From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Nicole Lapin. Here's your Now in the News update.
Twelve people were killed, thirty-one more wounded in a (1)mass shooting at Fort Hood. The army says one of the gunmen involved in the shooting, (2)Major Nidal Malik Hasan, is among the twelve people who died. Two other suspects are in custody. The army says there are also soldiers based at Fort Hood.
New York's former police commissioner (3)pleaded guilty today to lying to the Bush White House and lying about his taxes. Bernard Kerik was the commissioner of New York when it was attacked on Sep. 11. He eventually was nominated for the Homeland Security secretary position in 2004. It was during that (4)vetting process that he apparently lied to the White House. He's facing about 2.5 years (5)behind bars.
And the House will begin debating the Democrat's health care proposal on Saturday. The (6)AARP is (7)endorsing the plan which includes a government-run insurance program. President Obama will be on Capital Hill tomorrow to lobby for the bill. There will be two more Democrats in the House when health care comes up for a vote, the winners of Tuesday's special elections in New York and in California.
People who are obese may have a greater risk of getting certain types of cancer. The American Institute for Cancer Research says more than 100,000 new cases of cancer are linked to body weight including a breast cancer and colon cancer. Experts say that people can lower their risk by losing weight and increasing physical activity and just eating healthier.
Those are the headlines of this hour. For more on those stories and other news for the day, CNN is always your source, online or on TV.
【重点词汇】
(1)mass shooting: 我们知道mass这个词通常代表数量上的多，这里的mass shooting其中既有死伤人数多的意思，也有这次枪击事件性质恶劣的意思。比如mass murderer，这个murderer是犯案累累、多起命案在身的杀人犯。那在mass这个词的基础上，我们还衍生出另一个词massacre，mass表示人数多，acre可以想象成地域广。
(2)Major这个词作名词可以解释为英国和美国军队里的一个军衔，即‘少校’。
(3)plead guilty或是plead not guilty或是plead innocent，要注意的是这三个词组的后面要接to+名词/动名词，比如plead guilty to burglary, 所以这里新闻里面是pleaded guilty to lying。其次，这个plead的过去式有两种形式pleaded和pled都可以。
(4)vet作名词时作‘兽医’解，但是作为动词时，它解释为to check someone's past activities, relationships etc in order to make sure that person is suitable for a particular job, especially an important one (审查一个人的过往以及人际关系等等，以确定该人是否适合这份工作，尤其是一份很重要的工作)
(5)behind bars很形象哦，待在一根根栏杆后面，就好像是坐牢一样，所以这个词组就是in prison的意思。
(6)AARP的全称是American Association of Retired Persons 美国退休者协会
(7)这里的endorse和lobby都是比较正式的词汇，像endorse表示‘公开的正式的支持’，就是一个很正式的词。而lobby的意思是游说，我们知道lobby本来的意思是‘前厅，大厅’，因为西方政府会议休息的时候，官员们会聚在外面的大厅里相互游说，慢慢地lobby这个词就有了这层含义。
