美联社新闻一分钟 2006-03-09

1. 3 college students were arrested Wednesday for allegedly setting fire to 9 Baptist churches across Alabama. One of the suspects allegedly said the first fires were set as a joke. The others were started to throw investigators¹ off track.

2. President Bush is heading back to Washington after a Gulf² Coast visit. During this tenth trip, the President called on Congress to give an additional 20 billion dollars for levee repair and hurricane relief.

3. In a rare reversal advisors³ are telling the Food & Drug Administration the promising⁴ multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri should be returned to the market. Regulators say they are still concerned the drug is connected to a rare brain disease.

4. NFL owners are facing a deadline for responding to the latest labor⁵ proposal from the Players Union that twice postponed⁶ free agent signing period opens at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. Baptist :noun [C]
a member of a Christian⁷ group that believes that baptism should not happen until a person is old enough to ask for it and to understand its meaning

2. reversal :noun [C]
when something changes to its opposite:
e.g. He demanded a reversal of the previous decision.

3. multiple sclerosis :noun [U] (ABBREVIATION MS)
a disease in which the covering of the nerves gradually becomes destroyed, damaging a person's speech and sight and ability to move 多发性硬化

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 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。

6 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。