NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-10-05

 Investigators are still trying to find out what prompted a woman with a young child in her car to drive into security barriers near the White House and the Capitol building today, who'd been shot and killed by police. NPR's Craig Windham reports a uniform Secret Service officer and a Capitol police officer were injured in the incident, which prompted a temporary lockdown on Capitol Hill.

 

Police say the women first struck one of the security barriers near the White House. Then Metropolitan¹ Police Chief Cathy Lanier says the woman sped off toward the Capitol building with police close behind. 

 

“This was a lengthy² pursuit. There were multiple vehicles that were rammed³. There were officers that were struck, and two security perimeters⁴ that were attempted to be breached⁵.” 

 

When the woman backed into a police car near the Capitol, Lanier says officers began shooting to try to stop her. She managed to get away but then crashed her car at a nearby security barrier. Officers there opened fire and she was pronounced dead at the scene. The child who was with the woman was not hurt and is in protective custody⁶. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington. 

 

Congress is at a standstill and still there is no end in sight to the government shutdown. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, the House spent the day taking votes on bills the Senate has already said it will reject. 

 

First it was World War II veterans not being able to get into monuments, then children with cancer being turned away from clinic trials at the National Institutes of Health. House Republicans donned white lab coats to press the Senate to take up a bill to reopen NIH. Renee Ellmers is a North Carolina Republican, who was a nurse before entering Congress. 

 

“We have taken that hope away, and we need to replace it, and I say to Harry⁷ Reid in the Senate: Bring this up for a vote.” 

 

Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, says he doesn't plan to. The solution to all of the awful effects of the government shutdown, he says, is to reopen the government. House Republicans are still insisting on changes to the Affordable⁸ Care Act as a condition to passing a government funding bill. Tamara Keith, NPR News, the Capitol. 

 

Undocumented immigrants living in the state of California may be able to get a driver's license⁹ despite their status under a measure signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. The move (is) the latest in a string of recent victories for immigrants living in the country's most populous¹⁰ state. José Gomez is a Los Angeles archbishop. 

 

“It will make it easier for them to get to work, to go to school, to go to the store, to get to church. This bill will make our families, our communities, our economy stronger.”

 

The bill, which had cleared both the Senate and the California Assembly, is expected to result in a wave of applications -- possibly as many as 1.4 million over the next three years. 

 

Federal Emergency Management Agency announced dates recalling some of its employees furloughed by the government shutdown as the US Gulf¹¹ Coast braces¹² with Tropical Storm Karen. The storm, which formed in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and Louisiana. 

 

On Wall Street today, the Dow was down 136 points, the NASDAQ fell 40 points. This is NPR. 

 

International inspectors¹³ in Syria say they’ve made encouraging progress as they get to work on dismantling¹⁴ that country's chemical weapons. The joint¹⁵ team of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition¹⁶ of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations say documents handed over by Syria's government look promising¹⁷. They say further analysis be needed. Inspectors in the statement said they hope (to) begin physical on-site inspections¹⁸ and initial disabling of equipment by next week. Inspectors arrived in Syria earlier this week. 

 

National security experts say the US needs to do more to counter propaganda from the terrorist group al-Shabaab. The group carried out last month's deadly attack at the Westgate mall in Nairobi, where many Westerners were wounded and killed. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports there’s still no sign al-Shabaab is targeting American soil. 

 

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee repeatedly asked witnesses if al-Shabaab had the capacity to mount brutal¹⁹ attacks on the US homeland. The consensus²⁰ seem to be “no” for now. But Richard Downie of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says a leader of the group, Amid Katani, has been ruthless of late. 

 

“Just in the last few months, he seems to have three assassinations²¹ and other disappearances²² of potential rivals. Some of who disagreed with his methods has consolidated²³ his power.” 

 

Al-Shabaab has attracted dozens of young men to travel from the US to fight in Africa. That remains²⁴ a top concern for the FBI and intelligence officials. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington. 

 

You might want to check the surge protectors in your home, not to necessarily see whether they are working, but to check where they come from. The government is recalling APC-branded models made in either China or the Philippines because of overheating. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says in 55 cases there was property damage. 

 

1 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

2 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

3 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 perimeters   

周边( perimeter的名词复数 )； 周围； 边缘； 周长

参考例句：

• Examples include outdoor perimeters, traffic monitoring, tunnels, and car parks. 例子像户外围墙；交通监视；隧道和停车场。

5 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

6 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

7 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

8 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

9 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

10 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

11 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。

12 braces   

n.吊带，背带；托架( brace的名词复数 )；箍子；括弧；（儿童）牙箍v.支住( brace的第三人称单数 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来

参考例句：

• The table is shaky because the braces are loose. 这张桌子摇摇晃晃，因为支架全松了。
• You don't need braces if you're wearing a belt! 要系腰带，就用不着吊带了。

13 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

15 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

16 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

17 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

18 inspections   

n.检查( inspection的名词复数 )；检验；视察；检阅

参考例句：

• Regular inspections are carried out at the prison. 经常有人来视察这座监狱。
• Government inspections ensure a high degree of uniformity in the standard of service. 政府检查确保了在服务标准方面的高度一致。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

20 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

21 assassinations   

n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most anarchist assassinations were bungled because of haste or spontaneity, in his view. 在他看来，无政府主义者搞的许多刺杀都没成功就是因为匆忙和自发行动。 来自辞典例句
• Assassinations by Israelis of alleged terrorists habitually kill nearby women and children. 在以色列，自称恐怖分子的炸弹自杀者杀害靠近自己的以色列妇女和儿童。 来自互联网

22 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

23 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。

24 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。