美联社新闻一分钟 2006-12-15

（单词翻译）

1. Democratic Senator Tim Johnson is in critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery to repair bleeding inside his brain. His illness leaves many wondering if Democrats¹ will lose their newly-won control of the Senate.

2. One of the three strand²ed climbers lost on an Oregon mountain in billowing snow has been turning his cell phone on and off. T-Mobile receives signals from the climber's phone, raising hopes for his rescue.

3. A sweeping⁴ police inquiry⁵ on Thursday ruled out a murder conspiracy⁶ in Princess Diana's death, saying the chauffeur⁷ in the 1997 car crash was drunk and driving at a high speed. The report also said Diana was not pregnant at the time of the crash, nor was she about to marry her boyfriend Dodi Fayed.

4. In a startling turnaround, breast cancer rates in the US dropped dramatically in 2003, and experts believe it's because many women stopped taking hormone⁸ pills. The 7.2% decline came a year after a big federal study linked menopause hormones⁹ to higher risk of breast cancer.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. strand: verb
If you are stranded³, you are prevented from leaving a place, for example because of bad weather.

2. billow: verb
When smoke or cloud billows, it moves slowly upwards¹⁰ or across the sky.

3. inquiry: n-count
An inquiry is an official investigation¹¹.

4. chauffeur: n-count
The chauffeur of a rich or important person is the man or woman who is employed to look after their car and drive them around in it.

5. turnaround: n-count
A turnaround is a sudden improvement, especially in the success of a business or a country’s economy.

6. menopause: noun
The menopause is the time during which a woman gradually stops menstruating, usually when she is about fifty years old.