NPR 2012-01-16

 Three Republican presidential hopefuls hit the national talk shows and the campaign trail today. NPR's Allison Keyes reports they are trying to catch the frontrunner Mitt¹ Romney before Saturday's primary in South Carolina.

 

The former Massachusetts governor actually took the day off while former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum tried to capitalize a day after winning the support of most of a group of conservative Christian² leaders who met in Texas. Santorum explained to Fox News Sunday why they are backing him.

 

"Because they know that I'm the consistent conservative; I'm someone who's willing to stand up for all of the issues, not just the moral cultural issues."

 

Both former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry used their talk show appearances to question Romney's leadership of the Bain Capital Ventures firm, suggesting that his tenure³ there could become a target for President Obama. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today the days of one-man rule and family dynasties are over in the Middle East. Speaking at a conference in Beirut on democracy in the Arab World, Ban said the old way, the old order no longer apply.

 

"The path of repression⁴ is a dead end. The lessons of the past year are eloquent⁵ and clear. The winds of change will not cease to blow."

 

He also commented directly to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying "stop killing⁶ your people". The UN estimates more than 5,000 people have died since the uprising began ten months ago.

 

Divers⁷ found another two bodies off the coast of Italy where a luxury cruise ship ran aground Friday night. Three other bodies were recovered yesterday. Officials say there are still several people whose whereabouts are not known. The captain of the liner is in custody⁸ and may be charged with manslaughter in abandoning the ship.

 

One of the eight army soldiers charged in connection with a fellow soldier's suicide will soon find out whether he'll face a court martial⁹. NPR's Giles Snyder reports a hearing in the case is being held in Afghanistan today.

 

Specialist Ryan Offutt is charged with offences including involuntary manslaughter and negligent¹⁰ homicide in the death of 19-year-old Private Danny Chen. Investigators¹¹ say Chen shot himself after weeks of hazing¹² by members of his unit based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska. The hazing included racial slurs¹³ and physical abuse. Chen was a native New Yorker of Chinese descent and had only been in Afghanistan for two months when he killed himself. His family had called for legal proceedings¹⁴ related to his death to be held in the United States, but the hearing is being conducted at Kandahar Airfield¹⁵, a military base for US and NATO operations in southern Afghanistan. Giles Snyder, NPR News.

 

Russia's defense¹⁶ ministry¹⁷ says an unmanned probe that failed in its mission to reach a Martian moon came back to earth today, showering debris¹⁸ over the southern Pacific. The failed Phobos-Ground was one of the heaviest and most toxic¹⁹ pieces of space junk ever to crash to earth.

 

This is NPR News.

 

Two days after France lost its AAA credit rating, President Nicolas Sarkozy called on his nation to be courageous²⁰ and calm in the face of the financial crisis. Eleanor Beardsley reports it was Sarkozy's first public comments since Standard & Poor's downgraded France on Friday.

 

Sarkozy avoided any mention of the loss of France's prized AAA rating. Instead, he issued a rallying call, saying that a united France committed to reform would make it through. But there's little chance opposition²¹ socialists²² will take him up on it. They've already blamed Sarkozy's policies for the loss of France's AAA. With the presidential election just three months away, the far-right is also looking to use the financial downgrade to its advantage. Marine²³ Le Pen, head of the National Front, accuses Sarkozy of putting the eurozone ahead of the French people, and recent polls show her rhetoric²⁴ is gaining traction²⁵ among working class voters. But some pundits²⁶ say the downgrade could help the president. It could spur voters to reelect Sarkozy if they feel he is the only candidate with the experience to steer²⁷ France through the crisis. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.

 

Police in Anaheim, California say they believe they have the man who killed four homeless men in recent weeks. All four men had been stabbed to death--the most recent one on Friday night. Officials say some witnesses spotted²⁸ the suspect, gave chase and called the police who then captured him. Police have not provided much information on the suspect or a possible motive²⁹.

 

Nome, Alaska may be hours away from a fuel delivery. The town has been iced in for months. Now a Russian tanker³⁰ is moored³¹ a half mile from the harbor. Workers will run a hose the rest of the way on top of the ice to deliver more than a million gallons of fuel. A storm had prevented a fuel delivery in Nome in November, and the next delivery wasn't scheduled until late May or June.

 

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

4 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

5 eloquent   

adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的

参考例句：

• He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
• These ruins are an eloquent reminder of the horrors of war.这些废墟形象地提醒人们不要忘记战争的恐怖。

6 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。

7 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

8 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

9 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

10 negligent   

adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的

参考例句：

• The committee heard that he had been negligent in his duty.委员会听说他玩忽职守。
• If the government is proved negligent,compensation will be payable.如果证明是政府的疏忽，就应支付赔偿。

11 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》

12 hazing   

n.受辱，被欺侮v.（使）笼罩在薄雾中( haze的现在分词 )；戏弄，欺凌（新生等，有时作为加入美国大学生联谊会的条件）

参考例句：

• With labor, the hazing period ends. 费了好大力气，痛苦的时期终于过了。 来自互联网
• A high-gloss paint surface is one that directly reflects light with minimum hazing or diffusion. 高度光洁的漆表面可以直接反射光源。 来自互联网

13 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

14 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

15 airfield   

n.飞机场

参考例句：

• The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
• The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。

16 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

17 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

18 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

19 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

20 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

21 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。

22 socialists   

社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。
• The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后，就把其政治信条弃之不顾。

23 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

24 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

25 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

26 pundits   

n.某一学科的权威，专家( pundit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pundits disagree on the best way of dealing with the problem. 如何妥善处理这一问题，专家众说纷纭。 来自辞典例句
• That did not stop Chinese pundits from making a fuss over it. 这并没有阻止中国的博学之士对此大惊小怪。 来自互联网

27 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

28 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

29 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

30 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

31 moored   

adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London. 该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。
• We shipped (the) oars and moored alongside the bank. 我们收起桨，把船泊在岸边。