AP美联社一分钟新闻 2008-09-24（在线收听）

1. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is warning Congress that it must approve the administration's 700 billion dollar bailout,or risk a recession. He told the Senate Banking Committee that the failure to bail out the financial industry would bring more unemployment and home foreclosures and stifle consumer spending.

2. President Bush predicts the Democrat-controlled Congress will act quickly to approve a financial sector bailout package. Before speaking to the United Nations General Assembly today, Bush said the treasury secretary has sent lawmakers a robust plan to deal with the serious problem, and there is a desire to get something done soon.

3. Drivers in parts of the South, especially in the Atlanta area, are still having trouble getting gas. Many service stations have run out. Hurricane Ike disrupted refinery operations in a part of the Texas Gulf Coast that produces some 20 percent of the country's gasoline and diesel. The southern states depend more on Texas's oil and gas than other parts of the country.

4. David Blaine is just hanging around. The daredevil is attempting to hang upside-down for 60 hours without a net in New York Central Park.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1.bail …out [PHRASAL VERB: V n P of n, also V n P]
If you bail someone out, you help them out of a difficult situation, often by giving them money.
They will discuss how to bail the economy out of its slump...

2.service station

A retail establishment at which motor vehicles are refueled, serviced, and sometimes repaired. Also called filling station, gas station.

3.run out [PHRASAL VERB: V P]
If something runs out, it becomes used up so that there is no more left.
Conditions are getting worse and supplies are running out...