AP美联社一分钟新闻 2008-11-13（在线收听）

1. Gay marriage advocates are celebrating their victory in Connecticut today. A judge issued a final ruling allowing same-sex couples to marry. Within minutes, the New Haven City clerk began issuing marriage licenses and at least one ceremony has already taken place.

2. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the 700-billion-dollar Wall Street rescue plan has a new goal. Instead of buying troubled assets, the money will be used to prop up financial markets that provide consumer credit like car and student loans. The consumer credit market has been frozen since Wall Street's September meltdown.

3. Louisiana authorities say a woman recruited for a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual was shot and killed after she tried to back out. Forty-four-year-old Raymond Foster is charged with second-degree murder. Seven other people are also being held in connection with the case.

4. This isn't the comic book Spiderman. Skyscraper climber Alain Robert scaled a 33-story building in 45 minutes in Jakarta, Indonesia. He accomplished the feat with only his bear hands and without any safety equipment to the delight of hundreds of spectators.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. prop up: phr v.

to help an economy, industry, or government so that it can continue to exist, especially by giving money

2. Ku Klux Klan: 三K党

a secret American political organization of Protestant white men who oppose people of other races or religions

3. back out: phr v.

to decide not to do something that you had promised to do.