美联社新闻一分钟 2007-07-11

1. Five people are dead after an unsuccessful emergency landing in Sanford, Florida, setting two houses on fire. The husband of a top NASCAR official and a company pilot are among the dead. An adult and two children who were in their homes were also killed.

2. President Bush told an audience in Cleveland he's offered pulling US troops out of Iraq, but not until their commanders say it's time. He's once again defending his Iraq policy, urging lawmakers to wait for General David Petraeus to return from Iraq with a progress report.

3. It's the second day of a sweltering heat wave that's blanketing the East Coast. In Philadelphia, State Office building was closed because the building's cooling systems weren't working properly. Forecasters expect the heat to last through much of the week.

4. This Oregon man settled back and headed for the skies in a lawn chair. Packed with 105 helium balloons, a GPS device, water and some snacks, Kent Couch made lift-off. Almost nine hours later, the 47-year-old landed nearly 200 miles from home.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. NASCAR: abbr.
National Association for Stock Car Auto¹ Racing

2. sweltering : adjective
extremely hot and uncomfortable

3. blanket: transitive verb
to cover something with a thick layer

4. lawn chair : countable² noun American English
a light chair that you use outside, especially one that folds up

5. helium: uncountable noun
a gas that is lighter³ than air and is used to make balloons float. It is a chemical element: symbol He

6. lift-off: uncountable and countable noun
the moment when a vehicle that is about to travel in space leaves the ground

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 countable   

adj.可数的，可以计算的

参考例句：

• The word "person" is a countable noun.person这个词是个可数名词。
• Countable nouns have singular and plural forms.可数名词有单数和复数之分。

3 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。