2005年NPR美国国家公共电台九月-'Intelligent Design' and Hard Times

On my 89th birthday, I ask indulgence to depart from customary journalistic detachment (Our very senior News analyst¹, Daniel Schorr ) into the long running argument about creationism versus² evolution. There has lately been added a new catch phrase, a version of creationism called "intelligent design".

President Bush has staked out a non-position on this subject, which is, that both sides ought to be properly taught in the schools of America, in case there are some who haven't made up their minds. But as the president cut short his vacation by two days to deal with the catastrophic effects of hurricane Katrina, he might well have reflected, that if this was a result of intelligent design, then the designer has something to answer for.

Rarely in my life time, can I remember, aside from World Wars, the holocaust³, and plague epidemics⁴, so much grievous pain visited upon the human species by human beings or by forces beyond their control.

Drought, flood and famine, a deadly tsunami⁵, war and insurrection and United States while fending⁶ off conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, leads the way in sales of arms to developing countries.

Death and destruction seem not to be equal opportunity scourges⁷. Hurricanes strike with greater force at well-heeled occupants of beach homes than inland residents. On the other hand, as the Wall Street Journal noted⁸, the evacuation of New Orleans was a model of efficiency for those with cars, leaving the others to seek shelter in the Superdome. Are hurricanes part of some mysterious design? The New York Time explains that the severity of hurricane seasons varies with the cycles of natural change in temperature over the Atlantic over several decades.

Did you say natural? But where does natural come from? Oh, here we go again. Here is Daneil Schorr.

1 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

2 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

3 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

4 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

5 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

6 fending   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的现在分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He is always spending his time fending with the neighbors. 他总是与邻里们吵架。 来自互联网
• Fifth, it is to build safeguarding system and enhance the competence in fending off the risk. 五是建立政策保障体系，提高防范和抵御风险的能力。 来自互联网

7 scourges   

带来灾难的人或东西，祸害( scourge的名词复数 )； 鞭子

参考例句：

• Textile workers suffer from three scourges -- noise, dust and humidity. 纱厂工人的三大威胁，就是音响、尘埃和湿气。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
• Believe, if Internet remains great scourges, also won't have present dimensions. 相信，如果互联网仍然是洪水猛兽，也不会有现在的规模。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。