NPR 2008-02-21

From NPR news in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.

 

It was another good night for Barack Obama. He won a decisive victory over Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin's Democratic primary. And the Associated Press says he is the winner in his native Hawaii with 75 percent of the vote. Obama has maintained a 2-week winning streak¹ since Super Tuesday on February 5th. NPR's David Greene has more.

 

Barack Obama had already moved on to Houston Texas by last night. He said voters in Wisconsin turned out in frigid² temperatures to support him. The Illinois senator also began talking about this fall. "If we win the nomination³, if we are blessed and honored, to win the nomination, then we are gonna need your help to win the election in November." Officials in Hillary Clinton's campaign said they remain confident their candidate can rebound⁴ in Ohio and Texas which hold primaries on March 4th. Clinton spoke⁵ to supporters last night in Youngstown, Ohio. "If we pull together, I know we can do this. So I hope you'll go to and support this campaign because it is your campaign." After her speech, Clinton placed a call to Obama to congratulate him. David Greene, NPR news, Youngstown, Ohio.

 

The Republican front-runner was also campaigning in Ohio following his victory in Wisconsin. John McCain spoke to supporters in Columbus. "I promise you I will wage a campaign with determination, passion and the right ideas for strengthening our country that prove worthy⁶ of the honor and responsibility you've given me." The Associated Press also gives McCain the victory in Washington State, the wins over Mike Huckabee puts him closer to officially clinching⁷ the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination.

 

President Bush is confronting rumors⁸ about the creation of a new military command for Africa. He says it does not mean new US military bases on the continent. Mr. Bush was speaking at a news conference in Ghana during his African trip. The Pentagon created Africom last year.

 

Although oil prices have fallen back slightly from yesterday's high of 100 dollars a barrel in New York, world financial markets have been hit by fears that more expensive oil might cause a surging inflation. Larry Miller⁹ reports from London.

 

Concern over the rising price of oil has taken its toll¹⁰ on the world stock markets. Analysts¹¹ say the higher oil price will increase the cost of commodities and make it harder for Central Banks to cut interest rates. The price is expected to remain high, as OPEC is unlikely to increase output.

 

Japan's Nikkei closed down 3.3 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost more than 2 percent. When Europe opened, London, Paris and Frankfort were all lower by around 1 percent. In Britain, Kate Barker, a Bank of England policymaker said the danger of a sharp economic slowdown is more worrying than rising inflation. She said falling house prices and the dropping mortgage lending are the biggest short-term economic threats. For NPR news, I'm Larry Miller in London.

 

And from Washington, this is NPR News.

 

A planned shoot-down of a failed communication satellite could happen as early as tonight. The government has issued notices to aviators¹² and mariners¹³, warning of hazardous¹⁴ operations in an area of the Pacific west of Hawaii. Pentagon says there's been no decision about when to attempt a shoot-down but that it will follow the scheduled landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Last week President Bush decided¹⁵ to have the Navy try to shoot down the satellite because of the danger that its fuel tank could leak deadly toxic¹⁶ gas if it reaches earth. Meanwhile the shuttle is scheduled to land from a mission to the International Space Station later this morning. It is expected to touch down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Weather conditions are favorable, but if not, the shuttle could land in California.

 

NASA has selected a new partner in its effort to encourage private companies to get into the space business. Orbital Sciences Corporation will receive up to 170 million dollars and help from the Space Agency. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

 

NASA plans to retire the space shuttle in 2010 so it's been looking for private companies that can bring supplies and maybe astronauts to the International Space Station. Back in 2006, NASA picked two companies to work with. But one--Rocket Plane Kistler—failed to raise enough private funding. NASA cancelled that agreement and it has now selected Orbital Sciences Corporation as replacement¹⁷. The company already built small rockets to carry commercial and military satellites to orbit, now it plans to build a bigger rocket called the Taurus 2. NASA is continuing to back a startup company called Space X. It has tried two launches. The first rocket caught fire, the second made it to space but did not achieve orbit. David Kestenbaum NPR News.

 

I'm Giles Snyder. You are listening to NPR news from Washington.

 

1 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

2 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

3 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

4 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

5 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。

6 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

7 clinching   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• Joe gets clinching evidence of the brains role when he dreams. 乔做梦时得到了大脑发生作用的决定性依据。 来自辞典例句
• Clinching, wrestling, pushing, or seizing, without attempting a throw or other technique. 抱，扭摔，推或抓而没有摔或其它的技术。 来自互联网

8 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

10 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 aviators   

飞机驾驶员，飞行员( aviator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Analysis on Sickness Status of 1149 Aviators during Recuperation. 飞行员1149例疗养期间患病情况分析。
• In America the whole scale is too big, except for aviators. 在美国整个景象的比例都太大了，不过对飞行员来说是个例外。

13 mariners   

海员，水手（mariner的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Mariners were also able to fix their latitude by using an instrument called astrolabe. 海员们还可使用星盘这种仪器确定纬度。
• The ancient mariners traversed the sea. 古代的海员漂洋过海。

14 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

17 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。