NPR 2009-01-01

Israel appears to be moving rapidly toward a possible ground offensive in Gaza following the rejection¹ of calls for a 48-hour ceasefire. There are reports today columns of tanks and army vehicles massed along an access road. In the meantime, Israeli airstrikes over Gaza continue as does rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

According to White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, President Bush spoke² today with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I think the purpose of the call in general was to get an update from Prime Minister Olmert on where he sees the current situation right now as it relates to Gaza, and to think about what the future steps are. " White House also says Hamas needs to stop its rocket attacks on Israel. Hamas for its part has said no truce³ proposals can be considered until Israel halts its assault. So far the death toll⁴ in Gaza is at least 390. At least four people have been killed by rocket fire in Israel.

Federal prosecutors⁵ say they need more time before they can indict⁶ Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich is accused of influence peddling⁷ for allegedly trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat. Chicago Public Radio's Ben Calhoun reports.

When prosecutors filed charges, they can do it with a criminal complaint or an indictment⁸. An indictment is kind of a step up because it has to get approved by a grand jury. When authorities arrested and charged Blagojevich earlier this month, they filed a criminal complaint. From that point, they had 30 days to present their evidence to a grand jury and get an indictment. Prosecutors are now asking for an extra 90 days, which would push their deadline from January to April. In a motion filed today, they say because of the complexity⁹ of the case, the amount of evidence and the court system's holiday breaks, the original deadline's too tight. The court's scheduled to consider the prosecution's request on Monday. For NPR News, I'm Ben Calhoun in Chicago.

Hundreds of thousands of revelers will pack the intersections¹⁰ at Time Square tonight. That's despite sub-freezing temperatures and strong winds predicted for midnight. NPR's Robert Smith reports.

Down jackets and earmuffs are the clothing of choice tonight for New Year's Eve in New York. Tourists are having to wear their funny hats on top of their wool caps. The payoff for the suffering will be a new larger crystal ball set to drop at midnight. Tim Thompkins from Time Square Alliance says the new ball will dazzle the crowds. "There is a lot of light to compete with in Time Square. So for this ball to stand out, it had to be really really bright and that's what the 33, 000 Philips LEDs hopes it do, it's really beaming up the light. " Add to that the thousand balloons and more than a ton of confetti and the six-hour wait in the cold might just be worth it. The button to start the countdown at 11: 59 will be pushed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton. Robert Smith, NPR News, New York.

On Wall Street, on this final trading day of 2008, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up by 108 points to end the session at 8, 776.

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Authorities in Bangkok, Thailand are now placing the death toll following a new year's nightclub fire at at least 54, with upwards¹¹ of 100 others injured. The fire broke out as revelers were ringing in the New Year at the two-story nightclub in the Thai capital. Officials say it's not clear what caused the blaze though there is speculation¹² firecrackers brought in by guests or spark from a countdown display on the nightclub stage may have been to blame. Most of those killed were apparently¹³ in the club's basement.

Spain's prime minister is condemning¹⁴ this morning's car bomb attack against the headquarters of the Basque broadcasting company. Police had evacuated¹⁵ the building in the port city of Bilbao, following a warning call from the outlawed¹⁶ separatist group ETA. Jerome Socolovsky reports from Madrid.

Reports say the stolen vehicle contained more than 200 pounds of explosives. The front of the circular glass building was engulfed¹⁷ in flames. And then clouds of smoke billowed into the sky. The Basque regional television Euskal Telebista was able to continue transmitting despite the attack on its headquarters. ETA's show of force comes after its leader Miguel de Garikoitz Aspiazu alias¹⁸ "Txeroki" was arrested in November just across the border in a village on the French side of the Pyrenees. A few weeks later, his successor was apprehended¹⁹ in the same area. Spanish officials insist ETA is getting weaker as a result of the arrests. Prime Minister Jos Luis Rodr guez Zapatero says "ETA may attack, but it will lose all its battles". For NPR News, I'm Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid.

To find mortgage rates as low as they are this week, you'd have to go back to 1971. That's according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac which says the average rate on a 30-year loan this week dipped to 5.1%. Rates on mortgages have now fallen for nine consecutive²⁰ weeks. Much of the decline comes as the Fed has moved into the market.

1 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

2 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。

3 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

4 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。

5 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

6 indict   

v.起诉，控告，指控

参考例句：

• You can't indict whole people for the crudeness of a few.您不能因少数人的粗暴行为就控诉整个民族。
• I can indict you for abducting high school student.我可以告你诱拐中学生。

7 peddling   

忙于琐事的，无关紧要的

参考例句：

• He worked as a door-to-door salesman peddling cloths and brushes. 他的工作是上门推销抹布和刷子。
• "If he doesn't like peddling, why doesn't he practice law? "要是他不高兴卖柴火，干吗不当律师呢？

8 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。

9 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

10 intersections   

n.横断( intersection的名词复数 )；交叉；交叉点；交集

参考例句：

• Traffic lights have been placed at all major intersections. 所有重要的交叉路口都安装了交通信号灯。
• Intersections are of the greatest importance in highway design. 在道路设计中，交叉口占有最重要的地位。 来自辞典例句

11 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

12 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

13 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

14 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

16 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

17 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 alias   

n.化名；别名；adv.又名

参考例句：

• His real name was Johnson,but he often went by the alias of Smith.他的真名是约翰逊，但是他常常用化名史密斯。
• You can replace this automatically generated alias with a more meaningful one.可用更有意义的名称替换这一自动生成的别名。

19 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

20 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。