青蛙王子吗?

AP NEWS 2007-12-18



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It's a guilty verdict for a wealthy Long Island couple accused of what prosecutors called ''modern-day slavery''. The jury convicted Mahender Sabhnani and his wife Varsha of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment. The charges include forced labor and involuntary servitude.

Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. Lieberman said he had planned to wait until after the primaries to offer his support for the
presidential hopeful. Lieberman says MacCain is the best shot of breaking partisan gridlock in Washington.

More than a decade after her death, a friend of the Princess Diana says it's not true that Diana had plans to remarry. That's accorrding to a British inquest looking into the car crash that killed the princess and boyfriend Dodi Fayed. Fayed's father has claimed that Prince Philip was behind a plot to kill his son and Diana.

Chinese veterinarians operated on this wild panda named Qing-Qing. He was found in a conservation park last week with a fracture near his hip.Doctor say they inserted a steel plate to support his leg and Qing-Qing could be healed in about a month.

Agricultural Report



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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Exotic Newcastle Disease is a bird virus found in many parts of the world. Many kinds of birds carry it. But it especially affects chickens and a few others. It spreads very fast and there is no treatment. Many birds die without appearing sick. The infection does not present a serious health threat to humans. But economic losses can be huge as birds are destroyed and trade is restricted to contain outbreaks.

Exotic Newcastle Disease, also known as END, is the most severe form of Newcastle disease. Experts say the easiest way to prevent the virus is to import birds from flocks that are disease free. Vaccines are also used, although experts say the virus may sometimes cause deaths even in vaccineated flocks.

In the United States, the Agriculture Department says poultry birds are rarely vaccinated against the virus unless an outbreak happens. The most recent outbreak began in 2002 in California. State officials said it cost more than 160 million dollars to fight. California was declared disease free the next year after the killing of more than three million birds.

The Global Invasive Species Database says signs of the disease may appear from 2 to 15 days after a bird is infected. An infected hen lays fewer or no eggs, or eggs with thin shells. A sick bird may develop breathing and intestinal problems and twist its head and neck. It may run around in circles, or not move at all.

Exotic Newcastle Disease spreads fastest among birds kept close together. The virus is spread through bird droppings and fluid from the nose, mouth and eyes.

To control outbreaks, experts advise quick destruction of infected flocks. They also advise limting entry to farms and disinfecting vehicles as they come and go. People can also transport the virus on their shoes and cloths. The virus can survive several weeks in a warm, moist environment. And there seems to be no limit if it is frozen. But ultraviolet rays in sunlight can kill it.

To reduce infection risks, the Organization for World Animal Health warns against keeping any pet birds on the farm. It even advises against hiring pet birds owners as farm workers. The Agriculture Department says Amazon parrots, for example, can spread the virus for more than a year but not get sick.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.


[ 本帖最后由 vanbryan 于 2007-12-18  18:24 编辑 ]

这个好啊！我以后也要天天学英语了！呵呵，周六，还要上场！

我好久吗米来老~~~~哎   累

看不懂也帮顶

晕死，不许用我号发帖！

。。。。河海精英记第十集：真假轩主;PPPP;

好像和主题没关系，加一句，楼主我会好好学习的哦，hia hia！

AP NEWS 2007-12-19



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1. Authorities in Aruba are closing their investigation into the disappearance of Natalee Hollaway. The Alabama teenager vanished in May of 2005. Authorities say they don't have enough evidence to charge anyone.

2. A federal judge is ordering the Bush Administration to answer questions about the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes. The Justice Department had been urging Congress to back off from its investigation.

3. A fourteen-year-old Illinois girl can thank the quick action of the USS Ronald Reagan for saving her life. Her appendix burst while on a cruise and the Navy quickly responded to the distress call, picking her up on a helicopter and performing the surgery on board the aircraft carrier.

4. No strings or nets needed for this man. He scaled the London office building to draw attention to global warming. However, he may need some help now. Police arrested him as soon as he came down.


WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. back off from:
If you back off from a claim, demand, or commitment that you made earlier, or if you back off it, you withdraw it.

2. USS Ronald Reagan : 美国海军里根号航空母舰

3. burst : v.
If something bursts or if you burst it, it suddenly breaks open or splits open and the air or other substance inside it comes out.

4. distress : n.
a situation when a ship, aircraft etc is in danger and needs help

5. string : n.
String is thin rope made of twisted threads, used for tying things together or tying up parcels.

6. scale : v.
If you scale something such as a mountain or a wall, you climb up it or over it. (WRITTEN) (=climb)

Health Report



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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

We talked last week about ways to avoid hypothermia and other cold weather injures. Today we are going to talk about emergency treatment.

Hypothermia can be mild, moderate or severe. Mild hyposomia is something that most people who live in cold climate have experienced. You feel so cold that your body starts to shake, not very much, but uncontrollably. The treatment for mild hypothermia starts with getting out of the cold and changing into dry clothes if necessary. Drinking warm non-alcoholic liquids and eating something sugary can stop the shivering. Taking a warm bath or sitting by a fire or doing some exercise can also help the body warm up. These are all common sense treatments. But the treatment changes when people enter the moderate or severe stages of hypothermia. Their body temperature drops below 35 degree Celsius. They lose the ability to think clearly. Their muscles become stiff. They might bump into things or fall over objects.

A. Freeman is a parkgranger at Yosemite National Park in California. She is a part of the Yosemite Search and Rescue Team. She says rescuers will first try to prevent additional heat loss by placing extra covering around the victim's chest, head and neck. She says it is important to work fast to get people out of the cold and to medical help as soon as possible. But she says it is equally important to move the victim slowly and gently. R. Freeman says any rough or sudden movement can force cold blood from the arms, legs and hands, deep into the warmer middle of the body. The sudden flow of cold blood can create shock, a serious condition. It can also cause a dangerously abnormal heartbeat. A. Freeman says the process of re-warming a person needs to be done slowly in a hospital setting. She says something else to keep in mind is that a hypothermia victim may seem dead, but still be alive. An extremely low body temperature can cause the heart to beat so slowly that a pulse may be difficult to find. R. Freeman says members of Search and Rescue Team have a saying that victims are not dead until they are warm and dead.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report written by Caty Weaver. If you missed last week's advices about how to avoid cold weather injures, it can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.



[ 本帖最后由 vanbryan 于 2007-12-19  21:51 编辑 ]