NPR NEWS 2008-02-03

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman.

Rebel forces in Chad say they've entered the outskirts¹ of the capital after heavy fighting with government troops. A French news agency says the sound of intense gunfire can be heard from the city center. It's being reported that the former colonial power France has requested its nationals gather at three secure locations in the Chadian capital. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports.

In just a matter of days, Chadian rebels have made a lightning dash from the east near the border with Darfur to the capital N'Djamena. Eyewitnesses² reported being able to see rebels infiltrating³ the city. A coalition⁴ of rebels has vowed⁵ to overthrow⁶ Chadian President Idriss Deby, accusing him of mismanagement and squandering⁷ the nation's oil wealth. But there's a suspicion that the rebels backed by neighboring Sudan were sent to prevent the planned deployment⁸ of European peacekeepers to Chad and Central African Republic's volatile⁹ border with Darfur, a move which Khartoum opposes. Chad and Sudan regularly trade accusations¹⁰ that each is harboring and financing the other's rebels. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Nairobi.

After-school programs are bracing¹¹ for a potential budget cuts when the Federal Budget is released on Monday. Meanwhile, the Education Department is trying to boost the funding for a controversial reading program. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

In his State of Union address, the president ask Congress to fund 800 million dollars in scholarships so families could enroll¹² their children in after-school programs, including those run by faith-based groups. After-school advocates fear that plan would take federal grants away from their programs and give the money to recruit the families in the form of vouchers¹³. These groups say that would make it impossible to run high quality programs because they could not count on steady funding. The budget is also expected to call on Congress to bestow¹⁴ more than 600 million dollars in funding to Reading-First, the special program for young children. Congress slashed¹⁵ the program's budget last year in response to charges that Reading-First is mismanaged and rived with conflicts of interest. Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.

Bad weather in the western United States has closed interstate highways. Recent storms have dumped heavy snow and rain in Northern California. Two Amtrak trains going through the Donner Pass have gotten stuck. Some 400 people have been forced to wait while crews clear the track. Karina Romero was spokeswoman for Amtrak. She says some passengers will spend the night aboard the train. 'It's gonna be overnight, a number of hours. I can't give an exact time. We will still wait for equipment to arrive on the scene to clear up the incident site.' No injuries have been reported.

Authorities in San Francisco are warning the public to avoid water in one reach of San Francisco Bay. More than two and a half million gallons of partially¹⁶ treated sewage spilled into Richardson Bay this week, an arm of the larger bay. The sewage is actually from a Marin County Water Treatment Plan. Authorities blamed operator error.

You are listening to NPR News in Washington.

As many as 99 people are believed to have died in two suicide bombings yesterday in Baghdad. Police say two female suicide bombers¹⁷ were wearing explosive vests then went off in two crowded markets in the capital. Iraq's Prime Minister says security will be improved. The bombings have been denounced by the Iraqi government and by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The unpredictable stock market rallied Friday to close out a strongly positive week in which the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the second time in eight days. Steve Beckner of Market News International reports.

A Labor¹⁸ Department report that jobs fell for the first time in four and a half years last month did not seem to bode¹⁹ well for Wall Street. But recession worries were partially assuaged²⁰ by a stronger-than-expected purchasing managers survey in manufacturing and an uptaking consumer sentiment. Investors²¹ also drew encouragement from Microsoft's huge buyout bid for Yahoo and hopes for a bailout of strained bond and insurance firms. With three stocks rising for everyone that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose almost three quarters of a percent, while the NASDAQ COMPOSITE rose nearly a four-percent, and the Standard & Poor's 500 climbed close to one and a quarter percent. For the week, the Dow was up 4.4, the S&P 4.9, and the NASDAQ 3.8 percent. For NPR News, I'm Steve Beckner.

The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on a proposed economic stimulus²² package. One version has already passed the House Representatives and has the support of the President Bush. Some Democratic leaders want to expand some of the package benefits, such as making unemployment benefits last longer for jobless Americans.

I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News, in Washington.

1 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

2 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

3 infiltrating   

v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网

4 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

5 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

6 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

7 squandering   

v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• You're faced with ending it all, of squandering what was given. 把到手的东西就这样随随便便弄掉。 来自辞典例句
• I see all this potential And I see squandering. 你们的潜力都被浪费了。 来自互联网

8 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

9 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

10 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

11 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

12 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

13 vouchers   

n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 )；证人；证件；收据

参考例句：

• These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
• This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

14 bestow   

v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费

参考例句：

• He wished to bestow great honors upon the hero.他希望将那些伟大的荣誉授予这位英雄。
• What great inspiration wiII you bestow on me?你有什么伟大的灵感能馈赠给我？

15 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

17 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

19 bode   

v.预示

参考例句：

• These figures do not bode well for the company's future.这些数字显示出公司的前景不妙。
• His careful habits bode well for his future.他那认真的习惯预示著他会有好的前途。

20 assuaged   

v.减轻( assuage的过去式和过去分词 )；缓和；平息；使安静

参考例句：

• Although my trepidation was not completely assuaged, I was excited. 虽然我的种种担心并没有完全缓和，我还是很激动。 来自互联网
• Rejection (which cannot be assuaged) is another powerful motivator of bullying. （不能缓和的）拒绝是另一个欺负行为的有力动因。 来自互联网

21 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

22 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。