澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2009-12-23

Catastrophic fire warnings have been issued across South Australia with temperatures set to rise above 40 degrees. Eight districts have been put on alert, including the Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and the Flinders Ranges. Extreme and severe warnings were in place for the remainder of the state. Strong winds from tropical Cyclone¹ Laurence are expected to fan the flames. It’s still moving inland, bringing widespread destruction to parts of the Pilbara region. It was downgraded to a category one storm overnight and is expected to be downgraded again to a tropical low this afternoon. 

Still with a wild weather and about 150 homes in Brisbane's north are still without power after severe storms battered² southeast Queensland in late yesterday. Crews worked throughout the night to restore power to over 30,000 homes and clear flooded roads, more than 3,500 lightning strikes were recorded. 

And traders on Wall Street have been given something to smile about in the dark economic times. Darth Vader was joined by Storm Troopers to ring in the start of the day's trade, while R2-D2 showed off his trading skills on the floor. After 30 years, Star Wars figures are still the top-selling licensed³ toys in the US.

And we will have more news later.

1 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

2 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

3 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？