美联社新闻一分钟 2006-10-17

（单词翻译）

1. Residents of Hawaii are cleaning up from a strong earthquake and a series of aftershocks. The main quake was estimated at magnitude 6.6. No death is reported but there are several minor¹ injuries. The quakes caused some damage to roads, buildings and homes on the Big Island of Hawaii.

2. Top US envoy² is in Japan today to discuss North Korea's recent nuclear test. Christopher Hill says the trip is about implementing³ sanctions against the Communist country. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves tomorrow for meetings in Japan, South Korea and China.

3. Lots of school kids in the Buffalo⁴ area are getting not a snow day but week. Three suburban⁵ districts say they will remain closed until next Monday because of last week's record snowfall.

4. Neil Simon is joining an elite⁶ comedy club. The playwright⁷ was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for Humor at Washington's Kennedy Center Sunday night, joining Richard Pryor and Steve Martin among others who have received the high award

WORDS IN THE NEWS


1. clean up : PHR-V
If you clean up a mess or clean up a place where there is a mess, you make things tidy and free of dirt again.

2. snow day : N-COUNT
A snow day is a day on which school classes are cancelled or delayed due to snow or heavy ice.

3. elite : N-COUNT
You can refer to the most powerful, rich, or talented people within a particular group, place, or society as the elite.

4. playwright : N-COUNT
A playwright is a person who writes plays.=dramatist