NPR 2010-01-02

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Barbara Klein.

 

The Iraqi government says it regrets the decision of a US judge to dismiss charges against five Blackwater security guards. They were accused of killing¹ unarmed civilians² in Baghdad in 2007. Iraqi authorities are vowing³ to pursue the charges. NPR's Howard Berkes has more.

 

The statement issued Friday by an Iraqi government spokesman says Iraqi investigators⁴ confirmed unequivocally that the Blackwater guards committed murder and used unjustified deadly force when they opened fire in a crowded Baghdad intersection⁵ in 2007. The American prosecution⁶ of the guards was thrown out of court Thursday. US District Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled that federal prosecutors⁷ violated the constitutional rights of the accused by using sworn statements that had been given with guarantees of immunity⁸. The Justice Department says it is reviewing the decision and considering options and appeal is possible. Attorneys for the guards say their clients are celebrating the dismissal. The status of the sixth defendant⁹ is unclear. He had pleaded guilty and provided evidence against the others. Howard Berkes, NPR News.

 

Yemeni forces have killed 11 Shiite rebels according to government officials there. News of the clashes came shortly after the militants¹⁰ appeared to seek peace talks with neighboring Saudi Arabia. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

 

Government officials said the Yemeni security and military forces destroyed a number of vehicles belonging to the rebels. Yemen has been battling the rebels for five years. Last month, Saudi Arabia was joining into the fighting when a group of rebels crossed into the kingdom and seized a strategic hillside area. A rebel website called for dialog and peace between the rebels and the Saudis. The site featured a recording¹¹ said to be a rebel leader Abdul Malek al-Huthi. Yemeni officials claimed to have killed al-Huthi last year. But the voice on the recording which was similar to previous recordings¹² made by al-Huthi referred to recent events.  Yemen has drawn¹³ an international attention lately for its growing al-Qaeda branch which claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day airliner¹⁴ bombing attempt in the US. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Cairo.

 

President Obama's nominee¹⁵ to head the Transportation Security Administration admits he misled Congress. In October, Erroll Southers told lawmakers he once improperly¹⁶ asked police to run a background check on the boyfriend of his estranged¹⁷ wife. Now he says he himself conducted two inappropriate background checks. That's in a follow-up letter to Congress revealed by the Washington Post. Congress is under pressure to act on the nomination¹⁸ in the wake of an attempted terror attack on a US-bound Northwest airliner on Christmas Day.

 

The CEO of Delta¹⁹ Airline which owns Northwest says he is extremely disappointed the suspected terrorist was able to get on the plane from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. In a recorded message to employees, Richard Anderson says airlines have followed government security guidelines since 9/11, and he plans to pressure Washington to do a job better.

 

This is NPR News.

 

2009 was a brutal²⁰ year for Detroit's car business. General Motors and Chrysler went bankrupt and even now sales remain low. NPR's Frank Langfitt has more.

 

GM shed divisions and CEOs. Saab, Saturn²¹, Pontiac and Hummer are either going or gone. CEOs Rick Wagoner and Fritz Henderson were forced out eight months apart. Analysts²² say 2010 looks brighter for GM. The company is thought to have strong products in the pipeline²³ and would cap the year by launching the Volt²⁴, its electric sedan. The outlook for Chrysler is less certain and more worrisome. The company seems to have few vehicles on the way and many analysts aren’t sure where Chrysler is headed. Jessica Caldwell works for edmunds.com, the car consumer website.

 

"I am not utterly²⁵ sure what's happening there, you don't really know what's going on with its products, you don't know what's going on with its management, with business plans."

 

Of the Detroit three, Ford²⁶ has spared the best. Not taking federal bailout money has helped its image and the company has been building market share. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.

 

Gay and Lesbian couples can now get married in New Hampshire.  At the stroke of midnight, New Hampshire became the nation's fifth state to allow same-sex marriage. About a dozen couples immediately took advantage of the new law in the state capital of Concord²⁷. New Hampshire joins Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Iowa in allowing gay marriage.

 

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh says doctors found nothing wrong with his heart after he was hospitalized for chest pains. The 58-year-old commentator²⁸ was rushed to the hospital Wednesday while vacationing in Hawaii. In a news conference today, he said doctors don't know what caused the pains, but they are releasing him.

 

I’m Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.
 

1 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。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

4 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》

5 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

6 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。

7 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。

8 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

9 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

10 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。

11 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

12 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

13 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

14 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。

15 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。

16 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

17 estranged   

adj.疏远的，分离的

参考例句：

• He became estranged from his family after the argument.那场争吵后他便与家人疏远了。
• The argument estranged him from his brother.争吵使他同他的兄弟之间的关系疏远了。

18 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

19 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

20 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。

21 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings.天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

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 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

24 volt   

n.伏特，伏

参考例句：

• You may use 100 and 110 volt appliances in your room.您可以在房间使用100及110伏特的电器。
• The common service voltage of electric power in our country is 220/380 volt.我国普通供电电压为220/380伏。

25 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

26 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。

27 concord   

n.和谐；协调

参考例句：

• These states had lived in concord for centuries.这些国家几个世纪以来一直和睦相处。
• His speech did nothing for racial concord.他的讲话对种族和谐没有作用。

28 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。