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1.As if spending one night at Chicago's O'Hare Airport wasn't enough. Some passengers face the prospect¹ of doing it again this Christmas Eve. More than 100 flights were canceled at O'Hare today, a day after the weather forced the cancellations of more than 500 flights.

2.Officials at Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport say about 26 people have been treating for eye irritation² after fumes³ from a de-icer seeped⁴ inside an Alaska Airlines plane. An airline spokeswoman says all five crew members and two other airline employees onboard decided⁵ to go to a hospital. It’s unknown how the fumes seeped into the plane. An airline official calls it “highly unusual”.

3.Deep discounts are drawing in customers, but analysts⁶ say that may not be enough to offset⁷ what's expected to be the worst holiday sale season in decades. Merchants desperate to pull in shoppers started discounting holiday goods last month. But except for a shopping binge on the day after Thanksgiving, Americans remained tightfisted.

4.It doesn't look like the dispute over Snow-zilla will end anytime soon. The city of Anchorage has levied⁸ thousands of dollars in fines against the owner of a property where a giant snowman sits, but the owner claimed someone else rebuilt the snowman that had previously⁹ been destroyed.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1.de-icer: n.防冰装置

a device used on an aircraft to keep the wings and propeller¹⁰ free from ice or to remove ice after it has formed

2.offset: vt.

if the cost or amount of something offsets¹¹ another cost or amount, the two things have an opposite effect so that the situation remains¹² the same

3.binge: n. informal

a short period when you do too much of something, such as eating or drinking

4.tightfisted: adj. informal

not generous with money [= stingy]

5. levy¹³: vt.

to officially say that people must pay a tax or charge

e.g. levy a tax/charge/fine etc (on something)