[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:05.40]in VOA Special English.
[00:08.34]At the end of each year,
[00:10.35]editors and news directors
[00:13.45]of the Associated Press
[00:15.29]in the United States
[00:16.79]vote for the top ten
[00:19.05]news stories of the year.
[00:21.73]They named the American economy
[00:24.44]as the top news story
[00:26.78]of two thousand nine.
[00:28.54]The government approved
[00:30.60]more than seven hundred
[00:32.49]eighty billion dollars
[00:34.40]to help the struggling economy.
[00:37.12]Yet the unemployment rate
[00:39.54]was over ten percent.
[00:41.89]Many banks failed.
[00:44.45]And the federal deficit
[00:46.30]reached a record one point
[00:48.39]four trillion dollars.
[00:50.84]Last year, the top news story
[00:54.24]was the election of Barack Obama
[00:57.00]as the first African-American
[00:59.31]president of the United States.
[01:01.90]This year, Mister Obama's
[01:04.63]inauguration was voted
[01:06.32]the second top story.
[01:08.62]The battle between
[01:10.62]Republicans and Democrats
[01:12.79]over health care reform
[01:15.34]was voted the third top
[01:17.95]story of the year.
[01:19.70]Reform of the country's
[01:21.96]health care system was one
[01:24.31]of President Obama's top goals.
[01:27.25]The American auto industry
[01:30.10]was fourth on the list.
[01:32.61]Two of the big three American
[01:35.37]automakers filed for bankruptcy
[01:38.50]after suffering sharp
[01:40.27]drops in sales.
[01:42.28]Next on the list
[01:44.49]was the H1N1 virus,
[01:47.68]also known as swine flu.
[01:50.37]The virus affected tens
[01:52.66]of millions of people worldwide.
[01:55.49]Officials said swine flu
[01:58.71]sickened about fifty million
[02:01.31]Americans and killed ten thousand.
[02:05.47]The war in Afghanistan was also
[02:08.81]among the top news stories.
[02:11.99]Last month, President Obama
[02:14.53]decided to send thirty thousand
[02:17.39]more American troops to Afghanistan.
[02:21.20]Public opinion studies show that
[02:24.46]the war has grown increasingly
[02:26.61]unpopular with Americans.
[02:29.56]The AP editors said the death
[02:33.21]of singer Michael Jackson in June
[02:35.95]was also among the top news stories.
[02:39.49]The fifty year old international star
[02:42.97]was just days from beginning
[02:45.66]a series of performances in London.
[02:49.04]Jackson's doctor became the subject
[02:52.29]of a police investigation
[02:54.36]after admitting he gave Jackson
[02:57.19]a powerful drug to help him sleep.
[03:00.99]Another top story
[03:03.38]happened in November.
[03:05.37]Thirteen people were killed
[03:07.43]in a shooting at Fort Hood
[03:09.65]military base in Texas.
[03:12.33]Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan
[03:16.51]is accused of the killings.
[03:18.65]Senator Edward Kennedy's death
[03:22.13]in August was also
[03:23.79]among the top news stories.
[03:26.44]Mister Kennedy was one of
[03:28.70]the nation's longest-serving
[03:30.89]and most respected senators.
[03:33.99]And finally, the tenth news story
[03:37.50]of the year has been called
[03:39.47]the "Miracle on the Hudson."
[03:41.84]Pilot Chesley Sullenberger
[03:44.31]safely landed a US Airways
[03:47.21]passenger plane on New York's
[03:49.85]Hudson River after
[03:51.79]both its engines failed.
[03:54.33]For the first time,
[03:56.17]the AP invited members
[03:58.44]of the public to name their
[04:00.43]top news stories.
[04:02.14]A separate vote
[04:03.93]was held on Facebook.
[04:06.09]More than one thousand
[04:07.86]four hundred people took part.
[04:10.05]They chose President Obama's
[04:13.13]inauguration as the top story,
[04:15.72]followed by the economy.
[04:18.43]Eight stories appeared
[04:20.37]on both top ten lists.
[04:23.19]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:26.01]in VOA Special English,
[04:28.60]written by Brianna Blake.
[04:30.79]What do you think were the
[04:32.99]top news stories of
[04:34.52]two thousand nine?
[04:36.22]You can comment on our Web site,
[04:38.80]51voa.com. I'm Steve Ember.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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