美联社新闻一分钟 2006-09-30

1. A Wisconsin principal shot by a former student has died. The teen should have brought two guns to his rural school and shot the principal after a struggle with adults and other students.

2. Florida Congressman¹ Mark Foley resigned in the wake of questions about E-mails he wrote -- a former teenage male page. A clerk read Foley's resignation on the House floor and Foley submitted a letter of resignation to Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

3. Two brothers who owned a Rhode Island nightclub where a fire in 2003 killed 100 concertgoers have finally been sentenced under a plea agreement. One of the brothers gets three years' probation² and 500 hours of community service while the other has been sentenced to four years in prison and three years' probation.

4. It's another twist in the California child porn case against ex-JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Karr. Investigators³ say they found an exact copy of the hard drive of Karr's lost computer. The hearing on the defense⁴ motion to dismiss the charges continues.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. plea: n-count
In the court of law, a person's plea is the answer that they give when they have been charged with a crime, saying whether or not they are guilty of that crime.
【法律】 抗辩: 被告对刑事指控或起诉的回答

2. probation: n-uncount Probation is a period of time during which a person who has committed a crime has to obey the law and be supervised by a probation officer, rather than being sent to prison.
【法律】 缓刑: 对已被认定犯有某罪的人实行暂缓执行其刑罚, 并在其保证良好行为的基础上给予暂时的自由


3. motion: n-count A motion is a formal proposal or statement in a meeting, or trial, which is discussed and then voted or decided⁵ on.
【法律】 请求, 申请: 法院提出的一种做为命令或约束的申请


4. dismiss: verb When a judge dismisses a case against someone, he or she formally states that there is no need for a trial, usually because there is not enough evidence for the case to continue.
【法律】 驳回, 不受理: 不用进一步审理而使（决议或案件）退出法庭

1 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。

2 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

3 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》

4 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。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。