美联社新闻一分钟 2005-09-02

（单词翻译）

1.Unrest intensifies¹ across New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, as more National Guard troops pour in to help restore order there.

2.Retail² gas prices soar above three bucks³ a gallon, while deliveries to gas stations falter⁴ amid the hurricane's economic aftermath.

3.Iraqi Shiites bury the nearly one thousand victims of the Baghdad bridge stampede, also demanding answers from their government.

4.In Russia, mourners commemorate⁵ one year since a hostage crisis of the Beslan School, a terror attack that claimed three hundred and thirty-one lives.

5.And Muhammad Al Fayed unveils a statue in memory of Princess Diana and his son Dodi, eight years after they died in a Paris car crash.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. falter
1 falter falters⁶ faltering⁷ faltered⁸
If something falters, it loses power or strength in an uneven⁹ way, or no longer makes much progress.
Normal life is at a standstill, and the economy is faltering.
The car was out of sight around a bend in moments, but the engine did not falter or slow down.
A faltering economy and a recent wave of labour unrest have affected¹⁰ the new party's popularity.
VB

2. claim
11 claim claims claiming claimed
If you say that a war, disease, or accident claims someone's life, you mean that they are killed in it or by it. (FORMAL)
The civil war claimed the life of a U.N. interpreter yesterday.
Heart disease is the biggest killer¹¹, claiming 180,000 lives a year.
VB
= take