NPR 2010-01-18

From NPR News in Washington, I am Lakshmi Singh.

 

Five days after the earthquake in Haiti, search and rescue teams continue to look for survivors¹. NPR's Jackie Northam is traveling with a rescue convoy³ about 40 miles outside the Haitian capital. She says a couple of factors are keeping rescuers hopeful.

 

You know they really are down to a critical time point now. The heat isn't as that as it could be at this time of year, also they say people are calling them in areas where they have air around them, in another word, some, some kind of bubble if you like, and they kind of move around until they are getting air, but the problem is actually getting to these places is such a slow process to do search and rescue.

 

NPR's Jackie Northam reporting.

 

Heighten security issues are now becoming a concern in Haiti's capital. One of the prisons in Port-au-Prince was destroyed in the earthquake allowing prisoners to break out. NPR's Amy Walter reports local police shot and killed four men who were believed to be escaped prisoners.

 

The police had pulled up in a pick-up truck, told these individuals to, to run out into what was actually a cemetery⁴ and directly running into the cemetery, and they shot them, they shot them all, and that's, that's how Haiti right now is dealing⁵ with the security problem. For me, it's not clear who is a prisoner, who is not, but the police evidently thought these people were prisoners and the day where they are dealing with the security problem is shooting them onsite. What the onlookers⁶ said, they said they supported it, there is too much of security, potential security problem in Haiti. They didn't want these people to be more of problem in already unstable⁷ situation.

 

NPR's Amy Walters reporting from Port-au-Prince.

 

President Obama spoke⁸ about the work of slain⁹ civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. before a church congregation on the eve of a federal holiday marking King's birthday. At the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, Mr. Obama said some progress is better than none.

 

"Sometimes I get a little frustrated¹⁰ when folks just don't want see that even if we don't get everything, we are getting something."

 

The president later flew to Massachusetts where he is expected to campaign for the Democratic candidate who is in a tight race for the Senate's seat of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. The special election is Tuesday. 

 

In some of the most blood public comments made to a pontiff, the Jewish leader in Italy told Pope Benedict XVI today that the Rome Catholic Church should have fought harder during World War Two to prevent Jews from being "transported to the ovens of Auschwitz" and that the church's silence all those years ago still hurts. Pope Benedict, during his first-ever visit to Rome Synagogue to heal Jewish-Catholic relations, defended the church's wartime record. He said the Vatican had provided assistance and often "did it in a hidden and discreet¹¹ way."

 

From Washington, this is NPR News.

 

Voters in Ukraine are taking part in their first presidential election since the 2004 Orange Revolution when pro-democracy protesters took to the streets. Exit polls indicate that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is trailing pro-Russian opposition¹² leader Viktor Yanukovych. Both of whom will likely compete in a run-off. The Reuters news service's report said Tymoshenko says she is prepared to reach out to former presidential candidates for their support in the second round of voting.

 

As Britain's enquiry into the Iraq War continues, a letter to be submitted to the investigator¹³ of panel was released revealing that then Prime Minister Tony Blair was warned about meeting with President Bush a year before the war. The letter advised an invasion would quite likely be illegal. Larry Miller¹⁴ has details from London.

 

The letter marks secret and personal was written by then Foreign Secretary Jack² Straw and sent to Tony Blair ten days before a meeting with President Bush at Crawford, Texas. The letter shows that a year before the invasion Blair was planning for an Iraq war, even though he was telling the British no decision had yet been made. Straw wrote the rewards for your visit to Crawford would be few and the political risks are high for both Blair and the British government. Straw said that threat from Iraq was no difference from those posed by Iran or North Korea. He wrote regime change is no justification¹⁵ for military action. He also said that the big question is what will war achieve. Straw concluded there can be no certainty that any regime replacing Saddam Hussein would be any better. For NPR News, I am Larry Miller in London.

 

The Iraqi government has finalized¹⁶ a deal with a group led by Royal Dutch Shell to develop a major oilfield and similar agreements are expected this month.

 

This is NPR.
 

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

4 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

7 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

8 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。

9 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

10 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

12 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。

13 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

14 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。

15 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

16 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》