美联社新闻一分钟 2006-06-16

1. 2,500 American service members have died in the Iraq War. That number comes from the Pentagon today which also says nearly 18,500 troops were wounded since the war began in 2003.

2. Defense¹ Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave in to a rare show of emotion while helping² dedicate the site of a new 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. Rumsfeld appeared to choke up while talking about the 184 people killed during the terrorist attack.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger is out of a hospital today, but it's unclear where he'll continue his recovery. The 24-year-old spent 2 days in the hospital after crashing his motorcycle. He needed a surgery to repair broken facial bones.

4. It appears the gold rush is still on. This California man hired workers to dig a 60-foot-deep hole in his front yard after his metal detector³ picked up something. But officials shut down the operation, citing safety issues.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. dedicate : verb
to hold an official ceremony to say that a building or an object has a special purpose or is special to the memory of a particular person.
e.g. A memorial stone was dedicated⁴ to those who were killed in the war.

2. choke up : phrasal verb
(NAmE) to find it difficult to speak, because of the strong emotion that you are feeling.
e.g. She choked up when she began to talk about her mother.

3. gold rush : n-count
A gold rush is a situation when a lot of people suddenly go to a place where gold has been discovered.

4. pick up : phrasal verb
If a piece of equipment, for example a radio or a microphone, picks up a signal or sound, it receives it or detects it.
e.g. We can pick up Italian television.

5. cite : verb
to mention something as a reason or an example, or in order to support what you are saying.
e.g. He cited his heavy workload⁵ as the reason for his breakdown⁶.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 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。

3 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 workload   

n.作业量，工作量

参考例句：

• An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
• He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。

6 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。