澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-09-16

 Firefighters are continuing to battle a chemical fire in Canberra. There've been a series of explosions throughout the morning, and a plume¹ of black smoke is drifting over parts of the city. The blaze has forced the closure of roads and schools across north Canberra, and bus services have been cancelled.

 

The stepmother of murdered Australian girl Zahra Baker² has been sentenced to a maximum of 18 years in jail after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Elisa Baker entered her plea at a court hearing in North Carolina. She also admitted a history of psychological, verbal and physical abuse of the 10-year-old.

 

Julia Gillard will outline a plan to overhaul³ the Labor⁴ Party this morning. The Prime Minister's proposal will include a call to embrace American-style “primaries” to pre-select election candidates. The plan comes in response to the reports (of the Party 口误)  that the party is in decline.

 

And AFL fans are reeling with the shock news that Fremantle Dockers' coach, Mark Harvey, has been sacked despite having a year left in his deal with the club.  St Kilda coach Ross Lyon quit last night and is set to be unveiled as Fremantle's new AFL coach today.

1 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

2 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

3 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。