美联社新闻一分钟 AP NEWS 2007-11-11

1.From his ranch¹ in Crawford, Texas, President Bush said Saturday that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is making some positive steps. Pakistan has declared it will lift its state of emergency within a month.

2.Lights out on Broadway.More than two dozen shows have gone dark as unions representing stagehands are on strike. They have been without a contract since the end of July. Eight shows are not affected² because they are in theatres with separate contracts, and off-Broadway shows will also keep running.

3.Literary giant Norman Mailer has died. Mailer won acclaim³ for his classic debut⁴ novel "The Naked and the Dead", and later won two Pulitzer Prizes for other works. His biographer says Mailer died Saturday morning of kidney failure at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He was 84.

4.After safely reaching its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the space shuttle Atlantis now awaits its next major milestone⁵ for the upcoming STS-122 mission.The full launch dress rehearsal⁶ is scheduled for later in November.

1 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 acclaim   

v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞

参考例句：

• He was welcomed with great acclaim.他受到十分热烈的欢迎。
• His achievements earned him the acclaim of the scientific community.他的成就赢得了科学界的赞誉。

4 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

5 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

6 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。