NPR 2008-09-03

An all too familiar sound to anyone who's been through a hurricane. Those are workers in New Orleans cleaning up storm debris¹, downed tree limbs and the like. The streets of the city meanwhile remain largely empty at this hour with only rescue and utility crews and those who like to stay behind there at the moment. O'neal Payne is a lifelong New Orleans resident who decided² not to evacuate³. "Well, there were much low windblown, but I was sitting, looking out of the window ahead, as you know, looked at that tree blown and drank my coffee and stuff, and just stay and pray. " Hundreds of thousands of people who did leave New Orleans have been told to sit tight a bit longer while cleanup continues. Half the city lacks power and there was damage to city sewers⁴. Even though Hurricane Gustav did not cause the level of damage that had been feared, Mayor Ray Nagin has defended his order to evacuate New Orleans.

 As the State of Louisiana cleans up from Hurricane Gustav, Floridians are being advised to keep their eyes on three tropical storms out in the Atlantic. Florida Public Radio's Trimmel Gomes reports.

 Tropical Storm Josephine developed earlier in the day while Tropical Storm Ike grows in strength east of the Leeward⁵ Islands. Governor Charlie Crist is urging Floridians to stay on alert as Tropical Storm Hanna approaches. "This morning I have issued an executive order, declaring a state of emergency due to the threat of Hanna to the State of Florida. " Hanna is the third storm to threaten Florida in three weeks with two other storms brewing⁶ in the Atlantic. "At this time, we also await Hanna and maybe Ike and maybe Josephine. " Forecasters expect Hanna to strengthen and reach Georgia or the Carolinas before making landfall on Friday, placing the eastern Florida coastline in a three-day cone⁷ of uncertainty⁸. For NPR News, I'm Trimmel Gomes in Tallahassee.

 After a storm-shortened start, the Republican National Convention is getting into full swing in St. Paul. President Bush is slated⁹ to address delegates at the convention by satellite tonight. Also scheduled to speak are former Democratic vice¹⁰ presidential nominee¹¹ Joe Lieberman and former Senator Fred Thompson. However there is another distraction¹² for Republicans. Failed presidential candidate Ron Paul is holding an alternative gathering¹³ for his supporters. Robert Smith has that story.

 While the mainstream¹⁴ Republicans meet in a hockey arena¹⁵ in St. Paul, the libertarian-wing of the party is across the river at the basketball stadium in Minneapolis. It's called "the Rally for the Republic" and the highlight is a speech tonight by Texas Congressman¹⁶ Ron Paul. The former Libertarian-turned-Republican didn't win any primaries during the spring, but he was a sensation on the internet, oftentimes raising more money than his mainstream rivals. Paul had requested a speaking spot at the Republican convention, but he says there were too many restrictions¹⁷ placed on him. So he put together his own gathering. Organizers say they sold 10, 000 tickets to the event. Ron Paul supporters traveled from around the country to come to Minneapolis in caravans¹⁸ of cars known as Ron Voice. Robert Smith, NPR News, St. Paul.

 On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26 points today.

 This is NPR.

 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Libya this week, the first by a US secretary of state in half a century, has been touted¹⁹ as a bold signal of better ties with the country. Relations between the US and Libya have improved after the country announced in 2003 it would give up its weapons of mass destruction. However a series of terrorism incidents and suspicions have delayed a major turnaround. The visit by Rice is the first by a secretary of state since John Foster Dulles in 1953. Rice will also make stops in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco before returning to Washington on Sunday.

 Google is launching its own web browser²⁰ in over 100 countries within the hour. This is the first time Google has stepped into the browser market which is currently dominated by Microsoft's Explorer. NPR's Laura Sydell got an early peek²¹ at the new product.

 It's called Chrome and Google developers say it's faster, easier to use and more secure than any existing browser. At the Google offices in Mountain View, California, Sundar Pichai showed off how quickly it launches. Tabs allow users to keep several websites open at once. That's not new. What is new, says Pichai, is that if the window with YouTube crashes, it doesn't freeze up the other windows. "So that when something happens to one of them, the rest of the browser works fine. " Google's entry into the web browser market isn't surprising. The company wants to keep people online using its search engine and recently-created office web applications. However, no matter how good the browser, analysts²² say it will be hard to win users off of Microsoft's Explorer which owns 70% of the market. Laura Sydell, NPR News, San Francisco.

Crude oil futures²³ fell $5. 75 a barrel today, settling at $109. 71 a barrel in New York.

1 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

2 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。

3 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

4 sewers   

n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 leeward   

adj.背风的；下风的

参考例句：

• The trees all listed to leeward.树木统统向下风方向倾。
• We steered a course to leeward.我们向下风航驶。

6 brewing   

n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然，一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
• She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。

7 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

8 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

9 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

12 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

13 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

14 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

15 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

16 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

17 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

18 caravans   

（可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队）

参考例句：

• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles that are pulled by horses. 旧式的吉卜赛大篷车是由马拉的涂了颜色的木质车辆。
• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles. 旧时的吉普赛大篷车是涂了颜色的木质车辆。

19 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

20 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

21 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

22 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。

23 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。