美联社新闻一分钟 AP 2012-12-19_在线英语听力室

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1. A grieving Connecticut town is bracing¹ itself for the first funerals for victims of the school shooting last week that left 20 children and six adults dead. Officials in Newtown are also debating when classes could resume and where.

2. President Barack Obama is vowing² to use whatever power this office holds to safeguard the nation's children, raising the prospect³ that he will pursue action to stem gun violence after Friday's elementary school massacre⁴.

3. Anti-apartheid icon⁵ Nelson Mandela remains⁶ hospitalized for a tenth day in South Africa. Officials say the 94-year-old underwent a successful surgery for gallstones on Saturday. They say he has been hospitalized for tests or treatment for a lung infection.

4. With schools focusing more on technology, cursive writing is being pushed out the door, only a handful of states still require cursive writing as part of the curriculum. But researchers say cursive helps students later in life.

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收听单词发音

1 bracing
adj.令人振奋的
参考例句：
The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。 The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

2 vowing
起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）
参考例句：
President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。 President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

3 prospect
n.前景，前途；景色，视野
参考例句：
This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。 The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

4 massacre
n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀
参考例句：
There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。 If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

5 icon
n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像
参考例句：
They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。 Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

6 remains
n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹
参考例句：
He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。 The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

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美联社新闻一分钟 AP 2012-12-19