NPR 2012-04-01

 Three days away from the delegate-rich GOP Wisconsin presidential primary vote, Mitt¹ Romney is working to establish himself as the inevitable² Republican standard bearer and the man to deny President Obama a second term.

 

“They just kill economic freedom. They make it harder and harder for our economy to grow and put people back to work, and the proof is in the pudding. Look at this recovery: the most tepid³, weakest recovery we've seen since Hoover.”

 

Also campaigning in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum continuing to argue that he, not the former Massachusetts governor, is the man to get the job done. 

 

“We’re able to win, not with moderate candidates, but with conservative candidates, with the people who knew when they went to Washington DC, you could trust them to do what they say. No Etch-a-Sketch. Not written on an Etch-a-Sketch, but written on your heart.”

 

In addition to Wisconsin, there will be primaries Tuesday in Maryland and in the District of Columbia. President Obama used his weekly address to call for higher taxes on millionaires. NPR's Neda Ulaby has details.

 

The president said the point is to make the country a little more fair.

 

“Should we ask middle-class Americans to pay even more at a time when their budgets are already stretched to the breaking point? Or should we ask some of the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share?”

 

The president named Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and himself as examples of people who he says are not paying their fair share when it comes to taxes. The Buffett Rule got its name from the billionaire who famously observed that his tax rate is lower than his secretary's. The president's budget proposal would require people who make a million dollars a year or more to pay a tax rate equal or higher to those paid by middle-class families. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

 

Lottery⁴ winners in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland will split a 640-million-dollar jackpot. As NPR's Joel Rose reports, lottery officials say that total was the highest ever. 

 

Wannabe millionaires across the country held their breath last night when the winning numbers were picked. The odds⁵ of winning — 176 million to one. 

 

“…in history. Our first number tonight is 46 that's followed by 23. Of next we have 38 that's followed by...”

 

When it got settled, winners in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland were each holding a ticket expected to be worth more than 213 million dollars before taxes. The other winners are the 42 states and the District of Columbia that sponsor the lottery. The greater than normal interest in the Mega Millions jackpot should translate into tens of millions of dollars in extra revenues for the House. Joel Rose, NPR News.

 

Around the world today, major cities are participating in Earth Hour. Starting it off Sydney, Australia, where the Harbor Bridge and Opera House went dark for an hour, part of a global environmental campaign to focus on climate change by briefly⁶ turning off the lights. 

 

This is NPR News in Washington. 

 

French police have swept that nation for suspected radical⁷ Islamists, apprehending⁸ 19 people, later freeing two. The sweep followed a spate⁹ of deadly attacks in southwest France by a gunman claiming the links to al-Qaeda. He was killed by police after a standoff. A French intelligence official is telling a newspaper in Marseilles that the suspects had sophisticated weapons, conducted training and may had been preparing a kidnapping. 

 

The Final Four tips off in New Orleans tonight. Kansas takes on Ohio State in the late game. Louisville plays state rival Kentucky in the first game. NPR's Mike Pesca has a preview. 

 

Kansas was supposed to have a down season as their best players from last year left Laurence for the NBA. Instead, key reserve Thomas Robinson transformed himself into a first-team All-American, and guard Tyshawn Taylor provides spark and grip, though his jump shot has betrayed him at times during this tournament. Their foe¹⁰, Ohio State, features Jared Sullinger down low and guard Aaron Craft harassing¹¹ opponents defensively. In the early game, Louisville hopes to figure out a way to slow down a Kentucky team that has seemed invincible¹² at times during the tournament. Louisville's coach Rick Pitino, who once coached Kentucky to a national title, has his hands full. Mike Pesca, NPR News, New Orleans.

 

Sold at auction¹³ in London today for 120,000 dollars, the Titanic's first-class lunch menu from the day the ocean liner collided with an iceberg¹⁴ and sank. It made its way off the ship in the purse of the wife of a prominent San Francisco banker. On the menu, chicken a la Maryland among other items.

 

I'm Louise Schiavone, NPR News, 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 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

3 tepid   

adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的

参考例句：

• She bent her mouth to the tap and drank the tepid water.她把嘴伸到水龙头底下去喝那微温的水。
• Her feet firmly planted on the tepid rough brick of the floor.她一双脚稳固地立在微温而粗糙的砖地上。

4 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

5 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

6 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

7 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

8 apprehending   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的现在分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• China has not been totally unsuccessful apprehending corruption suspects. 在逮捕腐化分子方面，中国并非毫无进展。
• Apprehending violence is not an easy task. 惧怕暴力不是一件容易的事。

9 spate   

n.泛滥，洪水，突然的一阵

参考例句：

• Police are investigating a spate of burglaries in the area.警察正在调查这一地区发生的大量盗窃案。
• Refugees crossed the border in full spate.难民大量地越过了边境。

10 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。

11 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

12 invincible   

adj.不可征服的，难以制服的

参考例句：

• This football team was once reputed to be invincible.这支足球队曾被誉为无敌的劲旅。
• The workers are invincible as long as they hold together.只要工人团结一致，他们就是不可战胜的。

13 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

14 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。