dislodged

vt. remove

Two people died after delays in detecting internal bleeding, another two died after tubes put down their throats caused irreparable bleeding, and a woman's aorta(大動脈) was ruptured when surgeons accidentally dislodged a piece of brittle bone.

[ Public hospital errors rise 40% ]

Melbourne Uni ranks in top 20

MELBOURNE University has been ranked among the world's top 20 universities, with Australian institutions rated third behind the US and Britain in a global survey.

Melbourne's oldest university was ranked at 19, up three places from last year's survey, making it Australia's highest-placed institution, ahead of the Australian National University at 23.
...

TOP FIVE IN AUSTRALIA Ranking University
19 Melbourne University
23 Australian National University
33 Monash University
38 Sydney University
40 University of New South Wales

WORLD RANKINGS 2005 Ranking University
1 Harvard University, US
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
3 Cambridge University, UK
4 Oxford University, UK
5 Stanford University, US


[ Melbourne Uni ranks in top 20 ]

Latest figures: booming suburbs in Melbourne

Predictably, Toorak has surged 151 per cent in the past five years and now has a median price of $1.75 million.

However, the monster growth has been in beachside Frankston South, where a 300 per cent price rise in five years - admittedly from one of the lowest bases in town - saw the median jump from about $110,000 to a high of $550,000-plus more than a year later, then settle back in June 2005 to $374,500. Inland Frankston has had to make do with a more modest 113 per cent growth ($260,000), still exceptional for an area hamstrung by a poor image.

[ Latest figures: booming suburbs in Melbourne ]

beef up

increase in size or number; fatten up

THE New York cut at many of Tokyo's finest steak restaurants has never been within a bull's roar of an American prairie. Nor has the Texas sirloin nor, for that matter, the Boston butt.

Ask any waiter the origin of the steak on the menu in a Tokyo restaurant and the most common answer is: it's Australian.

But, after two years off restaurant specials boards, the US is pressing more aggressively than ever to put its beef back on Japan's dinner tables, ending the $2.2 billion dominance of the lucrative market that Australia had in 2004.

Japan is edging closer to lifting the ban imposed on US beef after a case of BSE, or mad cow disease. Yesterday a scientific panel said it was close to recommending that US beef be allowed back into Japan, under strict conditions. The toughest new rule would confine the US industry to supplying beef no older than 20 months, considered low risk for BSE contamination. This would eliminate the US as a supplier of premium marbled beef, which comes from older cattle.

[ Australia beefs up a bull market ]

embark on

begin, start, set about, undertake, launch, plunge into
從事; 著手

Junior teachers will receive an extra 3 per cent per year from next year, while most teachers will receive an extra 4.5 per cent. By 2008, university graduates embarking on a career in teaching will earn $50,521, while senior teachers will take home $75,352.

[ Deal gives new teachers $50,000 salary ]

courteous

courteous
(a.)彬彬有禮,謙恭的

http://cdict.giga.net.tw/q/courteous

prominent

AUSTRALIA'S network of business entry points into China is expanding, mirroring the massive growth in infrastructure and industry across the country. Australian companies with established presence in China have based their headquarters in the hubs of Shanghai and Beijing. Hong Kong, still the busiest shipping port in the world in terms of container traffic, handling some 22 million a year, is also a central link point to the mainland and the rest of the world.

Other cities, such as Qingdao, Shenzhen and Nanjing, are now taking on more prominent roles in facilitating bilateral trade. Melbourne has had a sister-city relationship with Tianjin, the closest seaport to Beijing, for 25 years.

[ Look before you leap ]

School fees to top $18,000

Private school fees will break the $18,000 barrier next year, as some leading independent schools increase their charges by more than $1000.

An Age survey of year 12 fees at Victorian schools shows the cost of sending a child to Haileybury College will rise to $18,064 next year.

At Lauriston Girls School, Scotch College and Wesley College, the fee will reach more than $17,000 for year 12 students.

Across the 11 surveyed schools, fees will rise between 2.8 per cent and 7.8 per cent. An annual school fee of $18,000 would cost a family almost $350 a week.

[ School fees to top $18,000 ]

suffocation

n. death caused by a lack of air or oxygen

PEDIATRICIANS are warning that babies should not sleep in the same bed as their parents, as it could increase the risk of them dying from suffocation or sudden infant death syndrome.

[ Warning on bed sharing with infants ]

crisp

White wine sales crisp but reds flat

Sales of white shore up(to make sth. stronger by supporting it) wine exports as the world undergoes a red wine glut(充斥,大量).


[ White wine sales crisp but reds flat ]

catastrophe

catastrophe n. disaster, calamity, cataclysm
catastrophic adj.
expeditiously formal =quickly; expedite v. to hurry

A DEFIANT Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has absolved herself of responsibility after her department's handling of the Vivian Alvarez Solon case was branded "catastrophic" in a damning independent report.
...
"It is almost unthinkable that in contemporary Australian society one of our citizens could be unlawfully removed from the country by a government department," Mr Comrie said.
...
She said the Government would consider a compensation claim for Ms Alvarez Solon, who remains in Manila while her lawyers negotiate her resettlement package. "We've given a commitment to deal with it fairly and expeditiously." she said.
...
A public service investigation will be held into the conduct of the officers, who could face the sack (dismiss from employment).

[ 'It is a shameful episode' ]

metabolism

The report which refers to children and adults, concludes that regardless of the type of programs people watched, even a moderate amount of viewing:
* Dramatically increases the risk of myopia (近視) in children;
* Slows children's metabolic (代謝作用的) rate;
* May trigger premature puberty (青春期);
* Leads, from childhood, to a significantly elevated risk of sleep problems in adulthood (成人期), causing hormone changes, which in turn directly increase appetite (食慾) and body fat production and damage the immune system leading to a greater vulnerability to cancer;
* Is a direct cause of obesity (癡肥) and a bigger factor than eating junk food or not doing enough exercise;
* May damage brain-cell development and function in the neural circuits underlying attention and impulse control;
* Significantly increases the risk of abnormal glucose (葡萄糖) metabolism (新陳代謝) and new type 2 diabetes (糖尿病).
* Is the only adult pastime (entertainment; recreation) from the ages of 20 to 60 positively linked to developing Alzheimer's disease.
* Is a major independent cause of clinical depression (sadness) (of which Britain has the highest rate in Europe).


[ The idiot box ]

paralysis

THE West Gate Bridge is slowly succumbing to paralysis. From 1994 to 2004, the average peak-hour travel time between the Western Ring Road and Kings Way more than doubled — from just over 11 minutes to more than 25 minutes.
...

Travel facts 1994 2004
ALL FIGURES ARE FOR INBOUND TRIPS IN THE MORNING PEAK PERIOD BETWEEN 6AM AND 9AM

Average speed (km/h) 80.7; 49.6
Number of cars per peak period 17,627; 20,806
Percentage of bridge at capacity 0; 50
Average time (Ring Road to Kings Way) 11 mins; 25 mins


[ West Gate stalling city traffic flow ]

casualty

n. injured person, someone who has been killed (as a result of war, natural disaster, accident, etc.)

Two of 21 injured Australians were flown to Singapore yesterday and Australian officials were trying to evacuate more of the seriously injured. In total, 105 casualties were in hospital in Bali last night.

[ Three Australians among 26 dead ]