NPR 2009-12-27

A 23-year-old Nigerian man has been charged with attempting to destroy a Northwest Airlines plane. In a statement released by the Justice Department, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly boarded Flight 253 with a device attached to his body and tried to ignite it as the plane prepared to land in Detroit yesterday. According to the complaint affidavit² filed today, the suspect set off the device which resulted in a fire and an apparent explosion. The man was subdued³ by passengers and crew.

 Homeland security officials say holiday travelers may notice tighter screening in light of the attempted attack on the Detroit airliner⁴. Most passengers seemed to be taking it all in stride. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden spoke⁵ with some at Washington Reagan National Airport outside Washington D.C.

 Some said they had arrived early to allow for additional measures, though at Reagan National lines were short and moving smoothly⁶. Others said the alleged¹ terror attack did undermine their confidence in the system. But more people said they accepted that security screenings are imperfect and were not changing their plans at all. Carlo Reiley and her husband had just flown in from Florida. “I feel like that the security is pretty good most of the time. It’s probably just a fluke.”

 The day after Christmas is a light travel day in the holiday season. A bigger test security screenings may come Sunday and beyond as holiday travelers return home. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

Parts of the Upper Midwest remain under severe winter weather advisories⁷ as a massive winter storm continues to wreak⁸ havoc⁹ across the region. Wisconsin Public Radio’s Bryant Ball has more.

Heavy snow is causing wide out conditions in the far northern parts of the Midwest, and motorists have been warned to put off any unnecessary travel. Wide snow is expected to continue in southern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin. One of the deaths blamed on the storm involved an 81-year-old Iowa man who tried to lock home after his pickup¹⁰ truck got stuck. His body was found in a ditch Thursday. Authorities said he died of exposure. Meanwhile, residents in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota continued to dig out. Snow, rain, freezing rain, ice and wind gust¹¹ up to 30 to 40 miles per hour of some parts made holiday travel treacherous¹². Flush weather warnings remained in effect in parts of Illinois. Of temperatures expected to stay below freezing well until next week, officials warn that many roads that crews haven’t reached are still hazardous¹³. For NPR News, I’m Bryant Ball in Madison.

Israeli forces killed six Palestinians, making this one of the deadliest days in Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the Gaza war a year ago. In the West Bank, soldiers killed three members of al-Aqsa Martyrs¹⁴ Brigades. In Gaza, Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians as they approached the Israeli border. The army says the men ignored warning shots. Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the shootings.

This is NPR.

The World Health Organization reports the situation in Southern Sudan is far worse than in the conflict-ridden province of Darfur. It says hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur continue to receive international aid while Southern Sudan is all but forgotten. Lisa Schlein

reports from Geneva.

WHO says little attention has been paid to Southern Sudan since it signed a peace agreement with the North in 2005, ending more than 20 years of civil war. WHO expert Irshae Shaikh says this is tragic¹⁵ as Southern Sudan is the world’s worst humanitarian¹⁶ crisis. “But at this time, there is increasing violence over 350,000 people disadvantaged and displaced, 1,500,000 in need of humanitarian assistance.”

Southern Sudan has some of the grimmest health statistics in the world. For example, WHO reports 2,000 out of every 100,000 women die in childbirth and infant mortality runs over 150 per 1,000 births. For NPR News. I’m Lisa Schlein in Geneva…

1 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

2 affidavit   

n.宣誓书

参考例句：

• I gave an affidavit to the judge about the accident I witnessed.我向法官提交了一份关于我目击的事故的证词。
• The affidavit was formally read to the court.书面证词正式向出席法庭的人宣读了。

3 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

4 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

7 advisories   

n.（有关进展、动向、建议等的）报告( advisory的名词复数 )；公告；通告；通报

参考例句：

• Compliance with Practice Advisories is optional. 是否遵守实务公告由审计师自行选择决定。 来自互联网
• Hardened-PHP: not as such a PHP security information website, but it does have security advisories. 增强PHP:不仅仅是一个PHP安全新的网站，它还提供安全建议。 来自互联网

8 wreak   

v.发泄；报复

参考例句：

• She had a burning desire to wreak revenge.她复仇心切。
• Timid people always wreak their peevishness on the gentle.怯懦的人总是把满腹牢骚向温和的人发泄。

9 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

10 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

11 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。

12 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

13 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

14 martyrs   

n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情）

参考例句：

• the early Christian martyrs 早期基督教殉道者
• They paid their respects to the revolutionary martyrs. 他们向革命烈士致哀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

16 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。