美联社新闻一分钟 2006-06-08

1. Senators rejected a bid to ban gay marriage. Moderate Republicans joined Democrats 1 to oppose the measure. But supporters say they are building a base for a constitutional amendment 2 to bar same-sex marriages.

2. Jerry Inman already faces charges of killing 3 a college student in South Carolina, but police say there may be more charges coming. Inman was arrested in Tennessee for killing Tiffany Souers. The sheriff says Inman may also be charged with sex assaults in Tennessee and Alabama.

3. Democratic members of Congress want millions of veterans and active-duty personnel to get free credit monitoring. This comes after the Department of Veterans Affairs admitted that personal information for millions of veterans, active-duty and Guard personnel was on a laptop that was stolen. The lawmakers are asking the Bush administration to pay for the monitoring.

4. School is almost out so let the prank 4s begin. Thousands of students at a San Jose California high school were stuck outside for hours after somebody glued all the doors shut, all 180 of them, on the first day of finals. It took hours to get the doors open again. Officials believe they will find all the pranksters.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. sheriff : n-count, n-title
In the United States, a sheriff is a person who is elected to make sure that the law is obeyed in a particular county.
e.g. the local sheriff

2. active duty : n-uncount
Active duty means the same as active service. (mainly AM)
active service : n-uncount
Someone who is on active service is taking part in a war as a member of the armed forces. (mainly BRIT)
e.g. In April 1944 he was killed on active service.

3. laptop : n-count
A laptop or a laptop computer is a small portable computer.
e.g. She used to work at her laptop until four in the morning.

4. prank : n-count
A prank is a childish trick. (OLD-FASHIONED)

5. stuck : adj
Stuck is the past tense and past participle of stick. If you are stuck in a place, you want to get away from it, but are unable to.
e.g. I was stuck at home with flu.

6. glue : n-mass
Glue is a sticky substance used for joining things together, often for repairing broken things.
e.g. a tube of glue.
glue : verb
If you glue one object to another, you stick them together using glue.
e.g. They are glued together.

7. finals : n-plural
When a student takes his or her finals, he or she takes the last and most important examinations in a university or college course.
e.g. Anna sat her finals in the summer.

8. prankster : n-count
A prankster is someone who plays tricks and practical jokes on people. (OLD-FASHIONED)