CNN 2009-02-24

I'm Reggie Aqui from the CNN Center in Atlanta. Here is a quick look at what is making news.

There may be a break in the 8-year-old case of murdered Washington intern¹ Chandra Levy². D.C. police say they expect to arrest a suspect soon. CNN has learned the suspect is Ingmar Guandique. He is serving a 10-year-sentence for 2 assaults in the same park where Levy's remains³ were found. Levy's case got national attention after it was discovered that she had an affair with former Congressman⁴ Gary Condit.

A busy day ahead for President Obama. He'll hold what he calls a fiscal⁵ responsibility summit this afternoon to work out a strategy for cutting the country's deficit⁶ in half by 2013. A CNN opinion research corporation poll says that 73% of Americans are scared about the state of the country. That is up 6% from October. At the same time when ask how things were going for them personally, the numbers, well they might surprise you, 77% said well, 22% said badly.

Some laid-off Microsoft workers are getting, are being told to give back part of their severance⁷ pay. A tech blog reports that some of the 1,400 employees who were let go, received a letter and it said  an accounting⁸ error overpaid some and underpaid others. Those who got too much were told to pay it back.

Embattled Senator Roland Burris is ignoring calls for his resignation. The Illinois Democratic reportedly met with federal authorities during the weekend about conflicting statement that he gave when he testified that he had no contact with staffers for now former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Burris insists he did nothing wrong.

And the day before Fat Tuesdays is almost as crazy as the finale in New Orleans. Festivities kick off this hour, there are two big parades uptown, the Proteus parade tonight then the star-studded Orpheus parade after sundown. Joan  Rivers and Jim Belushi are expected to arrive this year.

Please stick with us at CNN.com and CNN.com Live as we bring you the updates throughout the day.

1 intern   

v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生

参考例句：

• I worked as an intern in that firm last summer.去年夏天我在那家商行实习。
• The intern bandaged the cut as the nurse looked on.这位实习生在护士的照看下给病人包扎伤口。

2 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

3 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。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 severance   

n.离职金；切断

参考例句：

• Those laid off received their regular checks,plus vacation and severance pay.那些被裁的人都收到他们应得的薪金，再加上假期和解职的酬金。Kirchofer was terminated,effective immediately--without severance or warning.科奇弗被解雇了，立刻生效--而且没有辞退费或者警告。

8 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。