NPR 2009-04-06

Pittsburgh police say the gunman who shot dead three police officers responding to a domestic disturbance¹ call was “lying in wait”. Police Chief Nate Harper describes what happened. "Stinace, the officer, stepped in to the doorway². He was immediately met with gunfire, receiving a wound fatally to the head. Second officer received a wound fatally to the head as well." Harper says he doesn't know why Richard Poplawski did what he did, but friends say he was recently despondent⁴ over losing his job. Police are portraying⁵ the gunman in the Binghamton, New York shooting rampage as an angry troubled 41-year-old man who recently lost his job and struggled with drugs. Jiverly Wong shot and killed 13 people before killing⁶ himself.

European leaders are praising President Obama's Afghan strategy as the NATO Summit wraps up in France. They've also agreed to send up to 5,000 extra military trainers and police to the region. As the summit in France is due to a close, a group of anti-NATO protesters in Strasbourg set fire to a hotel on the outskirts⁷ of the city. Eleanor Beardsley filed this report from Strasbourg.

About 100 hard-line masked demonstrators also set fire to a pharmacy⁸ and an empty customs building. A heavy police presence had captured demonstrators out of the center of Strasbourg. Earlier in the day, a couple hundred activists⁹ made a last attempt to reach the downtown area. They were held back by riot police who pinned the demonstrators in by a bridge on the outskirts of the city. Lea Koenig from Germany says the police abused their power just like NATO. "They are keeping us out with brutal¹⁰ violence. It's unimaginable. There are, I don't know how many thousands of cops here, and we are 200 and we had no right. No demonstration¹¹ was allowed in Strasbourg. This is not democratic."  These peace activists said they have not been involved in clashes with police. They blamed the violence on anarchists¹² who they say have infiltrated¹³ their group. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Strasbourg.

Pakistani officials say the American aid worker abducted¹⁴ by gunmen two months ago has been freed. John Solecki was abandoned by his captors in the southern part of the country. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

Solecki was kidnapped in Quetta, where he worked for the United Nation's refugee agency. The gunmen, who ambushed¹⁵ his car, killed his driver. Although the Taliban's active in the area, his abductors turned out to be from an unknown militant¹⁶ group fighting for the secession of Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and poorest province. They later released the video in which Solecki said he was sick and in trouble. The militants¹⁷ tried to use Solecki as a hostage to pressure for the release of many hundreds of prisoners and at one point threatened to kill him within 72 hours. UN officials recently warned he could be gravely ill. He's thought to have heart problems and diabetes¹⁸. Officials say he's now been located and is being taken to Quetta where he'll receive treatment. Philip Reeves, NPR News, Islamabad.

Meantime, a suicide bomber¹⁹ attacked a paramilitary base in Islamabad, killing eight people. This is NPR.

The British government has given billions of dollars to UK banks but it now finds it is running short of money for thousands of English high school students. Larry Miller²⁰ has more from London.

After campaigning for students to stay in education longer and promising²¹ state high schools' funding for the next academic year, the British government says due to miscalculating student numbers, it's 90-million-dollar short. Under the British systems, students specialize in three to four subjects in their last two years of school. An estimated 35,000 English high school students may be left without a place this September. The chairman of the Head Teachers Association said jobs will now go leading to bigger classes and fewer courses. He says small science, math, language and IT courses are the most likely to face the axe²². The education minister said he tried to find the funding. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.

In Texas, Wheeler County authority say residents of Wheeler can go back home after being told to evacuate²³ because of an approaching wildfire. Officials told residents to leave this afternoon. A county information officer says the fire's still burning, but the town is no longer in immediate³ danger. The wildfire jumped the North Fork of the Red River and was moving toward the town near the Texas-Oklahoma border earlier today.

Fans and players are enjoying a big night tonight in Detroit. Ford²⁴ Field is hosting the NCAA men's basketball final four games. Connecticut and Michigan State are playing at this hour. This is Michigan State's fifth trip to the games. North Carolina meets Villanova later tonight.

1 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

2 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 despondent   

adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的

参考例句：

• He was up for a time and then，without warning,despondent again.他一度兴高采烈，但忽然又情绪低落下来。
• I feel despondent when my work is rejected.作品被拒后我感到很沮丧。

5 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

6 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。

7 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

8 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

11 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

12 anarchists   

无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Anarchists demand the destruction of structures of oppression including the country itself. "无政府主义者要求摧毁包括国家本身在内的压迫人民的组织。
• Unsurprisingly, Ms Baburova had a soft spot for anarchists. 没什么奇怪的，巴布罗娃女士倾向于无政府主义。

13 infiltrated   

adj.[医]浸润的v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The headquarters had been infiltrated by enemy spies. 总部混入了敌方特务。
• Many Chinese idioms have infiltrated into the Japanese language. 许多中国成语浸透到日语中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

15 ambushed   

v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The military vehicles were ambushed. 军车遭到伏击。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

17 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

18 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

19 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

20 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

21 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

22 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

23 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

24 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。