美联社新闻一分钟 2007-07-22

（单词翻译）

1. President Bush briefly¹ transferred power to Vice² President Cheney while being screened for colon³ cancer. Doctors have moved five small polyps. The spokesman says they are not worrisome. Bush reclaimed⁴ his authority about two hours later.

2. A Taliban spokesman says the hard-line militia⁵ killed two German hostages in Afghanistan, a report disputed by government officials. The Taliban also says it will exchange 23 South Korean captives for imprisoned⁶ Taliban fighters.

3. In parts of Britain more than a month's worth of rain fell in a few hours, trapping motorists, with rescue crews scrambling to pluck people from rooftops.

4. After all the build-up, the waiting, Harry⁸ Potter fans are devouring⁹ the last book in the series about the boy wizard. The book even making its way to the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan, with a likely audience of diplomats¹⁰ and journalists.


WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. screen: transitive verb
to do tests on a lot of people to find out whether they have a particular illness

2. colon: countable¹¹ noun
the lower part of the bowels¹², in which food is changed into waste matter

3. polyp: countable noun
a small lump that grows inside your body because of an illness, but is not likely to harm you

4. hard-line:
having extreme political beliefs, and refusing to change them

5. militia: countable noun
a group of people trained as soldiers, who are not part of the permanent army

6. scramble¹³: intransitive always + adverb/preposition
to climb up, down, or over something quickly and with difficulty, especially using your hands to help you

7. wizard: countable noun
a man who is supposed to have magic powers

8. build-up: countable usually singular
the length of time spent preparing an event

9. pluck: transitive always + adverb/preposition
to take someone away from a place or situation that is dangerous or unpleasant in a quick and unexpected way