美国国家电台 NPR 2012-08-07

 Security is tighter in sea communities around the world a day after police say army veteran Wade¹ Michael Page stormed a temple in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin suburb of Oak Creek² and opened fire on worshipers. He killed six people and wounded three others before police shot and killed him. Amar Deep Kaleka tells WTMJ TV that he received a phone call from his mother while she was hiding in a closet with other women.

 

“She kept everybody as quiet as possible, and she kept everybody, she was just communicating what they need, to communicate them. That person was still walking around, taking shot.”

 

Kaleka’s 65-year-old father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the temple’s president, was among those killed. NPR’s Tom Bowman says more details are now emerging about the gunman who authorities say may have had ties to white supremacy³ groups.

 

He had a few minor⁴ bruches with the laws on misdemeanors in the mid-to-late 1990s in Colorado and Texas, driving under the influence of careless driving and criminal mischief⁵. But again, no indications of any extremist behavior while he was in the army.

 

NPR’s Tom Bowman.

 

Police say the gunman in the Oak Creek shooting used a nine-millimeter handgun that he purchased legally. The rampage comes just over two weeks after a man opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora⁶, Colorado. But President Obama says he reaffirms long-standing concerns about gun violence.

 

“These kinds of terrible, tragic⁷ events are happening with too much regularity⁸ for us not to do some soul-searching and to examine additional ways that we can reduce violence.”

 

Mr. Obama told reporters today that Americans would recoil⁹ at the violence if ethnicity were a factor.

 

Former Government Mitt¹⁰ Romney has again outraced President Obama on campaign donations. Romney and the Republican National Committee say they pulled in 101 million dollars in July. The Obama camp raised 75 million.

 

In other news, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in South Africa today on the latest stop in her 11-country Africa tour. NPR’s John Burnett reports she met with anti-apartheid icon¹¹ Nelson Mandela.

 

Clinton had a private lunch at the home with the 94-year-old former president in his village of Qunu in the country’s southeast. The aging Nobel laureate spent 27 years in prison fighting apartheid, and he’s now retired¹² from public life. The secretary is spending three days, the longest portion of her trip in South Africa. Clinton leads a business delegation¹³ to three cities in South Africa, which is the leading market in Africa for American goods. On Sunday, the secretary was in Malawi, where she met with President Joyce Banda, only the second female African head of state. Clinton praised Banda’s economic reforms and told her the United States is firmly committed to supporting “this absolutely wonderful country.” John Burnett, NPR News, Nairobi.

 

Dow is up 22 points.

 

This is NPR News.

 

NASA’s most advanced interplanetary rover yet is beaming back photos from Mars and will continue to do so. Over the next several days, to the cheers and of course relief of engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. The robotic rover, known as Curiosity, made a delicate - some say daredevil - landing overnight on the red planet. It settled on the floor of a giant crater¹⁴ to embark¹⁵ on a two-year journey to search for signatures of life on Mars.

 

Gibson Guitar Corporation has reached a settlement with the Justice Department over its imports of rare wood. Prosecutors¹⁶ say Gibson will pay 300,000 dollars in penalties and turn over 50,000 dollars more to protect trees. NPR’s Carrie Johnson reports the case had attracted wide attention in Washington.

 

The Justice Department says Gibson knowingly violated the Lacey Act by importing unfinished ebony from Madagascar to make its instruments. It’s a crime to bring endangered plants and wood into the US, if the materials are protected under the laws of other countries. Under the terms of the deal, Gibson promises to beef up its compliance¹⁷ programs. The company had hired Washington lobbyists to fight the investigation¹⁸, and congressional Republicans had used the case as a way to argue against what they called “over-regulation.” Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

 

Well, the defending Olympic champion in the 50K race walk is banned from the London Games after testing positive for doping. The Italian Olympic Committee says Alex Schwazer failed a doping test before he arrived in London.

1 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

2 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

3 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

5 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

6 aurora   

n.极光

参考例句：

• The aurora is one of nature's most awesome spectacles.极光是自然界最可畏的奇观之一。
• Over the polar regions we should see aurora.在极地高空,我们会看到极光。

7 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

8 regularity   

n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐

参考例句：

• The idea is to maintain the regularity of the heartbeat.问题就是要维持心跳的规律性。
• He exercised with a regularity that amazed us.他锻炼的规律程度令我们非常惊讶。

9 recoil   

vi.退却，退缩，畏缩

参考例句：

• Most people would recoil at the sight of the snake.许多人看见蛇都会向后退缩。
• Revenge may recoil upon the person who takes it.报复者常会受到报应。

10 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。

11 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

12 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

13 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。

14 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

15 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

16 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

17 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

18 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。