NPR 2008-04-21

The Democratic presidential candidates are crisscrossing Pennsylvania today as they closed out the final weekend of campaigning before that state’s primary. The top strategists for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama squared off today over how long the fight for the party's nomination¹ should go on. NPR’s Allison Keyes reports.

 The latest polls show Clinton with a slight lead in Pennsylvania and Obama with a slight lead in Indiana and North Carolina. He is ahead in the popular vote and with elected delegate, while she leads in super delegates. Her top strategist Jeff Garran tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” Clinton still has a chance to win. "There is an analogy in what happened in November 2000 when, er, after the close count in Florida, all of these people were wringing² their hands, saying ‘oh my gosh, we have a constitutional crisis on our hands, we've got to get this done quickly.' The voters were saying ‘no, slow down, let’s, let’s get it right. Let’s let the process play through.’ And that’s what Democratic voters are saying now." But Obama’s strategist David Axelrod says if Clinton uses, what he calls, "the kitchen-sink strategy" to win the nomination she can’t win legitimately³, it'd hurt the Democratic party. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.

 GOP candidate John McCain’s latest financial report shows while the Democrats⁴ continue their primary battles, he has been quietly amassing⁵ a campaign war chest for the fall. The Arizona Senator raised 15 million dollars in March, the best month yet for his campaign.

 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Iraq today, even as tensions rose in Baghdad following new threats from radical⁶ Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. NPR’s JJ Sutherland reports from Baghdad.

 Rice came to Iraq to support Iraqi politicians who’ve taken a hard line against Sadr’s militia⁷, the Mahdi Army. In recent weeks, the Iraqi government has attacked Sadrists in the southern city of Basra and in their Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City. Last night, Sadr threatened "open war" against the Iraqi government if they don’t stop attacking his militia. Today, the city was tense. South of Baghdad, the Iraqi army is deploying⁸ in force across the region. For a month now, Sadr has observed a self-declared cease-fire, telling his forces to only fight in self-defense. Mahdi Army commanders say they are waiting his orders on whether to rise up, saying his orders may come as soon as tomorrow. JJ Sutherland, NPR News, Baghdad.

 Pope Benedict celebrated⁹ Mass before a crowd of nearly 60,000 people in New York’s Yankee Stadium today. He called on Catholics and all Americans to use the blessings¹⁰ of freedom wisely in order to build a future of hope for coming generations. “It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false gospels of freedom and happiness.” Earlier, the Pope visited Ground Zero. He'll depart the US later this evening.

 This is NPR News from Washington.

 China’s government is calling for calm and order amid a wave of nationalistic protests. Demonstrators in several Chinese cities protest today outside branches of the French retailer¹¹ Carrefour. NPR’s Anthony Kuhn has the story from Beijing.

 Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Carrefour outlets¹² in cities including Xi’an, Harbin and Jinan. They were protesting Carrefour’s alleged¹³ support for Tibetan independence and the protests that dogged the Olympic torch relay in Paris. The company has denied supporting any political movements. Expressing patriotism¹⁴ in a rational way is a responsible attitude towards the nation, the official People’s Daily newspaper said in a front-page editorial that was also broadcast on state television. Meanwhile, overseas Chinese staged protests in London, Paris and Washington D.C. this weekend against perceived bias¹⁵ in western media reports about Tibet. Anthony Kuhn , NPR News, Beijing.”

 There has been another sharp jump in gasoline prices, up nearly 16 cents a gallon over the past two weeks(10以下数字请用英语写^^) to a national average of  $3.47 for a gallon of self-service regular. Industry analyst¹⁶ Triby Lundberg says there are a number of reasons for the rise. “The number one cause is much higher crude oil prices, and secondarily is higher ethanol prices. Ethanol prices are up and we have to use more this year blended into our gasoline.” Lundberg says the highest gas prices in the most recent survey were in San Francisco; the lowest in Newark, New Jersey¹⁷. Gas prices are 60 cents a gallon higher than they were at this time last year.

1 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。

2 wringing   

淋湿的，湿透的

参考例句：

• He was wringing wet after working in the field in the hot sun. 烈日下在田里干活使他汗流满面。
• He is wringing out the water from his swimming trunks. 他正在把游泳裤中的水绞出来。

3 legitimately   

ad.合法地；正当地，合理地

参考例句：

• The radio is legitimately owned by the company. 该电台为这家公司所合法拥有。
• She looked for nothing save what might come legitimately and without the appearance of special favour. 她要的并不是男人们的额外恩赐，而是合法正当地得到的工作。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 amassing   

v.积累，积聚( amass的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of taxonomy must necessarily involve the amassing of an encyclopaedic knowledge of plants. 分类学研究一定要积累广博的植物知识。 来自辞典例句
• Build your trophy room while amassing awards and accolades. 建立您的奖杯积累奖项和荣誉。 来自互联网

6 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

7 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

8 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

9 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

10 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

12 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

14 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

15 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

16 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

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。