NPR 2010-02-11

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Giles Snyder

 

Authorities are urging people to stay off the roads in parts of the mid-Atlantic region. Blowing snow is keeping visibility to a minimum. Pennsylvania’s governor has shut down large parts of three major highways because of the storm, and Washington, D.C.’s fire chief says it doesn’t seem like we’re getting much of a break, as the latest storm comes just a few days after one of the heaviest snowfalls in D.C.’s history. In Baltimore, dangerous blizzard¹ conditions have city officials taking urgent measures to protect public safety. Donna Marie Owens from member station WYPR reports.

 

Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has instituted phase three—the highest designation of the city’s emergency snow plan. This means that only police, fire and other authorized² vehicles are permitted on city roadways. Residents who drive their cars while the emergency plan is in effect could face arrest. Baltimore and other Maryland jurisdictions³ have experienced unprecedented⁴ snowfall beginning with two to three feet last weekend. The blizzard has caused downed trees, power outages and other problems including a roof collapse⁵ at a Baltimore County firehouse, and damage to some poultry⁶ houses on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. For NPR News, I’m Donna Marie Owens in Baltimore.

 

On the eve of a European Union crisis meeting over the debt problem in Greece, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou promised his government will take all necessary measures to reduce the public deficit⁷. Eleanor Beardsley reports.

 

Speaking in Paris after a lunch with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Papandreou said Greece would reduce its deficit by the necessary 4% in 2010. That task will not be easy with Greek public sector⁸ workers in the streets striking and protesting any austerity program. The head of the French parliament said that European countries needed to show solidarity⁹ with Greece and not let it go bankrupt. But EU governments were initially¹⁰ reluctant to help Greece out of a debt crisis it created itself, and now appear ready after European markets fell and the euro slipped to an eight-month low against the US dollar. There’s also fear that instability could spread to other financially-troubled eurozone countries, Spain and Portugal. One analyst¹¹ said markets would react very negatively, if tomorrow’s EU meeting does not produce a concrete plan to buttress¹² Greece. For NPR News, I’m Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

 

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has begun to outline the Central Bank’s exit strategy from the emergency measures it put in place to combat the financial crisis. Bernanke was to give testimony¹³ today before a House panel. He released his prepared remarks, even though the hearing was canceled because of the blizzard in Washington. Bernanke said the Fed would likely begin tightening¹⁴ monetary¹⁵ policy by removing cash from the financial system before it turns to raising interest rates, but he said that may be months away.

 

On Wall Street, stocks are down this hour. The Dow’s down 16 points at 10,043; the NASDAQ down two at 2,149.

 

From Washington, this is NPR News.

 

Severe winter weather is threatening one of the world’s biggest annual movements of humanity. Millions of Chinese are heading home for the Chinese New Year. The year, the Tiger, starts on Sunday. NPR’s Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing.

 

Blizzards¹⁶ have hit six provinces in north China, forcing the closure of two dozen highways and several airports and stranding¹⁷ tens of thousands of passengers. Weather forecasters are predicting more heavy snows and falling temperatures through tomorrow. Today marked the peak of the annual pre-holiday travel season. An estimated 210 million people are expected to travel by train during the holiday. The weather has raised concerns about energy supplies, as two of the worst-hit provinces are also big coal suppliers. It has also brought back memories of 2008’s Chinese New Year when severe weather crippled infrastructure¹⁸ and stranded¹⁹ millions of travelers in southern China. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.

 

It’s questionable²⁰ whether American skier²¹ Lindsey Vonn will be able to compete in the Vancouver Olympics. Vonn said today that she’s worried about a badly bruised²² right shin. She said she injured it in a training run last week during a pre-Olympic practice in Austria. Vonn has won the World Cup twice and is the reigning²³ champion. She is considered a contender for multiple medals.

 

The commander of space shuttle Endeavour says he’s impressed with how spectacular and shiny the International Space Station is. The shuttle’s crew arrived at the station early today and has been mingling²⁴ with the space station crew. Endeavour is carrying the station’s last two main components²⁵, a new room and an observation deck.

 

Again stocks are down this hour. The Dow is down now seven points at 10,050.

 

I’m Giles Snyder, NPR News.
 

1 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

2 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

3 jurisdictions   

司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 )； 裁判权； 管辖区域； 管辖范围

参考例句：

• Butler entreated him to remember the act abolishing the heritable jurisdictions. 巴特勒提醒他注意废除世袭审判权的国会法令。
• James I personally adjudicated between the two jurisdictions. 詹姆士一世亲自裁定双方纠纷。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

7 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

8 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

9 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

10 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 buttress   

n.支撑物；v.支持

参考例句：

• I don't think they have any buttress behind them.我认为他们背后没有什么支持力量。
• It was decided to buttress the crumbling walls.人们决定建造扶壁以支撑崩塌中的墙。

13 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

14 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。

15 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

16 blizzards   

暴风雪( blizzard的名词复数 )； 暴风雪似的一阵，大量（或大批）

参考例句：

• Even in the summertime we might be struck by blizzards. 甚至在夏天，我们也可能受到暴风雪的袭击。
• Blizzards battered Britain for the third day. 大风雪袭击英国已进入第三天。

17 stranding   

n.（船只）搁浅v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The airport had to be closed, stranding tourists. 机场被迫关闭，造成游客滞留。 来自辞典例句
• The stream of history had changed course away from him, stranding him in failure. 历史潮流已经改变方向，与他背道而驰，使他陷于失败之中。 来自辞典例句

18 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

19 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

20 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

21 skier   

n.滑雪运动员

参考例句：

• She is a skier who is unafraid of danger.她是一名敢于冒险的滑雪者。
• The skier skimmed across the snow.滑雪者飞快地滑过雪地。

22 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

23 reigning   

adj.统治的，起支配作用的

参考例句：

• The sky was dark, stars were twinkling high above, night was reigning, and everything was sunk in silken silence. 天很黑，星很繁，夜阑人静。
• Led by Huang Chao, they brought down the reigning house after 300 years' rule. 在黄巢的带领下，他们推翻了统治了三百年的王朝。

24 mingling   

adj.混合的

参考例句：

• There was a spring of bitterness mingling with that fountain of sweets. 在这个甜蜜的源泉中间，已经掺和进苦涩的山水了。
• The mingling of inconsequence belongs to us all. 这场矛盾混和物是我们大家所共有的。

25 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。