AP美联社一分钟新闻 2008-08-02

（单词翻译）

1.An army scientist committed suicide before federal prosecutors¹ could charge him with mailing anthrax-laced letters after the 9/11 attacks. Authorities say that the letters may have been part of a warped² plan by Bruce Ivins to test a vaccine³ for the deadly poison. Five people died after being exposed to the toxin⁴.

2.The manhunt for the gunman who opened fire on a group of swimmers at the Wisconsin-Michigan border has ended with the arrest of a suspect. Three teens and another man were killed in Thursday's attack. Police say it's still not clear why Scott Johnson allegedly shot the swimmers.

3.A man charged with stabbing and beheading a fellow Greyhound bus passenger appeared in court. Prosecutors in Canada asked for a psychiatric assessment⁵ for the 40-year-old man accused of stabbing the victim dozens of times and then severing⁷ the victim's head, displaying it and attempting to cut up the body.

4.It's enormous, but is it the world's largest egg? Cuban officials say a one-year-old hen laid the egg which weighs nearly 6.5 ounces.

 WORDS IN THE NEWS

1.mail [transitive]v. especially American English
to send a letter or package to someone [= post British English]
 
2.anthrax  [uncountable]n.
a serious disease affecting cattle and sheep, which can affect humans
 
3.lace
be lace with something
written to have some of a quality
 
4.warped adj.
someone who is warped has ideas or thoughts that most people think are unpleasant or not normal:
e.g.
a warped mind
You really have a warped sense of humour (=think strange and unpleasant things are funny).
 
5.toxin [countable]n.
a poisonous substance, especially one that is produced by bacteria and causes a particular disease
 
6.stab  past tense and past participle stabbed, present participle stabbing [transitive]v.
to push a knife into someone or something
 
7.behead[transitive]v.
to cut off someone's head as a punishment
 
8.Greyhound bus灰狗巴士

Greyhound Lines is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and incorporated as "Greyhound Corporation" in 1929. Today, it is headquartered in Dallas, Texas (United States operations) and Calgary, Alberta (Canadian operations), and is a subsidiary of the British bus operator FirstGroup plc.
 
9.psychiatric adj.
relating to the study and treatment of mental illness
 
 10.sever⁶ formal[intransitive and transitive]v.
to cut through something completely, separating it into two parts, or to become cut in this way