NPR NEWS 2008-02-13

From NPR News in Washington, I am Carl Kasell.

Voters in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia are next up to have their say in the presidential nomination¹ race. They go to the polls today. NPR's Audie Cornish reports.

While Washington D.C. residents do not have voting representation in Congress, they can't cast ballots² in the presidential primaries. Both Maryland and D.C hold close primaries, so voters can only vote in the contest of the party they are registered with. But Virginia's primaries are open, and voters can choose to cast the ballots in either the Republican or the Democratic race. Altogether, the primaries represent a potential a hundred and sixteen delegates for Republicans Mike Huckabee and John McCain, while a hundred and sixty-eight pledged delegates are at stake in the Democrat's nomination race between senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Audie Cornish, NPR News.

Three men scheduled to testify at tomorrow's congressional hearing on steroids in baseball will not appear after all. That puts all the focus on the two major witnesses who will appear. Star pitcher⁴ Roger Clemens and his former personal trainer Brian McNamee. They're waging a bitter public dispute over whether McNamee gave banned drug to Clemens. NPR's Tom Goldman reports.

Last night, the House Committee holding tomorrow's hearing released a statement saying pitcher Andy Pettitte, former player Chunk⁵ Knoblauch, and convicted drug distributor Kirk Radomski were being dropped from the witness list. Pettitte and Clemens are long-time friends, both trained with Brian McNamee. In the recent Mitchell report on doping in baseball, McNamee said he injected Pettitte with human growth hormone⁶ and injected Clemens with HGH anabolic steroids. Pettitte acknowledged his injections; Clemens angrily denied McNamee's claims. The New York Times reports Pettitte didn't wanna have to testify in public against Clemens. Pettitte already gave a sworn deposition⁷ to the House Committee, so did Clemens. One of his lawyers said last night that Clemens will say in Congress what he said all along--he didn't use banned drugs. Tom Goldman, NPR News, Washington.

Two CBS journalists have been kidnapped in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Radical⁸ Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office today condemned⁹ the kidnapping while Iraqi police said an intensive search is underway for the two. Iraqi police and witnesses said the kidnapping occurred Sunday morning. Basra is Iraq's second largest city. It has seen fierce fighting between rival Shiite militias¹⁰ as part of a power struggle in the oil-rich south. CBS did not identify the journalists but said all efforts are underway to find them. It requested that others do not speculate on the identities of those involved until more information is available.

Japanese stock prices remain virtually unchanged today. The Nikkei Average rose by 4 points, oil prices fell back in Asian trading, U.S. light crude for March delivery fell by 55 cents to $93.04 a barrel in electronic trading.

This is NPR News.

There was a major service disruption yesterday for users of wireless¹¹ hand-held Blackberries in North America. NPR's Elaine Korry reports.

Millions of people who rely on their Blackberries for wireless email access were left stranded¹² for several hours. A critical service outage struck at about 3:30 PM Eastern Time. Blackberry maker¹³ Research in Motion reported that access was intermittent¹⁴ and said the problem with an email server was later fixed¹⁵, however, not all service was restored immediately. Shares of RIM³ which had traded up more than five percent were off one percent in after-hours trading. The shares have more than doubled in the last twelve months. This has been the second major Blackberry outage in a year. Last April, a software malfunction¹⁶ shut off Internet access across North America for hours. Elaine Korry, NPR News.

The Associated Press is reporting that more than a half the veterans who committed suicide after coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq were members of the National Guard and Reserves. The AP is quoting an analysis made by The Department of Veterans Affairs of death among veterans of both wars. It found that Guard or Reserve members were 53% of the veteran suicides from 2001 through the end of 2005. Military leaders have leaned heavily on Guard and Reserve troops in the wars. Veterans' advocates say Guard and Reserve troops need more help as they transition back into the civilian¹⁷ world. President Bush signed a bill last year that directed the VA to improve its mental health training for the staff and do a better job of screening and treating vets¹⁸.

I am Carl Kasell, NPR News in Washington.

1 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

2 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

4 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

5 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

6 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

7 deposition   

n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物

参考例句：

• It was this issue which led to the deposition of the king.正是这件事导致了国王被废黜。
• This leads to calcium deposition in the blood-vessels.这导致钙在血管中沉积。

8 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

9 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

10 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

11 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

12 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

13 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

14 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

15 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

16 malfunction   

vi.发生功能故障，发生故障，显示机能失常

参考例句：

• There must have been a computer malfunction.一定是出了电脑故障。
• Results have been delayed owing to a malfunction in the computer.由于电脑发生故障，计算结果推迟了。

17 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

18 vets   

abbr.veterans （复数）老手，退伍军人；veterinaries （复数）兽医n.兽医( vet的名词复数 )；老兵；退伍军人；兽医诊所v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的第三人称单数 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• I helped train many young vets and veterinary nurses too. 我还帮助培训了许多年青的兽医和护士。 来自互联网
• In fact, we've expanded mental health counseling and services for our vets. 实际上，我们已经扩大了退伍军人的心理健康咨询和服务。 来自互联网