Hominid: 原始人类
Fossil hunters in Ethiopia have discovered the remains of at least nine primitive hominids, nearly 4.5 million years old, which scientists claim could help fill some of the gaps in early human evolution. 2005-01-28
________________________________________ Torrential: 奔流的、湍急的
Rivers of mud, rocks and uprooted trees scarred the landscape in a mountain valley where dozens of people were missing Monday after devastating floods and landslides, the latest victims from torrential rains across Venezuela and Colombia that have killed at least 86 people and destroyed thousands of homes. 2005-02-16
Procession: 行列，队伍
In Lebanon, noisy street processions mourned former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri a day before the funeral that will bring international leaders to Beirut. Angry Lebanese attacked Syrian workers in his hometown of Sidon, injuring several and shattering the windows of a Syrian-owned bakery. 2005-02-16
Al Jazeera: 半岛电视台
In the survey of almost 2,000 ad executives, brand managers and academics by online magazine Brandchannel, Apple ousted search engine Google from last year's top spot, but the surprise to many will be Al Jazeera's entry into the top five. 2005-02-13
Migrate: 移居，移民
Unskilled foreigners will find it harder to migrate to Britain under new proposals, which also call for stricter screening of asylum seekers and tighter border controls. 2005-02-11
Hospitalization: 住院治疗
The 10-minute appearance at an open window gave the public its first glimpse of the
84-year-old pontiff since his hospitalization, which rekindled questions about his ability to carry on. 2005-02-08
Rosy: 光明或愉快的
Bolstered by a humming economy and widespread approval of his response to the December tsunami tragedy, Thaksin's projected win surpassed even his and his party's rosiest expectations. 2005-02-07
Clash: 冲突，战斗
Fourteen attackers also died in the clash that broke out about 10:30 p.m. in Mahawil, 50 miles south of Baghdad, police Capt. Muthana Khalid Ali said. The dead included five Iraqi national guardsmen and 17 policemen, he said. 2005-02-07
Stave off: 挡开，延迟
Hungry Zimbabweans are staving off starvation by selling property and getting money from relatives abroad, but rights groups fear food may still become a political weapon ahead of elections in March. 2005-02-06
Embolden: 壮胆，鼓励
That could embolden Kurds in southeastern Turkey, where the Turkish army has been battling Kurdish rebels since 1984, a fight that has left 37,000 dead. 2005-02-06
Snatch: 攫取，抢夺
An Italian journalist was snatched from her car Friday in Baghdad, police said. 2005-02-05
________________________________________ Low-key: 低调的
The queen planned to stay away to respect the couple's wish for a low-key wedding, the palace said. But some royal watchers said the move would further embarrass the royal family and add to an air of farce around the April 8 ceremony.
2005-02-23
Flatten: 夷为平地
Under a cold, driving rain, survivors wailed over the bodies of the dead and dug through the ruins of mud-brick houses searching for their loved ones after a powerful earthquake flattened villages in central Iran on Tuesday, killing at least 420 people.
2005-02-23
Authenticity: 真实性
CNN could not confirm the authenticity of the video. 2005-02-22
Avalanche: 雪崩，山崩
Avalanches and slides triggered by heavy weekend snowfall in India's portion of Kashmir have killed at least 154 people and left 200 missing, an official said Monday. 2005-02-22
De facto: 事实上的
Prospects for peacemaking in the Middle East have strengthened since Abbas was elected to succeed Yasser Arafat on a platform of non-violence and persuaded the armed factions to follow a de facto truce. 2005-02-21
Unilateral: 单方面的，单边的
With the vote, an Israeli government agreed for the first time since capturing the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war to dismantle some of the dozens of Jewish settlements it has built there. However, approving the route of the barrier, Israel acted unilaterally on what was to be a key issue in peace talks with the Palestinians, and signaled it will keep a chunk of prime West Bank land close to Jerusalem, including two large Jewish settlement blocs. 2005-02-21
Atone: 弥补（过错），赎（罪）
Facing a brewing revolt by some undergraduate faculty, Summers posted a transcript of his remarks on his Web site (http://www.president.harvard.edu/) along with a letter in which he again atoned for the things he said. 2005-02-18
Besiege: 包围，团团围住
President Bush named John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, as the government's first national intelligence director Thursday, turning to a veteran diplomat to revive a spy community besieged by criticism after the Sept. 11 attacks. 2005-02-18
Mosque: 清真寺
Giuliana Sgrena, who was abducted in front of a mosque on February 4, talked in Italian and in French, saying that action to end the occupation is the only way she can be freed. 2005-02-17
Concur: 同意，赞成
Otari concurred, saying, \one front to confront all the challenges imposed (on us) by others.\ 2005-02-17
________________________________________ Unprecedented: 空前的
Two weeks of unprecedented protests forced the pro-Syrian government of Prime Minister Omar Karami to quit on Monday, leaving officials with a complex search for a new head of government. 2005-03-02
Outlaw: 宣布……为非法
A closely divided Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juvenile criminals on Tuesday, declaring there was a national consensus such executions were unconstitutionally cruel and ending a practice that had brought international condemnation. 2005-03-02
Touch off: 触发，激起
With shouts of \out!\25,000 protesters massed outside Parliament in a dramatic display of defiance that forced out Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister and
Cabinet Monday, two weeks after the assassination of a popular politician touched off increasing unrest. 2005-03-01
National terror alert level: 国家安全警戒级别
The government has no immediate plans to raise its national terror alert level, Roehrkasse said. But, he said, the intelligence \its associates to target the homeland.\ 2005-03-01
Fiery: 激烈的，热烈的
Thousands of demonstrators massed in central Beirut overnight to defy a government ban on protests on Monday ahead of a fiery debate in parliament over the assassination of the country's former prime minister. 2005-02-28
Reactor: 反应堆
Iran and Russia ignored U.S. objections and signed a nuclear fuel agreement Sunday that is key to bringing Tehran's first reactor online by mid-2006. 2005-02-28
Penalize: 处罚，罚款
World Bank investigators said on Thursday they had penalized more than 300 firms and individuals for fraud and corruption since 1999 but did not know the full extent of the problem in bank-financed projects. 2005-02-25
Tracheotomy: 气管切开术
The pontiff was conscious in his hospital room after the tracheotomy, breathing with the help of a respirator, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. 2005-02-25
Bleak: 阴冷的；无遮蔽的
Thousands of survivors of the magnitude 6.4 quake, many angry at the slow pace of relief efforts, faced another bleak night on freezing and rain-soaked slopes amid the mud and rubble that used to be their homes. 2005-02-24