NPR 2009-11-13

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

 

The army has filed formal charges against Major Nidal Hasan with the shooting deaths at Fort Hood¹ last week. He faces 13 counts of premeditated murder. From Fort Hood, Texas, NPR’s Jeff Brady reports.

 

Hasan is suspected of killing² 12 soldiers and a civilian³ at a processing center for soldiers about to be deployed⁴. Investigators⁵ say their work is continuing. There’re still coming a large crime scene for evidence and some of the injured witnesses still haven’t been interviewed. Chris Grey with the army’s criminal investigation⁶ division says he’s not ready to release many of the details for fear of hampering⁷ the prosecution⁸ of the case.

 

"We do know that the suspect was not at the readiness center for any scheduled appointments or command-directed activity."

 

Hasan’s attorney John Galligan says the accused gunman was served with the charges by his Unit Commander at a hospital in San Antonio where he’s recovering from four gunshot wounds. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Fort Hood, Texas.

 

President Obama is ordering a review of how US Intelligence Agency’s handled information they may have had on Hasan. Earlier NPR learned that Hasan’s supervisor⁹ has questioned his mental stability. Colleagues also deny claims that Hasan was harassed¹⁰ because he is Muslim.

 

Colorado authorities have filed criminal charges against Richard and Mayumi Heene for staging a hoax¹¹ when they reported their child had floated away in a helium balloon. The couple is expected to plead guilty tomorrow. Richard Heene is accused of attempting to influence a public servant, a felony. His wife is charged with false reporting to authorities. Both are expected to appear in court tomorrow.

 

There’s been a dramatic increase in the number of people who’ve died from the new H1N1 swine flu. It’s not that the flu has suddenly become more deadly. The estimates are just more precise. NPR’s Joanne Silberner has more.

 

Last week the pediatric death count was 129 between late April and mid-October. This week the estimate is 540 deaths according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new estimate comes from the same numbers, tallies¹² by select doctors and hospitals. But it takes into account that not all flu deaths are identified as such. Sometimes the flu test isn’t done or it’s wrong or the death is attributed to a different infection that came after the flu. The total flu death estimate for adults between 18 and 64 is 2,900, and among people 65 and older, there have been 440 deaths. The total count of how many people have been infected by the new virus is now 22 million, which includes eight million children under the age of 18. Joanne Silberner, NPR News, Atlanta.

 

On Wall Street, the Dow was down 94 points at 10,197 and the NASDAQ was down 18 at last check at 2,149.

 

This is NPR.

 

The White House plans to host a job summit next month to figure out how to create more positions and start driving down the unemployment rate which topped 10% last month. Today President Obama said he was encouraged by the latest Labor¹³ Department report showing fewer new claims filed last week, but he said that with millions of people still out of work, the loss of jobs remains¹⁴ one of his administration’s biggest challenges.

 

President Obama heads to Japan today, part of a week-long trip that also includes stops in China, Singapore and South Korea.

 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev once again painted a bleak¹⁵ picture of Russia’s economy and repeated his recent calls for modernization¹⁶ in his annual state-of-the-nation address. But as NPR’s Anne Garrels reports, he was short on specifics.

 

President Medvedev attacked huge state corporations created by his predecessor¹⁷, then-President Vladimir Putin, calling their competitiveness shamefully¹⁸ low. He demanded they reform into commercial companies or disappear. He ordered the government led by now-Prime Minister Putin to reduce its massive share of the economy. Medvedev said Russia’s dependence¹⁹ on oil, gas and metals must end with the country transformed into a smart economy with high-tech²⁰ investments. Warning one million Russians are (at) risk of losing their jobs, he said the country must quickly modernize²¹. He called for more government transparency and promised to strengthen democratic institutions. But analysts²² and opposition²³ parties said his speech are repetition of past pronouncements-lacked concrete proposals. Anne Garrels, NPR News.

 

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

 

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 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。

3 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。

4 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

5 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》

6 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。

7 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

8 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

9 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

10 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

11 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

12 tallies   

n.账( tally的名词复数 )；符合；（计数的）签；标签v.计算，清点( tally的第三人称单数 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• Cash on hand tallies with the figure in the accounts. 现款跟账上的数目没有出入。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He tallies his own marks. 他把自己的得分记了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 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。

15 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

16 modernization   

n.现代化，现代化的事物

参考例句：

• This will help us achieve modernization.这有助于我们实现现代化。
• The Chinese people are sure to realize the modernization of their country.中国人民必将实现国家现代化。

17 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

18 shamefully   

可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。
• They have served me shamefully for a long time. 长期以来，他们待我很坏。

19 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

20 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

21 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

22 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

23 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。