, so nothing can happen until one of them gives away.

3. tarmac n-sing
Tarmac is the area from which planes take off at an airport.

4. platform n-count
A platform of a political party is what they say they will do.

1 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

2 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。