美联社新闻一分钟 2006-09-23(在线收听

1. Health officials are investigating two more deaths possibly linked to tainted spinach. A Maryland woman who was infected with E. coli died September, 13th. An Idaho toddler died Wednesday from a kidney disease associated with the deadly bacteria. Both had eaten spinach.

2. Police in east St. Louis are searching for three young children whose mother was killed, and apparently had her fetus cut from her womb. Jimella Tunstall's kids were last seen Monday. Police have a person of interest in custody.

3. President Bush says he was taken aback at a report that US threatened to bomb Pakistan after 9/11 if it didn't cooperate in the war on terror. General Pervez Musharraf says the threat came from then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who says there was no such threat.

4. A member of the space shuttle Atlantis crew collapsed twice Friday during a welcome-home ceremony in Houston. Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper joked with the crowd, "boy! If that's not a little embarrassing" before she collapsed a second time. NASA officials say it's not unusual for astronauts returning from space to become faint.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. taint: verb
If an unpleasant substance taints food pr medicine, the food or medicine is spoiled or damaged by it.

2. toddler: n-count
A toddler is a young child who has only just learned to walk or who is still walks unsteadily with small, quick steps.

3. fetus: n-count
A fetus is an animal or human being in its later stages of development before it is born.

4. womb: n-count
A woman's womb is the part inside her body where a baby grows before it is born.

5. take aback: phrase
If you are taken aback by something, you are surprised or shocked by it and you cannot respond at once.

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