NPR 2010-01-05

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham.

 

A man with a shot gun walked into the lobby of the Federal Courthouse in downtown Las Vegas this morning and opened fire, killing¹ one court officer and seriously wounding another. The gunman fled the building and authorities pursued him. A barrage² of shots were then heard outside the Courthouse. A bystander captured the sounds on a video posted on YouTube. Authorities say the gunman was killed in the shoot-out.

 

The Transportation Security Administration has imposed tighter security measures on air travelers headed to the US from 14 countries today including Yemen and Nigeria, countries that have significant terrorism activity. As Larry Miller³ reports from London, different countries are interpreting the measures differently.

 

Nigeria says its inclusion on the list of 14 is unfair. It plans to have body scanners at its international airports later this year and says passengers refusing a scan won’t board. Yemen is also cited by the US.  Its military forces have tightened⁴ the security around the airport, fearing an attack by al-Qaeda. In Pakistan, passengers are being subjected to full body searches. The Swiss say there'll be extra rigorous check in place by tomorrow at airports in Geneva and Zurich. Officials at South Korean's main airport in Seoul, say they have lists of suspicious passengers based on nationality and travel patterns. According to an aviation official in Lebanon, everything is the same, there is no extra security. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.

 

President Obama arrived back at the White House at midday after the first family wrapped up its vacation in Hawaii. The President will confer with intelligence officials tomorrow as part of his review of air travel security and watch list procedures. NPR's Scott Horsley has that story.

 

Intelligence Agencies have been looking at how they miss the warning signs that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was planning to carry out an attack on a US bound jet. President Obama says different agencies had bits and pieces of / information that could have and should have kept the young Nigerian off the plane. A senior administration official says that kind of lapse⁵ of information sharing won't be tolerated. A second review has been conducted of airport security measures, starting today, passengers traveling from more than a dozen suspect countries are supposed to get increased screening at the airport before they are allowed to board a flight bound for the United States. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

 

The Internal Revenue Service plans to start regulating paid tax preparers. It would require them to register with the government, pass competency tests and adhere to ethical⁶ standards.

 

The stock market is up on the first trading day of the New Year. The rally comes after reports pointing to stronger manufacture activity around the world as well as a rise in oil prices. Wall Street at this hour: the Dow up 158 points, the NASDAQ is up 35.

 

This is NPR News from Washington.

 

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says a surging al-Qaeda activity in Yemen has global implications. And the US is working to bolster⁷ efforts by that countries' government to fight extremists.

 

It's time for the international community to make it clear to Yemen that there are expectations and conditions on our continuing support for the government so that they can take actions which will have a better chance to provide that peace and stability to the people of Yemen and the region.

 

The US Embassy in Yemen remains⁸ closed for a second straight day also closed are the Embassies of Britain, France, Germany and Japan. Yemeni security forces today killed two suspected al-Qaeda militants⁹ in a firefight north of the Capital.

 

Temperatures are well below normal in much of the US today, even in Florida. Residents are being advised to brace¹⁰ for potentially sustained freezing conditions that could chill residents and crops alike. From member station WLRN Fill Lasman has more.

 

According to National Weather Service Miami meteorologist Kim Brabander this much cool weather over this long is.

 

Very unusual to have a week’s most of temperature is running 15 to 20 degrees below normal basically. That's why state officials want to normally tell the residents to prepare for temperatures near or below the freezing mark for a sustained period. That could hurt the state's agricultural cash cow the citrus industry, John Arnold who owned Showcase Citrus farm says, it will be a waiting game.

 

Most importantly is duration, the longer it is, at a freezing temperature, then we have reasons to worry. Growers say extra irrigation may be used to keep their citrus protected from an extended freeze. For NPR News, I'm Fill Lasman in Miami.

 

This is NPR News.
 

1 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。

2 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

3 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

4 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

5 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

6 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

7 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

8 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。

9 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。

10 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。