CNN 2009-10-23

Good morning, I’m Melissa Long here at the CNN center in Atlanta. It’s a Thursday, 22nd of October. Here’s a look at some of the stories making news today.

The Obama administration is ordering the nation’s biggest bailed-out companies to severely¹ cut pay packages to the top executives. Salaries are expected to be slashed² by an average of 90%. President Obama’s pay czar Kenneth Feinberg has been reviewing salary packages to get the companies in the position to pay back the bailout loans as soon as possible.

A judge has declared a mistrial on John Travolta’s extortion case. She says she believes the jurors somehow communicated with someone outside the court. That’s after the rumors⁴ circulated about the verdict before deliberations were done. A paramedic and a former Bahamian Senator have denied trying to extort³ millions of dollars from Travolta after his son’s death.

Police are now treating the disappearance⁵ of a Virginia Tech student as a criminal investigation⁶. 20-year-old Morgan Harrington was last seen Saturday night at a Metallic⁷ concert in Charlottesville, Virginia. She had left the arena⁸ on the campus of the University of Virginia during the show, but wasn’t allowed to reenter because of the arena policy. Harrington’s purse and cellphone were found in a nearby parking lot. Police say there were no signs of struggle in that area.

The H1N1 virus is spreading from coast to coast, a lot faster than many had expected. The hardest hit areas are in the southeast, the Great Lake region, and in out west. The Department of Education is saying the H1N1 has forced 198 schools across 15 different states to shut down. That is a huge increase from just a few days ago and more than 65,000 children were out of school yesterday because of the swine flu or swine flu symptoms, that’s up from around 28,000 Monday.

The Olympic torch in Greece has been lit. From Greece, the torch will be brought to Canada, and it’s going to be carried across country in a 160-day journey, starting the 30th of October. The Olympic flame will be carried by 12,000 torch bearers. The 2010 Winter Game will be held in Vancouver and the Games start in 130 days.

You’re up to date. Those are the headlines for you this hour, do stay with CNN and CNN.com for more on these news or other news that develops today.

1 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

2 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 extort   

v.勒索，敲诈，强要

参考例句：

• The blackmailer tried to extort a large sum of money from him.勒索者企图向他勒索一大笔钱。
• They absolutely must not harm the people or extort money from them.严格禁止坑害勒索群众。

4 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

8 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。