AP美联社一分钟新闻 2008-12-03（在线收听）

1. The head of Ford says he is willing to work for a dollar a year, part of a push to get 25 billion dollars from Congress to help save the auto industry. The push for money includes appearances by all the auto chiefs before Congress.

2. A recovery on Wall Street whose stocks up 270 points with investors calmed by the prospects of a bailout for automakers. But advances were not nearly enough to make up for yesterday's sell-off.

3. In California, a husband and wife are arrested and charged with torture after a 17-year-old boy shows up at a gym with a chain locked to his ankle. Authorities said he was emaciated and terrified.

4. High in the mountains of Switzerland, time for the Santa Claus World Championship with contestants trying to do everything Santas do, from scaling chimneys to getting some donkeys to move--standing in for reindeer. The winner gets money and bragging rights of course.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. advance: n.

an increase in the price or value of something - used especially to talk about the stock exchange

2. sell-off: n.

the sale of a lot of stocks or shares, which makes the price decrease

3. emaciated: adj.

extremely thin from lack of food or illness

4. stand in: phr v.

If you stand in for someone, you take their place or do their job, because they are ill or away.

5. reindeer: n. 驯鹿

a large deer with long wide antlers (=horns) , that lives in cold northern areas