NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2015-04-10

 Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will either spend the rest of his life in jail or be executed after a jury today convicted among all 30 counts he faced for his role in the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon. Craig LeMoult of member station WGBH went to the site of the marathon’s finish line in the heart of Boston today where word of the verdict spread quickly. 

 

As you walked by the yellow finish line painted on Boylston Street near where one of the bombs went off two years ago, William Abbott summarized what a lot of people are feeling about the Tsarnaev verdict. 

“I don’t think it came as any surprise.”

Especially given that Mr. Tsarnaev’s defense¹ attorney admitted in the opening statement that her client did it. All throughout the trial the focus has been on setting the stage for the sentencing phase. Some, like college student Jackie Roper, are against the death penalty. 

“But, if, I would have changed my mind. This would definitely be the cause to do that.”

The jury will now hear evidence on whether Tsarnaev should get the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison. For NPR News, I’m Craig LeMoult in Boston. 

 

The family of a black man killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop in North Charleston, South Carolina Saturday plans to sue. A passerby² caught the incident on a cellphone video. It shows officer Michael Slager shooting at a fleeing Walter Scott eight times before Scott falls to the ground. Chris Steward³ is the Scott family’s attorney. 

“Although it’ll be a massive civil law suit file, because what we all so so hate this and so painful. Out of those eight shots, five hit him. Two were kill shots.”

The officer was fired today after being charged with murder. He’s being held without bond. 

 

The number of Ebola cases in West Africa has dropped to the lowest level in more than a year. NPR’s Jason Beaubien reports only 30 new cases were documented last week. 

The World Health Organization says that for the third straight week Liberia reported zero Ebola cases. Sierra Leone and Guinea both saw significant drops in new cases from the week before. Things have improved so much in Liberia and Sierra Leone that plans have been drawn⁴ up on how to decommission surplus Ebola treatment units. The situation in Guinea, however, remains⁵ complex. Guinea still has the highest number of cases with 21 reported last week and they were spread out across the country. Many of the cases in Guinea are being identified only after the person’s died and most troubling for stopping transmission of the virus, the WHO says, unsafe burials of Ebola victims continue in Guinea at an alarming rate. Jason Beaubien, NPR News.   

 

In Yemen hostility⁶ among the country’s many armed factions⁷ is intensifying⁸ even as Saudi-led airstrikes continue to target Shiite Houthi rebels. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says the presence of al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula is growing and they too oppose the Houthis. 

 

On Wall Street today, the Dow rose 27; the Nasdaq was up 40. 

 

This is NPR.

 

A huge merger⁹ in the energy industry, Royal Dutch Shell, has agreed to buy Britain’s BG Group for nearly $70bn in cash and stock. Energy companies are looking to become more efficient as oil prices plummet¹⁰ and combining businesses may help. 

 

Millionaire murder suspect Robert Durst will be staying in Louisiana for a while even though he’s wanted in California for murder. From member station WWNO, Eileen Fleming reports he’s now been indicted¹¹ by a grand jury in New Orleans on weapons charges. 

 

California has wanted Robert Durst back to face a murder charge ever since his arrest last month in Orleans. An FBI agent recognized Durst and police seized a loaded gun, cash and a map of Cuba from his hotel room. Attorneys for the real estate heir say the seizure¹² was illegal because there was no warrant issued. The attorneys also want to return him to California where they can fight charges that he killed his friend Susan Berman in 2000. The Orleans Parish indictment¹³ delays the extradition¹⁴. Durst was the subject of an HBO documentary series, The Jinx, in which he was recorded off camera murdering what could be interpreted as a confession¹⁵. For NPR News, I’m Eileen Fleming in New Orleans. 

 

The National Football League has hired its first full-time¹⁶ female ref. Forty-one-year-old Sarah Thomas will wear the black-and-white striped jersey¹⁷ as a line judge for the 2015 season. Thomas has broken barriers before. She was first female to officiate a high school game in Mississippi, the first woman to officiate college games and the first to work a bowl game. 

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 passerby   

n.过路人，行人

参考例句：

• We had our photo taken by a passerby.我们请了一个路人为我们照相。
• A passerby heard her screams and rushed to her aid.一个过路人听见她的尖叫，便冲过去帮助她。

3 steward   

n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员

参考例句：

• He's the steward of the club.他是这家俱乐部的管理员。
• He went around the world as a ship's steward.他当客船服务员，到过世界各地。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 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。

6 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

7 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

8 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

9 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

10 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

11 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

12 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

13 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

14 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。

15 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

16 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

17 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。