美联社新闻一分钟 2007-01-15

1. Mother Nature is walloping the country again. Ice is covering roads from California to Arkansas. In Oklahoma, at least 7 people died in an accident. And in Los Angeles, a firefighter lost control of his engine on black ice and skidded² off the road.

2. Federal investigators³ are looking into 2 fires in Greenville, North Carolina; a third church was broken into. Authorities say the fires do look suspicious. The blaze destroyed much of the Memorial Baptist Church, but the flames were limited to just one room at the second church.

3. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is now in Jordan meeting with King Abdullah. He reportedly told Rice that reconciliation⁴ in Iraq would fail if Sunni Muslims were not included in rebuilding the country. Earlier in the day, she met with Palestinian leader Mohammed Abbas in an effort to get peace talks with Israel back on track.

4. A six-legged calf⁵ born in Colombia is drawing the curious. The calf named Ponoma also has two female genitals and six udders. Her owner says he has never seen such deformities before.

 

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. wallop : VERB (INFORMAL)
If you wallop someone or something, you hit them very hard, often causing a dull sound.

2. black ice : N-SING
黑冰：一层很薄的，几乎看不见的冰层，如在道路或人行道上，通常由霜雾造成，极危险
Black ice is a thin, transparent⁶ layer of ice on a road or path that is very difficult to see.

3. skid¹ : VERB
If a vehicle skids⁷, it slides sideways or forwards while moving, for example when you are trying to stop it suddenly on a wet road.

4. on track : PHR
If someone or something is on track, they are acting⁸ or progressing in a way that is likely to result in success.

5. genitals : N-PLURAL
Someone's genitals are their external sexual organs.

6. udder : N-COUNT
A cow's udder is the organ that hangs below its body and produces milk.

7. deformity : N-COUNT
A deformity is a part of someone's body which is not the normal shape because of injury of illness, or because they were born this way.

1 skid   

v.打滑 n.滑向一侧；滑道 ，滑轨

参考例句：

• He braked suddenly,causing the front wheels to skid.他突然剎车，使得前轮打了滑。
• The police examined the skid marks to see how fast the car had been travelling.警察检查了车轮滑行痕迹，以判断汽车当时开得有多快。

2 skidded   

v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区

参考例句：

• The car skidded and hit a lamp post. 那辆汽车打滑撞上了路灯杆。
• The car skidded and overturned. 汽车打滑翻倒了。

3 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

5 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

6 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

7 skids   

n.滑向一侧( skid的名词复数 )；滑道；滚道；制轮器v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的第三人称单数 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区

参考例句：

• The aging football player was playing on the skids. 那个上了年纪的足球运动员很明显地在走下坡路。 来自辞典例句
• It's a shame that he hit the skids. 很遗憾他消沉了。 来自辞典例句

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。