CNN 2009-05-03

Prosecutors¹ call it a hate crime, but the jury did not agree. Two teenagers are acquitted², They were yesterday of murder in a Pennsylvania courtroom and instead Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak were convicted of simple assault in the beating death last summer of Luis Ramirez. The prosecutors allege³ the teens and their friends goaded⁴ Ramirez into a fight, while an attorney for the Mexican-American Legal Defense⁵ and Education Fund very upset with the verdict.

It was a long case and the jury has rendered their verdict and they took a long time to deliberate on the case and we respect their verdict.

Failure to indicate the death of Luis Ramirez has set an extremely dangerous precedent⁶. The jurors here sending the message that you can brutally⁷ beat a person without regard to their life and get away with it continue with your life uninterrupted, not in this case there wasn't even a slap on the wrist. In this case the message is that a person who may not be popular in society based on their national origin or certain characteristic has less value in our society.

Ramirez died of blunt force trauma⁸ two days after the beating. Defense attorneys say the trial was difficult.

It was a long process. We have been fighting this case for lots of months, it was highly charged obviously by all these cameras, the week of trial was very difficult and we are just delighted that it ended the way it did.

The number of the swine flue cases has jumped dramatically overnight. But we are gonna to keep this in perspective for you, here is the latest. The World Health Organization reporting that 615 people infected in 15 countries now that would be a 67% increase from the 365 confirmed cases that were reported just yesterday. However this is not because they are starting to see more new cases however these are just suspected cases that are now confirmed through testing in a lab. Also Hong Kong and South Korea have each confirmed one case about 200 guests and 100 staff members at one Hong Kong hotel had to be quarantined. The government ordered that quarantine after a Mexican man staying in the hotel got sick.

So far the strain in the US has not been nearly as deadly as we have been seeing in Mexico, we do know about 16 people confirmed dead from the swine flu in Mexico, just one child died of the swine flu here in the US, but President Obama says the US will be ready if this virus somehow mutates into something that is worse. This morning in his weekly address, he assured American people that every resource is being used.

As our scientists and researchers learn more information about this virus everyday, the guidance we offer will likely change. What we will not change is the fact that we will be making every recommendation based on the best science possible. We will also continue investing in every resource necessary to treat this virus and prevent a wider outbreak. The good news is that the current strain of H1N1 can be defeated by a course of antiviral treatment that we already have on hand. We began this week with 50 million courses of this treatment in the Strategic National Stockpile. Over the course of the last few days, we've delivered one quarter of that stockpile to states so they are prepared to treat anyone who is infected with this virus, we then purchased an additional thirteen million treatments to refill our strategic stockpiles.

1 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

2 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

3 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

4 goaded   

v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人

参考例句：

• Goaded beyond endurance, she turned on him and hit out. 她被气得忍无可忍，于是转身向他猛击。
• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

7 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

8 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。