NPR 2010-12-19

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Nora Raum.

The Senate is set to vote in about an hour on whether to overturn a ban on gays serving openly in the military. A major opponent is John McCain of Arizona, who said there's no evidence the policy has failed.

"To somehow allege¹ that it has harmed our military is not justified² by the facts."

But Senator Patty Murray of Washington said the time has come to move a step forward toward being proud of all who serve.

"For far too long, men and women with courage and commitment to serve our nation have been asked to hide the truth about who they are. Shameful³. It’s a bad policy. Today, it will end."

President Obama says the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will mean the nation will no longer be denied the service of thousands of patriotic⁴ Americans forced to leave the military, depite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay.

The Pakistani area known as the Khyber Agency remains⁵ tense today, as relatives buried dozens of suspected militants⁶ killed yesterday in a series of US drone missile strikes. From Islamabad, NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that 54 people were killed in three of the attacks.

The local administration in Khyber said a cluster of attacks Friday occured in Tirah valley, a forested mountainous area. Several groups of extremists were said to be targeted, but the greatest loss was sustained by an outfit⁷ known as the Lashkar-e-Islam. The group seeks to impose strict Sharia law on Khyber Agency. Local authorities said two important commanders of the group were killed...

1 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

2 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

3 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

4 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

5 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。

6 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。

7 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。