11 | North Carolina, Cheers, Dad

Binge drinking isn't just for college students anymore. A recent Duke University study found that 23% of men and 9% of women over 50 have more than five drinks in one sitting at least once a month--a level of consumption that researchers warn can pose serious health risks. Those who overindulged, the study found, were often coping with such problems as unemployment, divorce and prescription-drug abuse.

binge drinking 酗酒

overindulge 过度放纵，这里表示酗酒

prescription-drug abuse 处方药滥用

12 | South Africa, Is She or Isn't She?

It took just under two minutes for Caster Semenya to win gold in the women's 800-m race at the World Athletics Championship on Aug. 19, but it will be weeks before gender tests show whether the 18-year-old South African is in fact a woman. Preliminary results of the tests--ordered after her masculine physique and dramatically improved performances prompted complaints from other runners--showed Semenya had three times the level of testosterone of a typical woman. The sport's authorities are trying to determine whether she has a genetic condition that blurs her gender and gives her an unfair advantage. South Africans, who overwhelmingly support the runner, welcomed her home on Aug. 25. Her family and President Jacob Zuma firmly maintain that Semenya is female.

preliminary 初步的

masculine physique 男性体格

testosterone 睾丸激素

blur 使…模糊

13 | North Korea, A Tentative Thaw

After months of diplomatic tumult, North Korea appears to be re-engaging with its neighbor. On Aug. 23, a high-level delegation from the North attended the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and bore a "conciliatory message" to current leader Lee Myung Bak. And in a rare meeting on Aug. 26, the two sides reopened talks on reuniting families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

tentative 试探的，小心翼翼的

thaw 解冻，融化

diplomatic tumult 外交动荡

high-level delegation 高层代表团

Kim Dae Jung 金大中

conciliatory message 和解信息

Lee Myung Bak 李明博

14 | Los Angeles, Killing the King of Pop

The Los Angeles Police Department declared Michael Jackson's June 25 death a homicide, opening up the possibility that criminal charges will be brought against Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician who administered the drugs found in the pop star's system. A search-warrant affidavit described a laundry list of drugs administered throughout the night of June 24, culminating with a dose of propofol--usually given as an anesthetic, not a sleep aid--that stopped Jackson's heart. Murray also neglected to dial 911; Jackson's bodyguard reportedly placed the call.

homicide 谋杀

administer 这里表示开出药物

search warrant搜查令

affidavit 口供，证词

laundry list 明细清单

culminate 达到顶点，以…告终

propofol 异丙酚，一种强效镇静剂

anesthetic 麻醉剂

sleep aid 催眠剂

15 | Florida, A Shrinking Sunshine State

Record levels of unemployment and foreclosures as well as frustration with the state's political leadership have caused 58,000 Floridians to move away over the past year, a trend that marks the state's first peacetime population decline since at least 1900. Florida derives a large percentage of its income from sales and property taxes, which are closely linked to population size. The exodus threatens to exacerbate the state's mounting budget woes and could affect the results of the 2010 Census--leaving Florida at risk of losing some congressional seats.

shrink 下滑，萎缩

foreclosure 断供，止赎 △

derive 来自于，从…获得

exodus 大批离去，来自于“出埃及记” △

exacerbate 恶化，加剧

mounting budget woes 不断严重的预算危机

congressional seat 国会席位

16 | Istanbul, War of Words

On Aug. 31, Turkey and Armenia agreed to establish diplomatic ties for the first time, a rapprochement that could thaw a dispute dating back to World War I. The heart of the feud has been Istanbul's refusal to acknowledge the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide"--a near unanimous designation among scholars. Turkey prefers a term that means "mass deportation."

diplomatic ties 外交关系

rapprochement 和睦，亲善

thaw 解冻，缓和

massacre 大屠杀

Ottoman Turks 奥斯曼土耳其帝国 △

genocide 种族灭绝

unanimous designation among scholars 在学者中的一致说法

mass deportation 大规模流放

17 | Luxembourg, Record Job Losses in the E.U.

Unemployment in the 16 countries that use the euro as their currency reached a 10-year high of 9.5% in July, though the pace of increase has slackened since earlier this year. Spain has been battered by the crunch--nearly 1 in 5 adults, and 38.4% of citizens under the age of 25, are jobless--while the Netherlands has weathered the downturn nicely, with just 3.4% of its residents out of work. Analysts say the figures underscore the growing gap between more economically stable euro-using countries, such as France and Germany, and more vulnerable members, like Italy and Ireland.

slacken 变缓，减弱

batter 打击

crunch 紧缩，困境

weather 经历（困难，逆境）

downturn 下滑

underscore 强调

vulnerable 脆弱的，易受伤害的

18| Brussels, No Fishing

The European Commission is backing a proposal to ban the international sale of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a Mediterranean species depleted by decades of overfishing. An estimated 90% of Europe's bluefin tuna is exported to Japan, where voracious sushi consumption has driven the fish's population to dangerously low levels. The European Union is expected to formally support the measure this month.

Atlantic bluefin tuna 大西洋蓝鳍金枪鱼

deplete 耗尽，衰竭

overfishing 过度捕捞

voracious 贪婪的

sushi 寿司

19 | Washington, More Space Flight, Please

A blue-ribbon panel is pleading for a more robust space program in a preliminary report to the White House and NASA. Some recommendations: an extension for the International Space Station program and a boost of $3 billion a year in NASA funding. The panel says the future of U.S. manned space flight is on an "unsustainable trajectory" and that the agency's annual budget of $18 billion is not enough to support what "really is rocket science."

blue-ribbon panel 高层小组，“蓝丝带小组委员会”，blue ribbon蓝绶带表示最高荣誉

plead 恳求

preliminary 初步的

manned space flight 载人太空飞行

trajectory 轨道

20| Indonesia, Legal Stoning

Just weeks before moderate lawmakers take over Indonesia's conservative Aceh province, hard-line legislators have pushed through a number of Shari'a-inspired punishments--such as whippings for homosexuality, public lashings for pedophilia and rape, and death by stoning for adultery. Critics say the laws violate international treaties, but overturning them could prove difficult: while some officials voiced concerns, no one voted against the measures.

hard-line 强硬路线

Shari'a 伊斯兰宗教法律 △

lashing 鞭打

pedophilia 恋童癖

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