美联社新闻一分钟 2005-11-22(在线收听

1. General Motors is to eliminate thirty thousand jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain plants by 2008.

2. President Bush facing unrelenting criticism at home over the war salutes Mongolia for aiding the US-led effort in Iraq.

3. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pushes for a quick March election just hours after leaving his hardliner Likud party to form a new centrist party.

4. US forces mistakenly fire on a civilian vehicle outside an American base in Iraq, killing three people , including a child.

5. And it gives off an odor like rotting meat, the famous and rare Titan Arum flower draws a huge crowd after blooming in Washington DC

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. powertrain: in the automobile world, consist of all the components of a vehicle's drive system. This includes the engine, the transmission, and any separate driveshafts, differential etc. Sometimes, "powertrain" is used to refer to simply the engine and transmission, including the other components only if they are integral to the transmission.

2. unrelenting: 1 an unpleasant situation hat is unrelenting continues for a long time without stopping. e.g. the unrelenting pressures of the job. 2 continuing to do something in a determined way without thinking anyone else's feeling. unrelenting opponent.

3. salute: formal: to praise someone for the things they have achieved, especially publicly. // if you salute someone, you greet them or show your respect with a formal sign. Soldiers usually salute officers by raising their right hand so that their fingers touch their forehead. //an occasion when guns are fired into the air in order to show respect for someone important. e.g. a 21-gun salute.

4. hardliner: 强硬路线者(a politician who wants political problems to be dealt with in a strong and extreme way)

5. Likud: 利库德集团(以色列右翼党派的政治联盟,长期为以色列执政党) one of the main political parties in Israel. It is a right wing party.

6. give off: 发出(蒸汽、光等)

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