NPR 2012-03-11

 The campaign for the Republican nomination¹ for president continues in Wyoming and Kansas today. There are 40 delegates up for grabs in the Kansas caucuses³ and a dozen in Wyoming. After Super Tuesday wins earlier this week, both Rick Santorum and Mitt⁴ Romney are looking to capture momentum⁵. Jeremy Bernfeld has more.

 

Throughout the primary campaign, the candidates' plans for the economy have taken center stage. While many Kansas voters say the state of the economy is important, Voter Heather Wint Tauser says she expects many voters will look at the candidates' positions on social issues. Wint Tauser from Lawrence, Kansas says she’s voting for Santorum over Romney. 

 

“I’m assuming they both could do a good job on the fiscal⁶, but the social made a difference.”

 

While Romney and former Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich both chose not to visit Kansas, Santorum and Representative Ron Paul both made trips to the Sunflower State before caucus² there. For NPR News, I'm Jeremy Bernfeld in Lawrence, Kansas.

 

A Republican caucus is also underway in the US Virgin⁷ Islands, and Romney gained all nine delegates in Guam today and won the caucus in the Commonwealth⁸ of the Northern Mariana Islands, picking up another nine delegates. Primaries will be held Tuesday in Alabama and Mississippi.

 

Thousands of Russians rallied again in Moscow today to announce alleged⁹ vote fraud in Sunday's presidential election, as well as a parliamentary vote in December. NPR's Martha Wexler reports their demands include early elections and freedom for political prisoners.

 

Today's event on Moscow's Novy Arbat Street was dedicated¹⁰ to the thousands of Russians who volunteered as poll watchers Sunday. Some of them spoke¹¹ to the crowd about the violations¹² they and their colleagues have witnessed. These included abuse of absentee balloting¹³ and changes in final vote tallies¹⁴ in some districts. One of the monitors, Yuri Adrogova, summed up what she saw with the slogan that was written above her head. “This was no election, and this is no president,” she said, meaning Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who claimed victory with 64% of the vote. Another speaker, the head of an independent monitoring group, said no one really knows the size of Putin's win. Martha Wexler, NPR News, Moscow.

 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met today with Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general and Arab League envoy¹⁵. The Syrian state news agency reports Assad told him there can be no political solution to end the violence in Syria. What he described as terrorist groups are spreading chaos¹⁶ and instability.

 

Afghan officials say that five top Taliban leaders now being held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba may be released to the Gulf¹⁷ state of Qatar. The prisoners had met with a delegation¹⁸ from the Afghanistan and said they would agree to the transfer as long as they are reunited with their families in Qatar. The US has not yet agreed to the deal, but it made as an incentive¹⁹ for the Taliban to take part in peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan. 

 

This is NPR News.

 

Police in Nairobi, Kenya say someone tossed grenades out of a car to [a] major bus terminal in the capital today. At least two people were killed and dozens were wounded. There have been a series of such attacks since October, when Kenya sent troops across the border into Somalia. 

 

Pakistan has named a new chief of military intelligence, one of the most powerful positions in the country. NPR's Jackie Northam reports from Islamabad.

 

The naming of Lieutenant²⁰ General Zaheerul Islam as chief of intelligence was not a surprise. Islam is currently the army commander in the southern city of Karachi and earlier was the head of internal security at the intelligence agency which deals with militants²¹ and counterintelligence. Islam has also spent time at military training programs in the US. Analysts²² here say it's unlikely there will be an immediate²³ shift in policy as Islam takes the helm. It's expected he will be involved in Pakistani efforts to bring the Taliban into peace negotiations²⁴. Islam replaces Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who oversaw²⁵ the intelligence agency through several scandals, which brough US-Pakistani relations to a new low. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Islamabad.

 

The USS Enterprise sets sail in its final deployment²⁶ tomorrow. During its 50 years in service, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has played a prominent role in the Cuban Missile Crisis, helped attack Iran from mining the Arabian Gulf and was the setting for the “Top Gun” movie. The Enterprise will head to the Middle East for a seven-month deployment. Captain William Hamilton said the ship is showing its age these days, saying “it's kind of like when you get older, and it's harder to get out of bed in the morning.”

 

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 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

3 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

4 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。

5 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

6 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

7 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

8 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

9 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

10 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

11 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。

12 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

13 balloting   

v.（使）投票表决( ballot的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Clark took a commanding leading in the early balloting. 在最初投票时，克拉克遥遥领先。 来自辞典例句
• The balloting had stagnated, he couldn't win. 投票工作陷于停顿，他不能得胜。 来自辞典例句

14 tallies   

n.账( tally的名词复数 )；符合；（计数的）签；标签v.计算，清点( tally的第三人称单数 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• Cash on hand tallies with the figure in the accounts. 现款跟账上的数目没有出入。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He tallies his own marks. 他把自己的得分记了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

16 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

17 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

18 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

19 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

20 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

21 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。

22 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。

23 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

24 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

25 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

26 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。