NPR 2008-03-02

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Raum.

 Israeli forces pushed into the northern Gaza Strip today, killing¹ more than 30 Palestinians in some of the fiercest fighting in the coastal² territory in weeks. More than 60 Palestinians have been killed in 4 days of Israeli attacks in Gaza, which intensified³ after an Israeli civilian⁴ died in a rocket barrage⁵ on Wednesday. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

 Israeli infantry⁶ backed by tanks, attack helicopters and fighter jets fought their way into North Gaza in Jabalia on the outskirts⁷ of Gaza City today. The military says the operation is in response to ongoing⁸ rocket fire of the southern Israeli cities of Sderot and Ashkelon. Witnesses in Gaza say the combat is ongoing, with gunmen from Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighting the Israelis. Senior Gaza medical official Dr. Muawiya Hassanein says more than 30 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting so far, at least a third of the dead he says are civilians⁹. An Israeli army spokeswoman says 5 Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded in today's combat, meantime 4 longer range Grad rockets fired from Gaza struck Ashkelon this morning, there were no casualties. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Jerusalem.

 It was a rough day on Wall Street yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged¹⁰ 315 points to 12,266. Broader stock indicators¹¹ also declined, the NASDAQ Composite Index tumbled 60 points to close at 2,271 while the S&P 500 lost 37 points to end the day at 1,330. For the week, the S&P gave up 1.5%.

 A survey of the nation's business economists¹² finds that more than half believe that troubles in the sub-prime mortgage market and excessive consumer debt are the No. 1 threat to the economy. As for the most serious long-term threat to growth, health care headed the list. NPR's Jack¹³ Speer reports.

 The poll of business economists taken at the beginning of last month by the National Association for Business Economics showed a sharp jump from the group's last survey when it comes to concerns about the ongoing meltdown in the mortgage market. All told, 52% of the economists surveyed said the effects of sub-prime defaults combined with rising consumer indebtedness posed the biggest near-term risk to growth. In terms of longer term concerns, 22% shows health care as the biggest challenge. Also interesting was the fact that while in a survey in August nearly 3 quarters of economists viewed monetary¹⁴ policy by the Federal Reserve to be "about right". That figure fell to less than half in the latest poll, one third worried current Fed policy is "too stimulative¹⁵". Jack Speer, NPR News, Washington.

 Hillary Clinton campaigns in Texas and Barack Obama will be in Ohio and Rhode Island today, in the last weekend before presidential primaries on Tuesday. Vermont is also holding primaries for both parties. Polls show the Democratic race is very close in Texas and Ohio.

 This is NPR News from Washington.

 An engineer with Florida Power&Light has been suspended for causing an electrical outage that affected¹⁶ the entire state of Florida. From member station WLRN, Joshua Johnson reports.

 Florida Power&Light says the engineer was checking a malfunctioning¹⁷ switch at a substation in western Miami-Dade County. To do so, he needed to disable one level of protection on the relay, but he disabled two, violating company policy. Testing the switch caused a short-circuit that dropped the voltage across the entire power grid¹⁸. Company President Armando Olivera says his team is still determining how to prevent such a failure in the future.

 "There are many safeguards in place, clearly those safeguards helped contain the outage. But what additional safeguards should we have, it's a very fair question. "

 Olivera wouldn't elaborate on exactly what changes are being made. He did say that workers are being reminded of the rules for disengaging safeguards. For NPR News, I'm Joshua Johnson in Miami.

 Las Vegas police are trying to figure out how a rare and deadly poison ended up in a motel for transients. The man who was staying in the room is in a hospital, unconscious. Captain Joseph Lombardo says he doesn't know if the man was responsible for two vials of ricin.

 "This is a continuing investigation¹⁹, like we said we don't know if the guy manufactured the ricin or not, and we, that's our concern."

 Lombardo said police also found firearms and a book described as an "anarchist-type textbook".

 Police in Pasadena California arrested a high school student yesterday on suspicion he had a gun. They locked down the school and searched there room by room for several hours, no gun was found. Police officials say several witnesses had reported the boy had been carrying a firearm.

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

3 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

6 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

7 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。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

10 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

11 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

12 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

14 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

15 stimulative   

n.刺激，促进因素adj.刺激的，激励的，促进的

参考例句：

• Do you want to enjoy the absolutely stimulative experience? 你想享受魔兽游戏带来的绝对刺激的体验吗？ 来自互联网
• Discussed follow pattern of demand, the way that stimulative technology progresses. 探讨了遵循供求规律，促进技术进步的途径。 来自互联网

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 malfunctioning   

出故障

参考例句：

• But something was malfunctioning in the equipment due to human error. 但由于人为的错误，设备发生故障了。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• Choke coils are useful for prevention of malfunctioning electronic equipment. 扼流圈对于防止电器设备的故障很有帮助。 来自互联网

18 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

19 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。