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1. Emergency officials in Missouri say they are surprised by how much the Mississippi River has risen in some areas. In Hannibal the river is expected to go higher than a crest¹ prediction of 28. 7 feet. Authorities are keeping a close eye on levees where volunteers have been adding thousands upon thousands of sandbags to shore them up.

2. A wildfire in northern California is now 90% contained. The blaze in Santa Cruz County has already burned several homes. Hundreds of people were evacuated². The cause of the blaze is still being investigated.

3. Followers³ of Muqtada al-Sadr say they are being targeted by the government after security forces arrested 20 policemen linked to the anti-American cleric in the southern city of Amarah. Al-Sadr has great sway there, and it's thought that weapons smugglers from Iran do too.

4. The Olympic torch passed through the capital of Tibet today. The six-mile journey went through a hand(-)picked(中间的连字符可有可无) crowd surrounded by hundreds of police and paramilitary troops.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1.Hannibal 汉尼柏/汉尼堡/汉尼拔 美国密苏里州的一个市

2. crest [countable]n.

the top or highest point of something such as a hill or a wave

3. shore somethin up phrasal verb

to support a wall or roof with large pieces of wood, metal etc to stop it from falling down

4. Santa Cruz County 圣克鲁兹/圣克鲁斯县 (Santa Cruz County)是美国加州太平洋岸边的一县，位于旧金山湾区的南方。

5. Muqtada al-Sadr

什叶派反美派别领导人穆克塔达·萨德尔

(born August 12, 1973) is an Iraqi theologian, political leader and militia⁴ commander.

Along with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme⁵ Islamic Iraqi Council, Sadr is one of the most influential⁶ religious and political figures in the country not holding any official title in the Iraqi government.

6. cleric [countable]n.

RRCa member of the clergy⁷

7. Amarah (Arabic: العمارة; BGN: Al ‘Amārah; also spelled Amara) 阿马拉

is a city in southeastern Iraq, located on a low ridge⁸ next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km from the border with Iran

8. sway [uncountable]n.

literary power to rule or influence people

hold sway / have sway

9. handpicked

someone who is handpicked has been carefully chosen for a special purpose

10. Paramilitary adj. [usually before noun]

relating to, or helping⁹ a military organization

paramilitary troops就是“准军事部队”的意思，也就是警察，包括武警。Paramilitary 是西方国家通常用来表达警察和武警部队的英语词汇，在我国的汉英词典中，“武警”的译文通常是armed police ，但这个表达远不如paramilitary在英语国家中用的普遍。中国政府在四川汶川地震中出动的抗震救灾力量中除了军人之外还有大量武警、森林警察、消防警察和普通公安干警，这些警力在英语中可以统称为paramilitary troops 。