NPR 2008-07-20

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama met with US military commanders in eastern Afghanistan today, an area of escalating¹ hostilities² that he has said is not getting enough attention from the Bush administration. Obama made a stop en route to meet with US troops in Kuwait. “To see everybody in great spirits, doing such important work with so much discipline and so much pride, I think uh, just makes all of us feel really good. So, I wanna congratulate all of you.” Next stop on Obama's foreign trip is expected to be Iraq as NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

It will be his first time there since January, 2006; his first time there since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee³; and his first time there since the surge in US troops. So, he'll get a chance to talk to commanders to assess how things are going. He'll also talk to soldiers. We assume he will have a lunch with them or sit down somewhere and to meet with Iraqi leaders. NPR's Don Gonyea covering Obama's foreign trip.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is reportedly saying he basically agrees with Obama's 16-month time frame for withdrawal⁴ of US combat troops. The German magazine Der Spiegel quotes Maliki as saying he wants US troops to leave Iraq as soon as possible.

The latest talks concerning Iran's nuclear ambitions have ended with no real progress despite the participation⁵ for the first time of a senior US diplomat⁶. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.

After five hours of talk, European Union Foreign Minister Javier Solana couldn't hide his disappointment. He said Iran did not respond clearly to a Western proposal that Teheran suspend its uranium enrichment program in return for a package of economic and diplomatic incentives⁷. “I hope very much that after a debate, they change their views, Dr. Jalili will go back to Teheran and will inform the authorities to see (if) we can get a positive answer.” Solana said Iran's foreign minister promised to respond to the West proposal in two weeks. A lot of hope preceded this round of talks because the US had sent the State Department third-ranking official to participate. Those hope appeared to have been dashed. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

Tropical Storm Cristobal has strengthened as it approaches the southeastern US coastline. Meteorologist Eric Blake with the National Hurricane Center says the storm now has sustained winds of 45 m/h. “There’s some rain along the South Carolina and North Carolina coast. And a tropical storm warning remains⁸ in effect from South Santee River, South Carolina all the way to the North Carolina-Virginia border.” Blake says the storm is not likely to make landfall. Out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Bertha is churning its way in the direction of Iceland. Bertha formed more than two weeks ago off the coast of Africa.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Favorable weather conditions are helping⁹ fire crews in California battling the few dozen wildfires remaining from the hundreds that were sparked by a lightning storm last month. A mandatory¹⁰ evacuation order remains in effect for the Junction¹¹ City area because of a blaze in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The wildfires in California have charred¹² more than 1,400 square miles of land.

Federal safety investigators¹³ are at the site of the collapse¹⁴ of a massive crane at an oil refinery¹⁵ in Houston yesterday. Four workers were killed and seven others were injured. NPR's Claudio Sanchez has this story.

A spokesman for the owner of the crane, Deep South Crane &  Rigging, says the crane was not lifting anything when it fell on top of a tent where workers took their breaks. Three workers who were injured were treated and released at the scene, four died and two remain hospitalized. The crane, one of the biggest in the world, was scheduled to do overhaul¹⁶ work on the Houston Ship Channel. It was a symbol on site and had reportedly been inspected last week. Texas does not require the inspection¹⁷ of construction cranes, even though the state has had 26 crane-related deaths since 2005. Existing federal regulations for companies that operate cranes have not been updated since 1971. And that's likely to become an issue as federal investigators now add Houston to the growing list of crane accidents in recent months, including Miami, Las Vegas and two separate crane collapses¹⁸ in New York City that killed nine people there last March. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

More than a million people danced their way through the streets of Dortmund, Germany today at the annual Love Parade techno music festival. The music blared from 37 floats, orchestrated by scores of DJs. Police say the event was generally peaceful.

1 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

2 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

3 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

4 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

5 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

6 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

7 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 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。

10 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

11 junction   

n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站

参考例句：

• There's a bridge at the junction of the two rivers.两河的汇合处有座桥。
• You must give way when you come to this junction.你到了这个路口必须让路。

12 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

15 refinery   

n.精炼厂，提炼厂

参考例句：

• They built a sugar refinery.他们建起了一座榨糖厂。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

16 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

17 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

18 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。