NPR 2010-11-10

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Lakshmi Singh.
President Obama is spending this day in Indonesia, where he's looking to shore up relations between the US and the world’s most populous¹ Muslim nation. This trip to Indonesia was long delayed, but as NPR’s Scott Horsley reports, the White House is now cutting the trip short, because of fears that Mount Merapi might erupt again.
This was always gonna be a short trip to Indonesia sandwiched between his visit to India and the G20 summit, which is going on in South Korea, but the short trip has become even shorter, because the White House is worried about being grounded by a cloud of volcanic² ash. And as a result, the president is planning to leave.
That’s NPR’s Scott Horsley reporting.
Cholera³ is spreading in Haiti. It’s now being reported in the capital Port-au-Prince, where NPR’s Jason Beaubien says investigators⁴ are studying at least 100 cases so far.
Relief agencies are preparing for a wave of cholera that could sweep through the squalid refugee camps throughout the Haitian capital. The more than a million people left homeless by the January earthquake are extremely vulnerable to the deadly waterborne bacteria, says Dr. Lambert Wesler with Partners in Health“Port-au-Prince is the most vulnerable place in Haiti right now, because of the situation in the camps. Like, you know, there's a real issue of hygiene⁵ and sanitation⁶."Aid groups are building special cholera treatment areas at some of the camps in Port-au-Prince to isolate⁷ and triage residents with severe diarrhea. Health officials say that after a low, the number of cases across the country appears to be increasing. Over the weekend at a hospital in the central Artibonite Valley, the number of patients suspected of having cholera more than doubled to 230. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Port-au-Prince.
The 34-year-old Pakistani man accused of plotting to bomb Washington, DC's rail system has pleaded not guilty to terror-related charges. Farooque Ahmed was arraigned⁸ today. His trial is due to begin in April. Ahmed was arrested last month in a sting operation. Authorities say Ahmed, a US citizen, thought he was working with members of al-Qaeda who wanted to bomb DC Metrorail systems.
Thousands of 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who sued New York City over their exposure to toxic⁹ dust are waiting to find out whether they'll get any money from a big settlement in the case. A midnight deadline came and went for Ground Zero workers to decide whether to join the deal. It would pay at least $625 million to people who developed illnesses after working in the ashes of the Twin Towers. Related settlements could raise the total compensation package to $815 million.
We continue to see losses in US stocks today. At last check, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 45 points at 11,362; NASDAQ off 11 at 2,569.
This is NPR.
The French government may be clear of its final legal battle to raise the retirement¹⁰ age from 60 to 62. Eleanor Beardsley reports France’s constitutional watchdog is endorsing¹¹ the bill and she brings us the latest from Paris.
The council’s decision, which says the pension overhaul¹² does not violate the French Constitution, paves the way for Sarkozy to sign the bill into law sometime this month. France was disrupted by months of strikes and protests, when unions and the Socialist¹³ opposition¹⁴ rallied the public against the pension overhaul. Train and air travel was disrupted and there were gas shortages, when all of the country’s 16 oil refineries¹⁵ were blocked by strikers. France’s pay-as-you-go system is in debt and Sarkozy stood firm, saying the only way to save it was to work longer, but unions say the pension overhaul puts the burden of the reform on the working class. Despite the inevitability¹⁶ of the law, several trade unions have called for another day of work stoppages and protests on November 23rd, but the protest movement has clearly lost momentum¹⁷. For NPR News, I’m Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.
Help is on the way to thousands of people aboard a cruise ship that has been stranded¹⁸ off the coast of Mexico since yesterday morning. Tugboats and an aircraft carrier headed out earlier today to the Carnival²⁰ Splendor²¹ to tug¹⁹ it to the Mexican port of Ensenada. The vessel²² stalled after a fire broke out in the engine room. Authorities say no one was hurt. However, airconditioning, phones and other services were knocked out.
Here’s what’s happening from Wall Street. Dow Jones Industrial Average down now 52 points at 11,355; NASDAQ down ten at 2,570; S&P500 off seven at 1,216.

1 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

2 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

3 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

4 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

6 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

7 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

8 arraigned   

v.告发( arraign的过去式和过去分词 )；控告；传讯；指责

参考例句：

• He was arraigned for murder. 他因谋杀罪而被提讯。
• She was arraigned for high treason. 她被控叛国罪。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

10 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

11 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

12 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。

13 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

14 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

15 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

16 inevitability   

n.必然性

参考例句：

• Evolutionism is normally associated with a belief in the inevitability of progress. 进化主义通常和一种相信进步不可避免的看法相联系。
• It is the tide of the times, an inevitability of history. 这是时代的潮流，历史的必然。

17 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

18 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

19 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

20 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

21 splendor   

n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌

参考例句：

• Never in his life had he gazed on such splendor.他生平从没有见过如此辉煌壮丽的场面。
• All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend.人世间所有的荣华富贵不如一个好朋友。

22 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。