美联社新闻一分钟 2007-02-28（在线收听）

1. A big jolt on Wall Street this afternoon. At one point, the Dow Jones industrials plummeted more than 500 points, joining a global market plunge sparked by concerns of cooling U.S. and Chinese economies.

2. A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to a U.S. military base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney. Nearly two dozen people were killed and another 20 wounded.

3. Authorities are still assessing the damage after a landslide over this morning in San Francisco's North Beach district. A portion of telegraph hill collapsed sending rocks and boulders down onto the back of at least three buildings.

4. A mother who fears she might lose custody of her obese son has struck a deal with British social workers to keep the boy. Officials say the 218-pound eight-year-old routinely missed appointments with nurses and nutritionists.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. jolt: verb
If something jolts or if something jolts, it moves suddenly and quite violently.
Also a noun.

2. plummet: verb
If an amount, rate or price plummets, it decreases quickly by a large amount. (JOURNALISM)

3. boulder: n-count
A boulder is a large rounded rock.