NPR 2009-11-09

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

 

". . . sing with me. How great is our God. . . " This church service in Fort Hood¹, Texas is more emotional than usual this Sunday. People are mourning the 13 people who died during a shooting rampage three days ago. Nearly 30 others were wounded in that attack. Colonel John Rossi, deputy commander of Fort Hood says the alleged² gunman, Major Nidal Hasan, is still in intensive care. "Major Hasan remains³ in critical but stable condition at Brook⁴ Army Medical Center. He's in ICU in stable condition.” The military is investigating the circumstances leading up to the attack. NPR's Jennifer Ludden says Army Chief of Staff George Casey found himself on the defensive⁵ as he made the round of Sunday Morning Talks Shows.

 

Shooting suspect Major Nidal Hasan opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was said to be distressed⁶ about his own impending⁷ deployment⁸. General Casey told CNN 'It's a fair question' whether Hasan should have been counseling fellow soldiers. But he said the army has done much to relieve soldiers strain. It's added 40,000 recruits, shortened deployments and increased time between them. He told ABC's 'This Week' another effort launches tomorrow. "We just implemented⁹ a program called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which is designed to give our soldiers, civilians¹⁰ and family members the resilience skills they need to make it through these tough times.”  When asked about reports that Hasan had tried to get out of the army, Casey said he couldn't comment on anything that might suggest a motive¹¹ for the shootings. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

 

President Obama again thanked the US House today for passing landmark¹² health care overhaul¹³ legislation. At the Rose Garden he urged the Senate to follow suit. But Senate Republicans are vowing¹⁴ to block its passage. The vote was close in the House where only one Republican voted in favor. That vote in the House was 220 to 215.

 

President Obama reacted to another milestone¹⁵ today. Iraq's parliament approved a long-delayed election law that enables a national vote to be held early next year. The vote comes after days of intensive bargaining among Iraq's ethnic¹⁶ and political factions¹⁷. From Baghdad, NPR's Corey Flintoff reports.

 

The major sticking point to passing this law was the question of how to apportion¹⁸ votes in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk. The city is at the hub of vast oil reserves in Iraq's North and it's claimed by Arabs, Kurds, and members of the Turkmen minority. The lawmakers agreed to use voting rolls based on a census¹⁹ conducted this year. But there's provision for challenging the results if that appears that the ethnic makeup²⁰ of the city has been unfairly manipulated. The head of Iraq's Independent Election Commission said that even though the passage of the law was delayed, there is still time to hold a vote before the constitutionally mandated²¹ deadline in January. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Baghdad.

 

This is NPR.

 

Hurricane Ida has grown into a Category 2 storm with top winds near 100 miles per hour. It's churning across the Yucatan. The National Hurricane Center's Jack²² Beven says Ida could hit the Northern Gulf²³ Coast by Tuesday. "We do have a hurricane watch for portions of Louisiana and Mississippi Coast from Grand Isle²⁴, Louisiana eastward²⁵ to the Louisiana, Mississippi border. This does not include the city of New Orleans. They are not in the watch of the present time. " Ida earlier hit El Salvador where at least 91 people were killed.

 

The UN Refugee Agency is stepping up assistance to thousands of Pakistanis displaced by military operations against the Taliban. In South Waziristan, we have more on this from Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

 

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the conflict zone. Some are in camps but most are staying with family and friends. UN Refugee spokesman Andrej Mahecic says the UNHCR would distribute some 35, 000 tents, worth six million dollars to the displaced.  "The aid will allow the displaced people to pitch tents in the grounds of households which are hosting them, and alleviate²⁶ overcrowding. Since September, UNHCR has been distributing relief items such as kitchen sets, jerry cans, quilts, sleeping mats to displaced people from South Waziristan. " So far about 175, 000 people have received assistance. Mahecic says UNHCR's relief effort has been interrupted on several occasions because of problems with security. But he adds, local partners continued the distributions. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

1 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

2 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

5 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

6 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

7 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

8 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

9 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

10 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。

11 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

12 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

13 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

14 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

15 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

16 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

17 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

18 apportion   

vt.（按比例或计划）分配

参考例句：

• It's already been agreed in principle to apportion the value of the patents.原则上已经同意根据专利的价值按比例来分配。
• It was difficult to apportion the blame for the accident.很难分清这次事故的责任。

19 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

20 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

21 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

22 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

23 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

24 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

25 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。

26 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。