英语杂谈：04 A House party

   Thanks for being here, and there was a party last night.
 

   Oh, yeah, a House party.
 

   In Washington, literally¹, a House party. Democrats², they’ve invited the Republicans, but the Republicans didn't really want to party with them last night. The health care reform bill passed, 220-215 was the vote, this is how it went down.

 

   "The yeas are 220, the nays³ are 215. The bill is passed."

 

   Well, the suspect in the Fort Hood⁴ massacre⁵ is doing better, we're told doctors have taken Major Nidal Hasan off a ventilator. Hasan was shot himself four times by a civilian⁶ officer, during that attack that killed 13.

 

   Also a march and a vigil are planned today in Cleveland, outside the home where the bodies of 11 women were found. The convicted sex offender⁷ who lives there is being held without bond, Anthony Sowell, you seeing him there.

 

   Police in Pakistan say a local politician who fought against the Taliban was the target of a deadly suicide bombing this morning. He was one of twelve killed near Peshawar. The Taliban is claiming responsibility.

 

   And we are also keeping an eye today on Ida. It's been upgraded to a hurricane status for the second time, expected to pass by Mexico and Cuba.
Yeah, Cancun and Cozumel folks be warned. Sorry. Reynolds has the latest.

 

   "…CNN, your hurricane headquarters. Let's kick it old school (Do it the old way) when start to talk about hurricane. We've got Ida right over here. That's the introduction. Let's take a look and see what we've got. Winds are at 90 miles per hour, gusting⁸ to 115. This is the strongest storm on the planet. And for this thing to retain some power or get a bit stronger, it needs to stay away from land.

 

   Well, the latest path we have, has this thing going right up into the Gulf⁹ of Mexico where warm water awaits. And as it forecasts, at least according to the National Hurricane Center, of being a Category 2 storm as we get into Monday, a hurricane still as we get into Wednesday early in the morning at one a.m with winds, then dropping to about 50 miles an hour in pouring, just to southeast of Pensacola and then just near Tampa as a depression. So right now, the forecast keeps this thing offshore¹⁰, but that doesn't mean you’re not gonna see some heavy rain and potential flooding to Florida, back into Alabama, even into Mississippi and Louisiana or Texas. And of course, the chance of this forecast could be wrong, and it could come onshore. So we're going to watch that for you very carefully."
 

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 nays   

n.反对票，投反对票者( nay的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tally was two ayes and three nays. 投票结果是两票赞成，三票反对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tally was three yeas and two nays, so the yeas have it. 投票结果是三票赞成两票反对，投赞成票者胜利。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

5 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

7 offender   

n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者

参考例句：

• They all sued out a pardon for an offender.他们请求法院赦免一名罪犯。
• The authorities often know that sex offenders will attack again when they are released.当局一般都知道性犯罪者在获释后往往会再次犯案。

8 gusting   

（风）猛刮（gust的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Then the treacherous North Atlantic struck, with hail, rain, lightning and gusting wind. 这时，气候变幻莫测的北大西洋出现了冰雹、大雨、闪电和狂风。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Jeff: Sometimes, the partiality and miscarriage of justice are dis-gusting too. 杰夫： 有时，裁判的不公平和误判也真是令人讨厌的一件事情。

9 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

10 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。