NPR 2012-04-02

 The Senate's top Republican is calling on his party to get behind the strongest presidential candidate and focus on winning in November. Mitch McConnell's comments come ahead of presidential primary voting in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

 

 

“The people in Wisconsin are going to speak Tuesday in the District of Columbia and Maryland. I have not felt that they needed any advice from me as to what to do, but I think it's absolutely apparent that it's in the best interests of our party at this particular point to get behind the person who is obviously going to be our nominee¹ and to begin to make the case against the president of the United States.”

 

 

Senator McConnell spoke² on CNN. Win, lose or draw, Wisconsin GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum says he has no intention of surrendering to Mitt³ Romney. As NPR's Larry Abramson reports, Santorum insists he has momentum⁴.

 

 

Congressman⁵ Paul Ryan and Senator Ron Johnson both from Wisconsin endorsed⁶ Romney over the weekend. Romney is also well ahead in the delegate count. But Rick Santorum told “Fox News Sunday” he still has plenty of time to overtake his rival.

 

 

“This race isn't even at halftime yet. We haven't even selected half of the delegates yet. Governor Romney isn't even halfway⁷ to the magic number, and, you know, we look at the calendar, and we feel very, very good.”

 

 

Santorum said it would be a mistake for Republicans to pick a moderate like Romney to go up against President Obama. The former Pennsylvania senator also faces a key primary test on April 24th, when voters in his home state vote. Polls there have Santorum and Romney neck and neck. Santorum says there’s no question he will take Pennsylvania. Larry Abramson, NPR News.

 

 

It's Palm Sunday today, and hundreds of Christians⁸ marked the day in Jerusalem. We get more from Daniel Estrin.

 

 

Pilgrims from around the world filled the Church of the Holy Sepulchre this morning. It's the site where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected. Inside, priests encircled the tomb, wearing ceremonial robes and carrying tall palm fronds⁹. Palm Sunday marks the day when, according to the New Testament¹⁰, crowds greeted Jesus with palm leaves as he rode into the city on a donkey. Later today, pilgrims will march behind a white donkey following Jesus’ traditional route from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem's walled Old City. It's the beginning of Holy Week, which ends next Sunday on Easter. Eastern Orthodox Christians mark Palm Sunday next week, and Jews begin celebrating Passover Friday night. For NPR News, I'm Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem.

 

 

This weekend at the movies, ‘The Hunger Games’ held on to its first-place berth¹¹. ‘Wrath of the Titans’ was a distant second, and in third place:

 

 

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?”

“Snow White.”

 

 

‘Mirror, Mirror’ starring Julia Roberts.

 

 

This is NPR News in Washington.

 

 

Russian emergency services have rescued 675 fishermen from an ice floe¹² in the Pacific Ocean. Peter Van Dyk reports from Moscow that ice fishing is a popular pastime in Russia, and anglers have been known to resist being rescued.

 

 

Russians’ passion for fishing through boreholes in the ice means such rescues are not uncommon¹³ when the spring thaw¹⁴ begins, but they rarely involve hundreds of fishermen. The regional emergencies ministry¹⁵ said two helicopters and ten boats took part in the rescue operation, which was launched after the ice floe broke away from the shore and began to drift into the Sea of Okhotsk between Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin and its Kamchatka Peninsula. About half the anglers were rescued by helicopter; the rest by boat. None of the fishermen needed medical assistance. For NPR News, I'm Peter Van Dyk in Moscow.

 

 

The Azamara Quest has arrived safely at a Malaysian port. Police and embassy officials stood by to help the ship's 1,000 passengers. The luxury cruise ship was stranded¹⁶ at sea for 24 hours after a fire broke out in an engine room Friday. Five crew members were hurt. It's the latest in a series of cruise liner accidents since January. The most severe among them, the Costa Concordia disaster, which left more than 30 people dead.

 

 

Four hundreds miles from a yacht race finish line in San Francisco Bay, a 70-foot Australian yacht collided with a huge wave in rough seas early today. The steering¹⁷ mounting and some communications equipment were swept off the Geraldton Western Australia. Several crew members were hurt with injuries ranging from broken ribs¹⁸ to back and pelvic problems. The Coast Guard is respond(ing).

1 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

6 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

8 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

9 fronds   

n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You can pleat palm fronds to make huts, umbrellas and baskets. 人们可以把棕榈叶折叠起来盖棚屋，制伞，编篮子。 来自百科语句
• When these breezes reached the platform the palm-fronds would whisper. 微风吹到平台时，棕榈叶片发出簌簌的低吟。 来自辞典例句

10 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

11 berth   

n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊

参考例句：

• She booked a berth on the train from London to Aberdeen.她订了一张由伦敦开往阿伯丁的火车卧铺票。
• They took up a berth near the harbor.他们在港口附近找了个位置下锚。

12 floe   

n.大片浮冰

参考例句：

• Two penguins are standing on ice floe.两只企鹅站在一块浮冰上。
• Somehow the seal manages to reach a tiny ice floe.不知何故，海豹设法到达了一块小浮冰上。

13 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

14 thaw   

v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和

参考例句：

• The snow is beginning to thaw.雪已开始融化。
• The spring thaw caused heavy flooding.春天解冻引起了洪水泛滥。

15 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。

16 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

17 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

18 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。