美联社新闻一分钟 2007-05-08

1. The death toll¹ from Friday's F5 tornado² continues to climb. Officials now say at least ten people are dead in Greensburg, Kansas. Rescuers are continuing to search the rubble³ for possible survivors⁴.

2. Two retirees are missing in Ohio after setting off a shopping trip and never coming back. The women haven't been seen or heard from in two weeks. Authorities say there is no evidence of foul⁵ play.

3. The White House is rolling out the red carpet for Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen arrived at the White House Monday morning and is attending a white-tie dinner tonight. That's the most formal dinner the White House can offer.

4. When nine-year-old Jesse Courtney complained of earaches⁶, doctors found an unexpected source of the pain--two spiders. Both of the spiders were dead when the doctors flushed them out. And Jesse is keeping them as souvenirs.

 

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. foul play: n-uncount
Foul play is criminal violence or activity that results in a person's death.

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

3 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

6 earaches   

n.耳朵痛( earache的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He has had some earaches lately. 他近来耳朵有点痛。 来自互联网