NPR 2008-05-09

It’s feared the death toll¹ from Saturday’s storm in Myanmar will climb to as many as 100,000 people. And the country’s military government says there could be one million homeless from the cyclone² that hit five days ago. The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok, and he reports that the World Food Program is having limited success in efforts to fly in relief supplies to Myanmar.

 They’ve had a total of at least four aircraft that they thought they had permission to get into Burma today. As far as we know, only one of those aircraft, an Italian one, has landed. Er, the others may well come in later today. But they’ve been massively delayed and they are carrying, er, what they call “high energy biscuits”, which (are) about the only food that many of the people at delta³ can eat, given they have no cooking utensils⁴, not even anything they can carry drinking water in, and they have no food and water. So, that’s a disastrous⁵ delay. Even a day’s delay could cost many, many lives. The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok. Meanwhile, the US is still waiting for approval from  Myanmar’s generals to start military aid flights. US ambassador Eric John says that US and Thai authorities had earlier believed they had permission, but now he says Myanmar officials later made it clear that was not the case.

 Hillary Clinton says she’s not about to quit the Democratic presidential race. “We have to figure out who would be the stronger candidate, because at the end of the day, that is what matters most.” Barack Obama’s big win in North Carolina and Clinton’s slim victory in Indiana this week widened Obama’s advantage. Clinton has lent her campaign another 6.4 million dollars.

 Michigan Democrats⁶ are offering a new solution to the dispute over the state’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention. They want to give 69 delegates to Hillary Clinton and 59 to Barack Obama. Clinton won Michigan’s primary back in January, but Michigan and Florida were stripped of their delegates for going against party rules by holding their contests too early.

 The man overseeing the investigation⁷ into Special Counsel Scott Bloch is not your typical prosecutor⁸. He has a prominent background in journalism⁹, as NPR’s Ari Shapiro reports.

 FBI agents showed up unannounced at the Special Counsel’s home and his office Tuesday morning. They carried subpoenas¹⁰, and the signature at the bottom belonged to James Mitzelfeld. Mitzelfeld used to be a reporter in Detroit. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his stories on abuses at Michigan’s House Fiscal¹¹ Agency. Then he went to a law school and became a federal prosecutor in Michigan. He recently arrived in Washington, and now he’s leading one of the biggest government corruption¹² cases of the day. Special Counsel Scott Bloch has not been charged with a crime. But among other things, employees accused him of retaliating¹³ against enemies by threatening to send them to a field office in Detroit, the same city where prosecutor Mitzelfeld won his Pulitzer. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

 You’re listening to NPR News from Washington.

 Ongoing battles between Iraqi and US forces and Shiite fighters are forcing hundreds of Iraqis to flee the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City. US-backed Iraqi forces have been carrying out daily air and ground strikes there. Humanitarian¹⁴ groups, such as the Red Crescent, are working in the area and say there are shortages of food, water and medicine.

 Sprint Nextel plans to merge¹⁵ its wireless¹⁶ broadband division with Clearwire Corporation to form a new company racing¹⁷ to develop a high-speed wireless Internet service. Frank Morris of member station KCUR reports.

 Sprint Nextel, the nation’s third largest mobile service provider, has staked its future on being first to the market with Wimax Technology, which, if it's all it's cracked up to be, will offer reasonably-priced Internet access from almost anywhere at speeds people are used to in their homes and offices. The company formed from the merger¹⁸, which will keep the name “Clearwire”, hopes to roll out the service in a couple of years and attract at least 120 million customers by the end of 2010. A group led by Google, Comcast and Time Warner Cable is sinking over three billion dollars into the venture. If federal regulators and Clearwire investors¹⁹ sign off on the deal, it should be finished by the end of this year. For NPR News, I’m Frank Morris in Kansas City.

 Lawmakers in Russia have confirmed former Russian President Vladimir Putin as the country’s new prime minister. As expected, lawmakers overwhelmingly confirmed Putin today, just a day after he handed the presidency²⁰ to Dmitry Medvedev. The switch comes after months of political maneuvering²¹ by Putin to maintain a role in ruling Russia after being forced to step down by constitutional term limits.

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

3 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

4 utensils   

器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物

参考例句：

• Formerly most of our household utensils were made of brass. 以前我们家庭用的器皿多数是用黄铜做的。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

5 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

9 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

10 subpoenas   

n.（传唤出庭的）传票( subpoena的名词复数 )v.（用传票）传唤（某人）( subpoena的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• My company has complied with committee subpoenas by supplying documents confirming all that I have said. 本公司按照委员会的要求，提供了能够证实我刚才发言的文件。 来自辞典例句
• Congressional Investigations: Subpoenas and Contempt Power. Report for Congress April 2, 2003. 金灿荣：《美国国会的监督功能》，载《教学与研究》2003年第2期。 来自互联网

11 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

12 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

13 retaliating   

v.报复，反击( retaliate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The administration will begin retaliating in six weeks if EC policies remain unchanged. 凯特先生说，如果欧共体一意孤行，美国政府将于六周后开始报复。 来自互联网

14 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

15 merge   

v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体

参考例句：

• I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
• The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。

16 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。

17 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

18 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

19 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

20 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

21 maneuvering   

v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵

参考例句：

• This Manstein did, with some brilliant maneuvering under the worse winter conditions. 曼施坦因在最恶劣的严冬条件下，出色地施展了灵活机动的战术，终于完成了任务。 来自辞典例句
• In short, large goals required farsighted policies, not tactical maneuvering. 一句话，大的目标需要有高瞻远瞩的政策，玩弄策略是不行的。 来自辞典例句