美联社新闻一分钟 2007-02-11

1. Illinois Senator Barack Obama is in Cedar¹ Rapids, Iowa, holding a town hall meeting just hours after officially announcing his candidacy for president. Obama made the announcement in Springfield, Illinois while there he talked about his life over the past two decades.

2. There's a new top American general in Iraq. This morning General David Petraeus officially took over from General George Casey. Petraeus says the mission there is winnable, but U.S. and Iraqi forces need to work together to end violence.

3. Residents in New York still get in new snow. More than 100 inches of snow has fallen in parts of Oswego County. Some residents are concerned about their roofs caving in. More snow is expected over the next two days.

4. Eighteen young pandas in China are leaving their mothers for the first time, heading today into a new outdoor environment. The move is expected to help the young pandas adapt to temperature, humidity and group living. They'll stay in the nursery until they are a year old.

 

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. candidacy: noun
Someone's candidacy is their position of being a candidate in an election.

2. cave in: phrase
If something such as a roof or a ceiling caves in, it collapses² inwards.

3. move: n-count
A move is an action that you take in order to achieve something.

1 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

2 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。