NPR 2009-11-06

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Lakshmi Singh.

The Fort Hood¹ military base in Texas is on lockdown because of a mass shooting today. NPR’s Pentagon correspondent Mary Louise Kelly has been covering developments. She is in the studio with us now.

What do we know so far about these casualties?

Lakshmi, what we have are reports of, in a neighborhood of seven dead, more injured, possibly upwards² of a dozen wounded. These reports are not yet confirmed by the Army, but they are confirming that there was a shooting, that there are people injured, some dead. The shooting we know took place about 90 minutes ago, so that’s around 2:30 PM Eastern Time, around 1:30 local. There are also reports that there were, there might have been more than one shooter involved, again that is not yet being confirmed by the army.

And we’ve heard reports that at least one suspect is in custody³, what do you know about this?

We don’t know very much at all right now, much more questions than answers. So again all that the Army is confirming right now is an incident about 90 minutes ago at Fort Hood. Fort Hood is a massive Army base about 40,000 troops base. There are all Army and it's down in Killeen, Texas, which for those, you know, Texas. It’s about halfway⁴ between Austin and Waco.

OK, thank you. That’s NPR’s Pentagon correspondent Mary Louise Kelly.

Two powerful lobbying groups representing doctors and older Americans are endorsing⁵ President Obama’s healthcare plan. The president made an unannounced appearance at the White House daily briefing today to thank the American medical association NVAARP.

"They would not be with us if they believed that reform would in any way damage the critical and sacred doctor-patient relationship. Instead they are supporting reform because they’ve seen firsthand what's broken about our health care system."

There are critics argue the plan will severely⁶ undermine the quality of health care.

Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas has told members of his party that he will not run in upcoming elections because of his frustration⁷ over peace talks with Israel. NPR’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from Jerusalem.

According to aides, Abbas told members of his Fatah party that he feels he can no longerlead the party in the election slated⁸ for January though it's unclear if that is his final decision. Abbas has threatened not to run in the past only to be convinced otherwise whether it’s a political tactic⁹ meant to send a message to Israel and the United States or a personal decision by the Palestinian leader, there is no doubt that the Palestinians are demoralized. They hoped the Obama administration would be able to pressure Israel to stop settlement expansion. Palestinians say without a complete settlement freeze, they can’t resume peace talks. Israel has agreed to a temporary and partial freeze but says there should be no pre-conditions for negotiations¹⁰. Yesterday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the dream of an independent Palestinian state may have to be abandoned.

 

 

That’s NPR’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro.

 

This is NPR.

President Obama is making good on a campaign promise today to meet with leaders of hundreds of Indian tribes. Native American leaders gathered at the Interior Department for a day-long conference. NPR’s Scott Horsley reports.

 

President Obama promised during the campaign to hostan annual summit with tribal¹¹ leaders. They are talking about economic development and how to improve health care and education in Indian country. Mr. Obama also directed his cabinet secretaries to produce detailed¹² plans in the next three months for improving consultation¹³ with Indian leaders.

"I know what it means to feel ignored and forgotten, and what it means to struggle. So you will not be forgotten as long as I'm in this White House."

Mr. Obama acknowledged that unemployment on some Indian reservations is as high as 80%, and he said one in four Native Americans live in poverty. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

Federal prosecutors¹⁴ have announced more arrests in the insider trading case involving Wall Street traders, lawyers and hedge fund managers, at least 14 people are charged in a multi-million-dollar scheme spearheaded by Galleon¹⁵ Group founder¹⁶ Raj Rajaratnam, one of America's wealthiest man.

Looking at numbers from Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 200 points at 10,006 at last check. The NASDAQ was up 15 points at 2,105.

Updating our top story, the Fort Hood military base in Texas is on lockdown now because of a mass shooting today. Media reports state at least seven people are dead, twelve others wounded.

1 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

2 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

4 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

5 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

6 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

7 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

8 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

9 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

10 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

11 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

12 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

13 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

14 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

15 galleon   

n.大帆船

参考例句：

• The story of a galleon that sank at the start of her maiden voyage in 1628 must be one of the strangest tales of the sea.在1628年，有一艘大帆船在处女航开始时就沉没了，这个沉船故事一定是最神奇的海上轶事之一。
• In 1620 the English galleon Mayfolwer set out from the port of Southampton with 102 pilgrims on board.1620年，英国的“五月花”号西班牙式大帆船载着102名

16 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。