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1. Five more American soldiers are charged in connection with the assault and death of a young woman in Iraq. All five are still on active duty in Iraq. Four are charged with rape and murder, one with dereliction of duty. A former army soldier is in custody in the US and has pleaded not guilty to similar charges.
2. More than 120 people died when an airliner veered off the runway and slammed into a nearby garage in a Siberian city. Preliminary investigations show the braking system on the airbus has failed. More than 200 people were on the flight.
3. NASA says Discovery is in good shape, even though a piece of fabric filler is still sticking out from some thermal tiles. The space agency still has not decided whether to send a crew on another spacewalk to fix it.
4. Today is a day to celebrate in the nation's capital. Little Tai Shan is one year old. The star attraction of the National Zoo has grown quite a bit. One year ago, he weighed only 4 ounces. Now he is a whopping 56 pounds. He celebrated with a giant fruitsicle and a frozen medley of fruits.
WORDS IN THE NEWS
1. active duty : n-uncount 现役;全役
Active duty means the same as active service. (mainly AM) .In the United States military active duty refers to military members who are currently serving full time in their military capacity. This term comes from the military, where it stands in opposition to reserve, which refers to troops still in the military but not actively engaged. It is occasionally transferred to civilian matters as well.
e.g. Julian is 81, but he still comes to the office every day and is very much on active duty.
2. dereliction of duty : n-uncount 失职,玩忽职守
Dereliction of duty is deliberate or accidental failure to do what you should do as part of your job. (FORMAL)
e.g. The police officers were found guilty of serious dereliction of duty.
= negligence
3. veer : verb
If someone or something veers in a certain direction, they change their position or direction in a particular situation.
4. runway : n-count
At an airport, the runway is the long strip of ground with a hard surface which an aeroplane takes off from or lands on.
5. thermal tile : 隔热瓦
6. whopping : adj
If you describe an amount as whopping, you are emphasizing that it is large. (INFORMAL)
7. medley : n-count
a mixture of people or things of different kinds:
e.g. The building was a medley of styles from different periods.
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