NPR 2012-02-12

 Syria's state-run news agency says a high-ranking military officer has been assassinated¹ in Damascus. NPR's Kelly McEvers reports the attack comes as violence in Syria is escalating².

 

Syrian state media say say Brigadier-General Issa al-Khouli was killed by three gunmen outside his home in Syria's capital Damascus. Al-Khouli reportedly ran a military hospital. The attack comes a day after twin bombings stuck a security compound in Syria's largest city Aleppo. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the Syrian government has blamed them on terrorists. Thousands of people have died in a crackdown on protesters since Syria's anti-government uprising began last March. But now analysts³ say the conflict is beginning to look like a civil war. The UN General Assembly may take up a resolution on Syria as early as Monday. Kelly McEvers, NPR News, Beirut.

 

The violence in Syria has spread to Lebanon. Security officials there say pro-Syria and anti-Syria gunmen fired on each other in Tripoli. It started last night and continued until this morning. Officials say one person was killed and several were wounded. The fighting fell along religious lines. The Assad regime is dominated by an offshoot of Shiite Muslims, while the uprising against him has been led by Sunni Muslims.

 

President Obama's new budget proposal forecast a deficit⁴ this year of 1.3 trillion dollars. NPR's Scott Horsley reports Mr. Obama is set to release his spending plan on Monday.

 

The White House blueprint⁵ shows deficit steadily⁶ declining over the next few years, with the federal budget reaching a sustainable point by 2018. But that comes with a big asterisk⁷. The budget includes a variety of tax increases that Mr. Obama has pushed before, so far without success. The budget supplies a detailed⁸ number to support the policies outlined in the president's State of the Union speech. But more than a plausible⁹ spending plan for a divided Congress, it's primarily a political tool. It shows voters how Mr. Obama would like to raise and spend money in advance of the November election. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

 

The budget won't be out until Monday, but Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell already knows he doesn't like it.

 

"We can expect the president's budget to ignore the growing entitlement crisis in this country. It won't protect the security of Medicare and Social Security, and absent major reforms, it'll continue down the road to bankrupting these programs in the years ahead."

 

McDonnell delivered this week's Republican address. He said Republicans know better how to make government more efficient and to create more jobs.

 

Republican officials in Maine are to announce this evening the winner of weeklong caucuses¹⁰ on the Republican race for president. Mitt¹¹ Romney won the non-binding vote in the last election. But Ron Paul has spent considerable time in the state in hopes to pick up his first victory. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have not been actively¹² competing in Maine.

 

This is NPR News.

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today his country will soon announce that it's made major nuclear achievements. He did not provide details. Western nations suspect Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its program is for peaceful purposes only, such as energy production. Ahmadinejad spoke¹³ at a rally in Tehran, called to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that put clerics in power replacing a pro-Western monarchy¹⁴.

 

Thousands of Japanese protesters are marching against nuclear power in Tokyo amid concerns that idled reactors¹⁶ may start backup soon, threatening public safety. John Matthews reports demonstrators are close to getting their wish of a nuclear-free nation.

 

With Japan's last active nuclear reactor¹⁵ scheduled to be offline for maintenance by May, pressure is mounting to reboot before summer amps up the nation's demand for energy. Demonstrators joined by Nobel Prize-winning writer Kenzaburo Oe peacefully marched through the streets of Tokyo, demanding Japan completely abandon its atomic program in the wake of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Residents living near the plants are pressuring their local leaders to hold up approval for restarts. But government and utility officials are working to break the impasse¹⁷ with stress tests and plant lifetime restrictions¹⁸. Japan's anti-nuclear movement is the largest in decades for the traditionally protest-averse nation. For NPR News, I'm John Matthews in Tokyo.

 

British police arrested five employees of the tabloid¹⁹ The Sun early this morning. They are suspected of bribing²⁰ police for information. The paper is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Another of its publication, the News of the World, shut down last year after it was disclosed that reporters had hacked²¹ into telephones owned by celebrities²².

1 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

2 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 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。

5 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

6 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

7 asterisk   

n.星号，星标

参考例句：

• The asterisk refers the reader to a footnote.星号是让读者参看脚注。
• He added an asterisk to the first page.他在第一页上加了个星号。

8 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

9 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

10 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

11 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。

12 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

13 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。

14 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

15 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

16 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

17 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

18 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

19 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。

20 bribing   

贿赂

参考例句：

• He tried to escape by bribing the guard. 他企图贿赂警卫而逃走。
• Always a new way of bribing unknown and maybe nonexistent forces. 总是用诸如此类的新方法来讨好那不知名的、甚或根本不存在的魔力。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻

21 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

22 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目