NPR 2011-12-04

 Herman Cain says he is suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination¹ for president. He made the announcement a few minutes ago in Atlanta. Cain has been accused of sexual harassment² and having had an extramarital affair. Cain called the allegations faulse and unproven. But he decided³ not to push forward.

 

“That spin hurts. It hurts my wife. It hurts my family. It hurts me. And it hurts the American people because you’re being denied solutions to our problems.”

 

Cain said he will shortly announce his choice to win the Republican nomination. He also said he is at peace with his God and his wife, and she, his wife, is at peace with him.

 

President Obama today urged Americans to pressure Congress to extend the payroll⁴ tax cut. Taxes withheld⁵ from paychecks to pay for Medicare and Social Security. The reduction is to expire at the end of the year. In his weekly address, the president said voters should tell the representatives they shouldn't come home for the holidays until they extend the tax break.

 

“We’ve set up a simple tax cut calculator on WhiteHouse.gov, so that you can see exactly what the stakes are for your family.”

 

Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine delivered the Republican address. She said the country needs to change the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.

 

“The impending⁶ vote to amend⁷ the Constitution represents a choice between changing business as usual in Washington, or embracing the status quo that we can no longer afford.”

 

The Senate is to vote on a bill to start the process towards amending⁸ the Constitution. A similar measure failed in the House last month.

 

Activists⁹ in Syria reports at least 23 people were killed today in clashes between security forces and rebel soldiers. NPR's Deborah Amos reports from Beirut a deadly battle in northern Syria accounts for most of the casualties.

 

For the second day, army defectors and government security forces battled after rebel soldiers attacked an army intelligence center near the town of Idlib in northern Syria. The free Syrian army claimed responsibility for that attack on Friday. The mounting death toll¹⁰ comes as Arab League representatives need to agree on the details of a travel ban on Syrian cabinet ministers and security officers. November was the deadliest month in Syria's eight-month-long revolt with more than 900 killed during protests, according to human rights groups. And violence is rising in early December as more defectors and civilians¹¹ take up arms. Deborah Amos, NPR News, Beirut.

 

Coalition¹² officials in Afghanistan say three NATO service members were killed in a bombing today. They didn't say exactly where it occurred; only that it had happened in the eastern part of the country. The nationalities of the dead were not disclosed.

 

This is NPR News.

 

Vice¹³ President Joe Biden said today that a free political climate is essential to economic innovation. He spoke¹⁴ to a forum¹⁵ for young entrepreneurs in Istanbul, Turkey. He said that countries that try to restrain access to the Internet will find that approach is a dead end. Biden said that political system based on freedom of speech and religion is the truest shield against the sectarian strife¹⁶ that has afflicted¹⁷ the Middle East.

 

In India, survivors¹⁸ of the 1984 Bhopal disaster are protesting what they say was inadequate¹⁹ compensation for thousands of deaths and injuries. NPR's Corey Flintoff reports protesters blocked railroad tracks on the 27th anniversary of the tragedy.

 

The disaster was caused by a poisonous gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide²⁰ plant in Bhopal, India. At least 15,000 people are believed to have died as a result with thousands more injured. Union Carbide was bought out by Dow Chemical, which paid a 470-million-dollar settlement. But survivors say that was just a token amount, and that the Indian government should have held out for much more. The Indian government is currently seeking another 1.7 billion dollars. Advocates for the survivors would like to see Dow Chemical dropped as a sponsor of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Corey Flintoff, NPR News.

 

A two-week conference on climate change is at the halfway²¹ point in Durban, South Africa. A major issue is whether to renew the Kyoto Protocol²², an agreement reached in Japan in 1997. It requires 37 industrialized nations and the European Community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions²³ by next year.

 

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.

1 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。

2 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

5 withheld   

withhold过去式及过去分词

参考例句：

• I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract. 他们履行合同后，我才付款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was no school play because the principal withheld his consent. 由于校长没同意，学校里没有举行比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

7 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

8 amending   

改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Amending acts in 1933,1934, and 1935 attempted to help honest debtors rehabilitate themselves. 一九三三年，一九三四年和一九三五年通过的修正案是为了帮助诚实的债务人恢复自己的地位。
• Two ways were used about the error-amending of contour curve. 采用两种方法对凸轮轮廓曲线进行了修正。

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 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

11 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。

12 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

14 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。

15 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

16 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

17 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

18 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

19 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

20 pesticide   

n.杀虫剂，农药

参考例句：

• The pesticide was spread over the vegetable plot.菜田里撒上了农药。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields.这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

21 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

22 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

23 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。