Vendetta：世仇，宿怨
11月11日，哥倫比亞考卡山谷省分別發生了兩場種族仇殺，造成七人死亡。外電報道如下：Seven people were killed Wednesday in two separate vendettas in Colombia's western department of Valle del Cauca, police said Thursday.
Police in Cali, provincial capital of Valle del Cauca, said both vendettas are between drug pushers and other criminal organizations.
Vendetta表示“族間仇殺，世仇，宿怨”，由於該詞往往意味着血腥屠殺和深仇大恨，有時也用作戲謔，例如：wage a personal vendetta against the Post Office（個人向郵局進行的長期鬥爭）。
Commuter：通勤旅客
12月15日，一輛載有20餘名乘客的短途公共汽車在雅典市郊被兩名身份不明的武裝分子劫持。綁匪向警方提出條件，要求提供一名司機和100萬贖金，將他們送上飛往俄羅斯的飛機。所幸的是，綁匪陸續釋放了全部的'23名人質，並在事件發生18小時後向雅典警方繳械投降。外電報道如下：Two armed hijackers who had threatened to blow up a commuter bus in Greece released all of their remaining captives early Thursday and surrendered to authorities.
The peaceful conclusion brought a dramatic end to the hostage-taking about 18 hours after it began -- a standoff that gripped much of the nation as the hours ticked by for the hijackers' demands to be met.
The hijackers had demanded ? million ($1.34 million) and a driver to take them to the Athens airport to be flown to Russia.
Commuter表示“經常（乘車）往返者；長期票通勤旅客”，commuter bus表示“通勤公共汽車，市郊短途客車”，相關的詞彙還有urban commuter（市區定期票旅客），commuter time（上下班時間）等。
Flashpoint：燃點，爆發點
12月14日，一支由幾百人組成的聯合國維和部隊突襲並佔領了海地首都太子港的索萊伊城區，這裏是支持海地前總統阿里斯蒂德的武裝分子的重要基地。這是自今年9月阿里斯蒂德的支持者在太子港發動大規模武裝抗議活動以來，聯合國穩定特派團與海地警察首次採取針對武裝分子的聯合行動。外電報道如下：Hundreds of U.N. peacekeeping troops stormed into a seaside slum loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Tuesday to try to control areas that have become flashpoints of violence.
At least three people were wounded in the ensuing adic gunfire rang out from Cite Soleil as Brazilian and Jordanian troops entered the area in armored personnel carriers, exchanging fire with armed residents.
Cite Soleil, a gritty slum on the border of Port-au-Prince, has been a focal point of violence since September, when Aristide loyalists stepped up protests to demand his return from exile in South Africa.
Flashpoint的的本義是“燃點，引火點”，在此使用引申義“爆發點，觸發點”，即重大事件或暴力事件發生的地點。例如：The shootdown did not increase international tensions to the flash point.（槍殺事件並沒有使國際上對該事件的爆發點增加壓力。）
Pivotal：樞軸的，關鍵的
12月14日，美國總統布什爲退休的四星級陸軍上將湯米·弗蘭克斯、前中情局局長喬治·特尼特和前美國駐伊拉克首席行政官保羅·布雷默等三人頒發了代表國家最高榮譽的“總統自由勳章”，並稱他們是美國對伊政策的堅強後援，“在諸多重大事件中扮演了關鍵角色，爲維護國家安全和推進人類自由事業不遺餘力”。外電報道如下：President Bush awarded the nation's highest civilian honor Tuesday to three men central to his Iraq policy, saying they had played "pivotal roles in great events."
Bush presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw combat in Afghanistan and the initial invasion of Iraq, former CIA Director George Tenet and former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer.
Franks is a retired four-star Army general who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He didn't decide until last summer to endorse Bush's re-election, but then spoke on the president's behalf at the Republican National Convention and campaigned for Bush through the fall.
Pivotal表示“樞軸的，中樞的，關鍵的”，例如，美國前國務卿基辛格（Henry A. Kissinger）曾說過這樣的話：Its pivotal location has also exposed it to periodic invasions（其地點的重要性也使得它週期性地遭受侵略）。
Seismology：地震學
12月12日，一場地震襲擊了薩瓦爾多，摧毀了薩爾瓦多首都聖薩爾瓦多的電話服務系統。外電報道如下：A strong earthquake rattled El Salvador on Monday, knocking out telephone service, but no injuries were reported.
The national seismological service said that the quake, which hit at 9:23 a.m. (10:23 a.m. EST), had a magnitude of 6.1 and was centered near Los Cobanos beach, about 55 miles south of the capital. The U.S. National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, calculated the magnitude at 5.9.
Seismological表示“地震學上的”，其名詞形式爲seismology（地震學），相關詞彙還有seismograph（地震儀，測震儀）和seismographer（地震學者，地震檢測學家）等。
薩爾瓦多是中美洲面積最小（約爲臺灣的三分之二）、人口最稠密、工業化程度最高的國家。該國地處熱帶，自然景觀豐富，火山地形是其最大特色，全國最有名的3座火山爲綠色小丘（Cerro Verde）、伊薩爾克（Izalco）和桑塔安那（Santa Ana）。2001年，薩瓦爾多的一場地震造成了幾千人死亡。
Repatriate：遣返
11月10日，巴勒斯坦高層舉行會議，同意阿拉法特去世後其葬禮在埃及首都開羅舉行，隨後下葬拉馬拉。會議還決定一旦阿拉法特去世，將由巴立法委員會主席法圖臨時接替阿拉法特巴民族權力機構主席的職務，直到選出新主席。法國政府也已做好將阿拉法特遺體遣送回巴勒斯坦的準備。新華社報道如下：The French government is understood to be ready to repatriate the body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Palestine if he dies.
While declining to give any information on Arafat's health, when pressed on the country's involvement in Arafat's funeral arrangements, a French government spokesman indicated France's readiness to repatriate the body.
Repatriate表示“遣返”，例如：repatriate war refugees（把戰爭期間的難民遣返回國）。
