NPR NEWS 2008-03-23

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham.

 

Flood waters are still threatening homes in parts of the Midwest even as some rivers have begun receding¹. Donald Ray was one of the volunteers helping² build a protective wall of sand banks today in the town of Arnold, Missouri. "We worked last night and then we are back again this morning. My parents' house flooded in the 1993 flood. So I'm just figuring if I ever had to help again. Someone helped us, so we are here helping other people."

 

At least 16 deaths have been linked to the severe weather in the nation's midsection over the past week. Parts of the Upper Midwest got more snow today. But flights at Chicago's airports are mainly back on schedule after extensive delays and cancellations yesterday. The Midwest has been dealing³ with stormy weather and its aftermath for days now. Meteorologist Vickie Nadolski says the region is about to get a short break. "They could see some additional rains move in beyond late Tuesday, Wednesday. But for now the good news is that there won't be any rainfall for the next couple of days."

 

Nadolski says though the long-range forecast calls for more flooding this spring. It's been over a week since severe storms and tornadoes⁵ swept across Georgia and now a body has been found in Atlanta. It could be the city's first fatality⁶ from the storms. David Barasoain of member station WABE has more.

 

Workers clearing rubble⁷ from the tornado⁴ that struck downtown Atlanta discovered the body of a man while clearing debris⁸. Police won't know for sure if the person was a victim of the storm until they get official word from a medical examiner. The man had no identification but he was wearing a wedding band. The body was found close to the King Center near a metro⁹ station, east of downtown Atlanta . Last Friday, the tornado cut a 6-mile path from Centennial Olympic park and down toward the Fourth Ward¹⁰. At least 27 people were injured in the Atlanta tornado but until today police believed that no one had died. For NPR News, I'm David Barasoain in Atlanta.

 

Vice¹¹ President Dick Cheney has begun a round of talks in the Middle East that aimed at advancing the Middle East peace process. He's meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Cheney said the U.S. is committed to Israel's security and that commitment is enduring and unshakable. "The United States will never pressure Israel to take steps that threaten its security. As successful democracies, the U.S. and Israel have a basic confidence in the power of freedom to lift up whole societies and to lay the foundation for peace." Cheney was speaking in Jerusalem today.

 

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says Americans are ready for change after two terms of President Bush in the White House. "The era of Katrina and warrantless wiretaps, Scooter Libby justice, Brownie incompetence¹², Kark Rove politics. Those days are coming to an end next year." Obama speaking at a rally in Eugene, Oregon. His rival Hillary Clinton is at home in New York state today. John McCain is overseas on a congressional trip.

 

This is NPR news.

 

The main opposition¹³ candidate has won today's presidential election in Taiwan. He favors closer ties with China including much more open trade relations. Voters rejected the ruling party candidate's protectionist stance. "He had strongly attacked his rival's plans, warning that Taiwan would be swamped with cheap Chinese goods and Chinese labors¹⁴ that unemployment would increase and there would be all kinds of social problems." That's reporter Caroline Gluck in Taipei.

 

The U.S. Air Force may be getting into the coal business .The idea is to develop a new fuel source. Fred Kight of member station WOUB explains.

 

The Air Force is launching a plan to wean itself from foreign oil by turning to coal. It wants to build what could be the first facility in the nation to turn coal into cleaner-burning synthetic¹⁵ fuel. The facility would be located at a base in centre Montana. The Air Force is offering to be a partner in the project, hoping to prod¹⁶ Wall Street investors¹⁷ to sink money into similar plants nationwide. This involvement comes at a critical time for the coal industry. Coal's biggest customers, electric utilities, have scrapped¹⁸ at least 4-dozen proposed coal-fired power plants due to rising costs and pollution problems that contribute to global warming. For NPR News ,I'm Fred Kight in Athens, Ohio.

 

Astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavor are conducting their fifth and final space walk of Endeavor's mission.The shuttle is expected to land next week.

 

In the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament today, Wisconsin had no trouble with Kansas State, but in the Western Regional second-seed Duke was upset by West Virginia.

 

I'm Craig Windham, NPR News, in Washington.

1 receding   

v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远，他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
• Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

5 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

6 fatality   

n.不幸，灾祸，天命

参考例句：

• She struggle against fatality in vain.她徒然奋斗反抗宿命。
• He began to have a growing sense of fatality.他开始有一种越来越强烈的宿命感。

7 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

8 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

9 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

10 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 incompetence   

n.不胜任，不称职

参考例句：

• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
• She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得，本是老板无能，但她却成了替罪羊。

13 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

14 labors   

v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
• Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句

15 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

16 prod   

vt.戳，刺；刺激，激励

参考例句：

• The crisis will prod them to act.那个危机将刺激他们行动。
• I shall have to prod him to pay me what he owes.我将不得不催促他把欠我的钱还给我。

17 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

18 scrapped   

废弃(scrap的过去式与过去分词)； 打架

参考例句：

• This machine is so old that it will soon have to be scrapped. 这架机器太旧，快报废了。
• It had been thought that passport controls would be scrapped. 人们曾认为会放开护照管制。