美联社新闻一分钟 2007-04-19（在线收听）

1. We are learning a little more about the shooter in the Virginia Tech massacre. Authorities say Cho Seung-Hui was accused of [B]stalking two female students in 2005. They also say he was taken to a mental health facility that year after his parents feared he may be suicidal.

2. Meantime, there was another scare on the Blacksburg campus today. Police in SWAT gear swarmed an area around the president's office after they received a threat against him. It was later proved to be unfounded.

3. Baghdad is reeling from a series of bombings that have killed more than 150 people. Four large bombs went off in mostly Shiite areas of the capital. The strikes are the deadliest in Iraq since a US-led campaign to pacify Baghdad.

4. The Supreme Court is upheld the ban on a controversial abortion procedure. The court says the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. The 5-4 vote gives abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. Stalk: verb
If someone stalks someone else, they keep following them or contacting them in an annoying and frightening way.

2. Gear: n-uncount
Gear means clothes. (INFORMAL)

3. Reel: verb
If you are reeling from a shock, you are feeling extremely surprised or upset because of it.

4. Pacify: verb
If the army or the police pacify a group of people, they use force to overcome their resistance or protests.

5. Bench: n-uncount
In a court of law, the bench is the judge or magistrates.