NPR 2009-10-25

President Obama has declared the H1N1 flu a national emergency, a move that opens the way for hospitals, doctors and local governments to get legal waivers so they can better cope with any surge of people with the swine flu virus. NPR's Richard Gonzalez has more.

The president's declaration directs Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to remove bureaucratic¹ roadblocks hampering² the federal response to the emerging pandemic. That means, bypassing rules affecting Medicare, Medicaid and health privacy regulations. So far more than 1,000 Americans have died from H1N1, also known as the swine flu. The government originally expected to have as many as 120 million doses of vaccine³ available by now, but production delays have forced the government to cut back expectations, and only 11 million vaccine doses have been shipped thus far. Officials say they hope to distribute about 50 million doses by mid-November and 150 million by December. Richard Gonzalez, NPR News.

President Obama is calling on banks to lend more money to small businesses, many of which have been unable to get credit despite government efforts to boost lending.

"The goal here is to get credit where it's needed most - to businesses that support families, sustain communities, and create the jobs that power our economy. That's why we enacted⁴ the financial stability plan in the first place."

Mr. Obama speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address. He said small businesses are responsible for nearly 2/3 of the new jobs created in the US over the past 15 years.

Pakistani forces have captured the hometown of the head of the Taliban in that country after heavy fighting as part of the government's ongoing⁵ offensive in the border area near Afghanistan. Also, a suspected US missile strike killed at least 15 militants⁶ at a senior Taliban commander's hideout. From Islamabad, NPR's Julie McCarthy reports.

The target of the drone strike is thought to have been Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir. He is reported to have narrowly escaped, leaving the compound ten minutes before it was struck while a son-in-law and nephew were killed. The US has shown no sign of easing the drone attacks even as Pakistan wages a major offensive against the Taliban in the tribal⁷ agency of South Waziristan where the army says it killed 21 militants in the past 24 hours. At a briefing, the army spokesman was asked if the drone attacks were a distraction⁹ or an asset. Major General Athar Abbas said Pakistan would prefer to go it alone and denied that the US was assisting in the Waziristan operation. Pakistan publicly calls the US strikes a violation¹⁰ of its sovereignty, but it's widely believed that the two sides have a tacit agreement that allows the US to strike militants on Pakistani soil. Julie McCarthy, NPR News, Islamabad.

One Egyptian passenger train slammed into the back of another just outside Cairo today, killing¹¹ at least 15 people and injuring more than two dozen others. Emergency crews have been struggling to get the dead and injured out of the wreckage¹².

This is NPR News from Washington.

Police in Zimbabwe have raided an office used by executives of the Prime Minister's political party. The move comes a week after Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change announced that it was suspending cooperation with President Robert Mugabe's party in Zimbabwe's power-sharing government. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton has the story.

The Secretary General of Prime Minister Tsvangirai's party Tendai Biti said police arrived at the premises¹³ in the capital Harare with a warrant to search for weapons. Biti, who is the current Finance Minister in Zimbabwe's national unity¹⁴ government, said about 50 police ransacked¹⁵ the premises Friday night and forced a guard to dig with his hands in the yard around the property hunting for arms. Biti said the police left with valuable party strategy documents but no weapons. Tsvangirai has warned that his party is being bullied¹⁶ by President Mubage's ZANU-PF, which he described as an unreliable and dishonest power-sharing partner. The police raid came a week after the Prime Minister announced he was boycotting¹⁷ government business in Zimbabwe. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Dakar.

Taliban militants in Afghanistan are threatening voters with violence if they cast ballots¹⁸ in the country's upcoming presidential runoff election. The Taliban called that election a failed American process.

A team of UN inspectors¹⁹ has traveled to Iran and is expected tomorrow to visit the site of that country's recently revealed uranium enrichment facility. Iranian officials insist that site is for peaceful nuclear power purposes. Western experts believe the facility was designed to produce nuclear fuel for an atomic weapon. President Obama spoke⁸ by phone today with France's President and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the situation in Iran.

1 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

2 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 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。

7 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

8 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。

9 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。

10 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

11 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

12 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

13 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

14 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

15 ransacked   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• The house had been ransacked by burglars. 这房子遭到了盗贼的洗劫。
• The house had been ransacked of all that was worth anything. 屋子里所有值钱的东西都被抢去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

16 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

18 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》