美联社新闻一分钟 2007-03-19

（单词翻译）

1. Thousands marched to the Pentagon Saturday to mark the upcoming 4th anniversary of the war in Iraq. There was a brief standoff with police, but overall, the demonstration¹ was peaceful.

2. Thousands of travelers left stranded² by a late winter storm are hoping Sunday will be the day they'll finally get to where they're going. The situation was made worse in New York by the icing problems. And some travelers spent more than 12 hours sitting in planes on the tarmac.

3. Palestinians installed a new more moderate coalition³ government Saturday which shares power between Hamas and Fatah. However, Israel says it won't deal with the new government and the Bush administration says it's disappointed by some of the coalition's platform.

4. There are 8 more teams that know they'll still be dancing next weekend. Pitt, North Carolina, Georgetown and Butler are just some of the teams that advanced in the NCAA men's basketball tournament on Saturday.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. brief adj
Something that is brief lasts only for a short time.

2. standoff n-count
A standoff is a situation in which neither of two opposing groups or forces will make a move until the other one does something, so nothing can happen until one of them gives away.

3. tarmac n-sing
Tarmac is the area from which planes take off at an airport.

4. platform n-count
A platform of a political party is what they say they will do.