美联社新闻一分钟 2005-08-27

1.Hurricane Katrina treads across South Florida, leaving 5 dead, 5 missing and millions of homes and businesses without power.

2.Shiites wait for a response from Sunni Arabs to what they call a final compromise offer to break the impasse¹ over Iraq's draft constitution.

3.Fire races through an apartment building in Paris housing African immigrants, killing² 17, nearly all of them children, and injuring 23 others.

4.Fed Chief Greenspan warns creeping trade protectionism and bloated budget deficits³ pose a risk to long-term US economic health.

5.And handlers of a smoking chimp⁴ in a Chinese zoo are trying to get her to kick the habit by giving her milk instead of cigarettes.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. tread
1 tread treads treading trod trodden
If you tread on something, you put your foot on it when you are walking or standing⁵.
Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to tread on your foot.
I had white rugs on the floor, but people were scared to tread on them in case they marked.
VB

2. race
7 race races racing⁶ raced
If something races towards a particular state or position, it moves very fast towards that state or position.
Do they realize we are racing towards complete economic collapse⁷?.
American economic growth raced ahead.
VB

3. creep
3 creep creeps creeping crept
If something creeps in or creeps back, it begins to occur or becomes part of something without people realizing or without them wanting it.
Insecurity might creep in.
An increasing ratio of mistakes, perhaps induced by tiredness, crept into her game.
...a proposal that crept through unnoticed at the National Council in December...
Now his other major works are creeping back into concert programmes.
Their organisation⁸ has been subjected to creeping privatisation since 1981.
VB

4. protectionism
protectionism
Protectionism is the policy some countries have of helping⁹ their own industries by putting a large tax on imported goods or by restricting imports in some other way.
The aim of the current round of talks is to promote free trade and to avert¹⁰ the threat of increasing protectionism.
N-UNCOUNT
* free trade

5. bloated
3 bloated
If you describe an organization as bloated, you mean that it is larger and less efficient than it should be.
...its massive state apparatus¹¹ and bloated bureaucracy.
ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n

6. handler
1 handler handlers
A handler is someone whose job is to be in charge of and control an animal.
Fifty officers, including frogmen and dog handlers, are searching for her.
N-COUNT: usu supp N

7. chimp
chimp chimps¹²
A chimp is the same as a chimpanzee. (INFORMAL)
N-COUNT

1 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

4 chimp   

n.黑猩猩

参考例句：

• In fact,the color of gorilla and chimp are light-color.其实大猩猩和黑猩猩的肤色是较为浅的。
• The chimp is the champ.猩猩是冠军。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

11 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

12 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命