NPR 2012-03-19

 Voting in Puerto Rico's Republican primary closes at this hour, where 20 delegates are up for grabs. Next up, the Illinois primary where Republican presidential hopefuls remain in a pitch battle for their party's nomination¹. And as NPR's Louise Schiavone tells us, the contest is not necessarily friendly. 

 

Rick Santorum says he’s not backing down now, and if Mitt² Romney really were a strong candidate, he'd have a bigger edge in the delegate count than he currently does.

 

“Governor Mitt Romney spent about 70 million dollars ahead, huge amounts of resources, huge staff. You know, during the time that these delegates had to be filed for these states, I was driving around in a truck with a guy named Chuck.”

 

The Pennsylvania Republican spoke³ on CNN, campaigning ahead of his own schedule on Illinois. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney recalled a 2008 endorsement⁴ from Santorum.

 

“I’m Rick Santorum. No one puts words in my mouth. I want you to know that if you want to nominate a conservative, a real conservative, well, you have to nominate Mitt Romney.”

 

Illinois Republicans vote Tuesday. Louise Schiavone, NPR News, Washington.

 

The head of the International Red Cross is on his way to Moscow, trying to gain support for aid workers in Syria. Lisa Schlein has this report from Geneva.

 

ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger warns the humanitarian⁵ situation in the Syrian city of Homs and other areas affected⁶ by the unrest remains⁷ extremely difficult and could deteriorate⁸ further. He says he will tell Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that it's absolutely essential to have a two-hour daily break in the fighting. This, he says, will allow for emergency medical evacuations to take place safely and for aid to reach vulnerable people swiftly. Russia is seen as one of the few remaining allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The ICRC says it is talking to all those who could have a positive influence on its work in Syria. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

 

The founder⁹ of the Guardian¹⁰ Angels, Curtis Sliwa, says the white Florida neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed a black teenager should be charged in the shooting.

 

“Not only this is a set, civilian¹¹ patrols back, because this is the incident that will be remembered as opposed to the thousands of situations where civilian patrollers pounded somebody’s aid. But it also talks about the situation of whether civilians¹² should have weapons or not.”

 

911 police tapes of the incident are raising questions for some about the volunteer's claim of self-defense in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. 

 

Iran is apparently¹³ feeling the pinch of financial sanctions imposed by the West over the country's nuclear program. Iran's central bank announced today that it will bring part of its foreign currency exchange rate into line with the much higher rate on the streets. Iran's currency has lost much of its value as a result of the sanctions. The growing gap in value between the official rate and the street rate is prompting a growing black market in currencies in Iran.

 

This is NPR News.

 

In the world of sports, the March Madness process of elimination¹⁴ is down to the so-called Sweet 16 in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. NPR's Mike Pesca previews some of the key games in today's matchups.

 

Norfolk State and Lehigh which each upset in No.2 seed on Friday are both underdogs today, which you imagine is how they like it. Lehigh faces a physical Xavier team, whereas Norfolk’s opponent Florida is a sensational¹⁵ offense¹⁶ of team, which has trouble defending, a description that applies to Lehigh's last conquest, Duke. Top-seeded Michigan State faces Saint Louis coached by [inaudible] Rick Majerus. Another No.1 seed, North Carolina faces Creighton. Both teams run the top ten in offense out of the 338 schools in Division 1. Georgetown takes on NC State; Kansas faces Purdue; Cinderella Ohio is up against South Florida; and the Bearcats of Cincinnati battle[s] the Florida State Seminoles. Mike Pesca, NPR News.

 

Tourists and Washington DC area locals are enjoying the early arrival of the city's famed cherry blossoms. Victoria Favier from Virginia says the best viewing of the blossoms is early in the morning, especially when there is mist in the air. 

 

“With the mist is hanging in everything, you know, all around, and we've never seen the Washington Monument hidden like that. It's just, it's very special to be out here.”

 

She says she does not think there is a climate problem connected to the early arrival of the cherry blossoms. Others have commented on the warm weather bringing the blossoms out earlier. Much of the East Coast has enjoyed unseasonably mild winter. Spring officially rise[s] in just two days on March 20th. 

 

I'm Jim Howard, 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 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。

3 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。

4 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

5 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

11 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

12 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。

13 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

14 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

15 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

16 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。