NPR 2008-04-27

Election officials in Zimbabwe announced today partial results of a recount in parliamentary elections. They said the party of President Robert Mugabe failed to win control of the parliament. The opposition¹ party has the majority for the first time in 28 years.

 A 14-year-old Palestinian girl was killed today during clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in a town in northern Gaza. The Israeli army reports its forces raided the town to pursue members of Hamas who’ve been firing rockets into Israeli border towns.

 Syria’s ambassador to the United States says the CIA fabricated evidence to justify² the Israeli bombing of a Syrian building last September. Imad Moustapha said the building was empty, and not a covert³ nuclear site as US intelligence officials claim. “An allegedly strategic site in Syria without a single military checkpoint around it, without barbed wire around it, without anti-aircraft missiles around it, without any sort of security surrounding it.” Moustapha says the Bush administration’s explanation of the Israeli attack will fall apart when the facts come out.

 A tractor-trailer slammed into a bus shelter at a train station in Chicago yesterday. Officials say two people died, at least 21 others were hurt. Eleven of those injured are in critical condition. Witness David de Ryan said the truck didn’t appear to slow down. “It looked like it was coming kind of fast, so you like,started to, to kind of move out of the way, not really thinking much of it and then it just, it just kind of kept coming. I, I, I have to say it looked like it was coming like 45 to 50 miles an hour, it was coming really fast.” The driver of the truck was taken to a hospital but was later released. Police say he has not been placed under arrest.

 Part of a church floor collapsed⁴ during a Christian⁵ rock concert near Vancouver, British Columbia last night. Officials say at least three people were injured. More than 1,000 people had attended the sold-out concert. It featured Starfield, a contemporary Christian rock band.

 House and Senate negotiators have reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year farm bill. NPR’s Brian Naylor reports.

 The measure would spend some 296 billion dollars over five years. Most of the money goes to food stamps and nutrition programs which will see a ten-billion-dollar increase from current levels. For the first time, there is also money in the bill to help farmers who grow fruits and vegetables. But so-called “direct payments” to farmers who grow crops like corn, wheat and rice will continue despite record prices for those crops and higher food prices at the grocery store. And Congress has created a new subsidy⁶, a so-called “permanent disaster fund”. The tentative deal must be signed off by all the lawmakers involved in the negotiations⁷ before going to the full House and Senate. Brian Naylor, NPR News, the Capitol.

 You are listening to NPR News from Washington.

 Both Democratic presidential contenders will campaign in Indiana today, the site of the next contest in the race for the nomination⁸. Hillary Clinton will attend a rally in Fort Wayne. Barack Obama will hold a town hall meeting at a high school in Marion.

 Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio is holding commencement today. The college, founded 156 years ago, may be graduating its last students. Aileen LeBlanc reports from Yellow Springs.

 Antioch College is under the umbrella of Antioch University, and the university seeing years of financial troubles with the college decided⁹ to suspend operations as of June 30th. A passionate¹⁰ group of alumni has desperately¹¹ tried to save the school and they've raised millions of dollars toward that end. One alumnus, Eric Bates, is working toward negotiations to get control of the college. “The college is very sustainable, it’s really clear at this point that alumni, they’re really ready to pour all kinds of support into the college, in a word, to become independent.” The university has agreed to resume negotiations after commencement, so there's still hope for the 160 staff and professors whose jobs are now scheduled to be terminated and for the historic free-thinking left-leaning liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. For NPR News, I’m Aileen LeBlanc.

 An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.7 struck Reno, Nevada late last night. An aftershock of 3.5 came early this morning. There are no immediate¹² reports of injuries or serious damage. They hit the same area where more than 100 quakes were reported over a 24-hour period beginning Thursday. Nevada is the third most quake-prone state behind California and Alaska.

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

3 covert   

adj.隐藏的；暗地里的

参考例句：

• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。
• The army carried out covert surveillance of the building for several months.军队对这座建筑物进行了数月的秘密监视。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

7 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

8 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。

9 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。

10 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

11 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

12 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。