NPR 2009-01-02

Israel and Hamas continued their battle in Gaza today. Militants¹ fired more rockets into Israel and Israeli fighter jets bombarded Hamas targets, including a Hamas leader who was killed along with a dozen others. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

Nizar Rayan is the most senior Hamas leader to be killed since Israel's bombing of Gaza began last Saturday. The 49-year-old Islamic law scholar and preacher was a central figure in Hamas' political and military wings. He long advocated using any means to fight Israel, including suicide bombings. He was at home in north Gaza's Jabaliya Refugee Camp when Israel dropped a two-thousand-pound bomb on his house. Israeli military said in a statement the house was used as a Hamas communication center and weapon storage site. In addition to Rayan, the airstrike killed at least a dozen other people, including several of his children and some of his four wives. The six-day death toll² in Gaza, doctors there say, is now more than four hundred, including nearly one hundred civilians³. Meantime, rocket fire continued to rain down on several Israeli population centers in the south. No one was seriously injured. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Jerusalem.

The Iraqi government has taken over control of Baghdad's Green Zone, where most of the American military and diplomatic operations are headquartered. The US handed over responsibility as part of a new security act.

Russia has cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine after today's deadline to resolve a contract dispute passed with no agreement. Both countries are trying to reassure⁴ the European Union that its supplies won't be affected⁵.

A new report on government farm subsidies⁶ in the US says massive dairy and hog⁷ operations are getting a disproportionate share of money compared to small farms. NPR's Howard Berkes has details.

The report from the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment focuses on the federal Environmental Quality Incentives⁸ Program, which pays operators at feedlots in hog and dairy farms to control animal waste, protect water resources, combat erosion and reduce risks to wildlife. The group says more than a third of the program's annual subsidies for hog producers goes to industrial hog operations, but they are close to ten percent of all hog farmers. Industrial dairies get more than half of the dairy payments, but they're just four percent of all dairies. Industry officials say their overall share of subsidies is still a fraction of the six billion dollars available. The report is the latest from private and government groups that criticize subsidies of corporate⁹ farming. Howard Berkes, NPR News.

Two of the nation's biggest bank mergers¹⁰ to result from the nation's financial crisis were finalized¹¹ today. Bank of America has officially combined with Merrill Lynch to become the world's largest financial services company. And western-based Wells Fargo now owns eastern-based Wachovia, extending Wells Fargo's reach coast to coast.

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Nearly 16 million cable TV subscribers from the Carolinas to southern California can still tune¹² in to SpongeBob SquarePants, MTV and Comedy Central. That thanks to a last-minute deal that kept 19 Viacom channels from disappearing from Time Warner's cable service. Viacom had threatened to shut off the channels on Time Warner if negotiators hadn't reached a new fee contract by midnight last night.

In Georgia, two new laws that take effect today give car insurance companies more freedom to raise rates. Georgia Public Broadcasting's John Sepulvado reports.

Beginning in 2009, Georgia's insurance commissioner¹³ will no longer have the power to control auto¹⁴ insurance rate increases. The current commissioner fought that change, saying auto insurance rates could spike¹⁵ by 25 percent or more. The industry says the new law will benefit consumers by allowing more rate competition. Also this year motorists will automatically have uninsured motorist coverage¹⁶ rolled into their policy, unless they opt¹⁷ out. Insurance companies say UM, as it's called, offers protection against hit-and-runs. Some consumer advocates say it's a profitable product that offers little real world protection. For NPR news, I'm John Sepulvado, in Rome, Georgia.

Former Rhode Island Democratic Senator Claiborne Pell has died. Pell served six terms in the US Senate and was best known for creating the government's Pell Grant Program that sent millions of Americans to college. A multimillionaire, Pell established himself as the voice for the less fortunate. He left office in 1994 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Pell died at his home in Rhode Island today at the age of 90.

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 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。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

8 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

10 mergers   

n.（两个公司的）合并( merger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Mergers fall into three categories: horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate. 合并分为以下三种：横向合并，纵向合并和混合合并。 来自辞典例句
• Many recent mergers are concentrated within specific industries, particularly in retailing, airlines and communications. 现代许多合并企业集中进行某些特定业务，在零售业、民航和通讯业中更是如此。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

11 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

13 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

14 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

15 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

16 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

17 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？