CNN 2009-10-21

Good morning. I'm Melissa Long here at the CNN center in Atlanta, with a look at some of the stories that are happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

 CNN has learned a presidential runoff between Afghan president Hamid Karzai and his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah will be taking place on the 7th of November. The runoff was accepted today by Karzai at a news conference with Senator John Kerry and a rep(representative) from the United Nations.

 A lawyer for a Colorado father accused of carrying out a bizarre hoax¹ involving his son in a huge balloon says official charges and the case could be filed next week. Authorities announced that Richard Heene and his wife Mayumi face several felony charges.

A major mix-up adds to a Louisiana family's grief. A woman says her mother's body went to the wrong funeral home. She was shocked to find a much older woman's body in the casket. To make matters worse, the other family mistakenly cremated² her mom. The family says someone failed to look at the paperwork and plans to sue the morgue and the funeral homes.

Hawaii's budget crunch³ is giving school children some reason to smile. Public schools are gonna be closed most Fridays for the remainder of the academic year. Under a new union contract with teachers, it cuts 17 days from the calendar and gives Hawaii the nation's shortest school year. Educators are concerned there is just not enough time for kids to learn. Hawaii already ranks near the bottom nationally in academic achievement.

Signs that people may be getting tired of shopping on the cheap, there are some hints that Christmas shopping may not be quite so gloomy. T.J. Maxx and Marshalls recently said things may be a little better than they predicted, so did Intel which makes chips for many gadgets⁴ that are big sellers around the holidays.

And you are up to date. Those are the headlines for you this hour. Do stay with CNN and CNN.com for more on these stories or other news that develops today.

1 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

2 cremated   

v.火葬，火化（尸体）( cremate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He wants to is cremated, not buried. 他要火葬，不要土葬。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bodies were cremated on the shore. 他们的尸体在海边火化了。 来自辞典例句

3 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

4 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史