NPR 2010-11-18

The man billed as the first Guantanamo Bay terror suspect to face a civilian¹ trial, Ahmed Ghailani, has been found not guilty of terrorism charges today in a federal trial in New York. Thirty-six-year-old Ghailani, a native of Tanzania, was accused of conspiring² with al-Qaeda to plan car bomb attacks on embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. The jury did find Ghailani guilty of one charge of conspiracy³ to damage or destroy US property by means of an explosive device, although he was cleared of 276 murder and attempted murder counts along with five conspiracy charges. The jury deliberated over seven days.
It appears incumbent⁴ Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has won reelection in Alaska. As NPR’s Martin Kaste reports, Murkowski’s victory defied the odds⁵.
Murkowski lost the Republican primary to Tea Partier Joe Miller⁶. So in September, she decided⁷ to run as a write-in candidate. Political experts called it a long shot. In the University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics blog, Eric Ostermeier wrote an article, pointing out all the prominent Alaska politicians could fail as write-in candidates. Now, Ostermeier calls Murkowski’s win staggering.
"Actually, if you add up all the votes that had been cast for write-in candidacies in Alaska from 1958 until this election, she will probably exceed all those other eight candidacies combined."Murkowski had some advantages. Not only was she the incumbent, but her father Frank Murkowski was also a senator and governor. Martin Kaste, NPR News.
Nancy Pelosi will be the top Democrat⁸ in the reconfigured House of Representatives. Pelosi, the first female House speaker, will lose the job in January with the new Republican majority. However, she praised fellow Democrats⁹ and said the party, despite its diminished status, is not giving up oncore issues.
"I’m proud to be part of this leadership team. Our consensus¹⁰ is that we go out there listening to the American people. It’s about jobs; it’s about reducing the deficit¹¹; and it’s about fighting for the middle class."Republicans of their part announced they’ve chosen John Boehner of Ohio to become speaker in the new Congress.
Over a dozen people were arrested in San Francisco in a protest against tuition hikes at the University of California. NPR’s Richard Gonzales reports.
Thirteen people were arrested, including one who allegedly assaulted a police officer by striking him with his own baton¹². Police used pepperspray to break up what they called an unruly and aggressive crowd. Over 300 people demonstrated against a planned 8% hike in student fees, this coming on a 32% increase last year. The UC Board of Regents is scheduled to vote on the proposed tuition hike on Thursday. Richard Gonzales, NPR News, San Francisco.
After recent market volatility¹³ sparked by investor¹⁴ concerns about the burgeoning¹⁵ debt crisis in Europe, stocks ended little changed today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 15 points. The NASDAQ gained six points.
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A senior military official is now recommending Army Major Nidal Hasan stand trial in connection with last year’s deadly shootings at Fort Hood¹⁶. According to Hasan’s lawyer, the recommendation was issued by Colonel James Pohl. Pohl reported to be recommending Hasan be court-martialed on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 13 counts of attempted murder in connection with the shootings last November at the Texas Army post. The final decision on whether to try Hasan rests with a commanding general. Federal regulators have given coal mine owner Massey Energy a few more days to avoid a federal seizure¹⁷ of the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. As NPR’s Howard Berkes reports, that’s the mine where 29 mine workers died in a massive explosion in April.
The possible eviction¹⁸ of all Massey Energy officials from the mine is based on a standoff between the company and state and federal investigators¹⁹. The investigators want to test water sprayers on the longwall mining machine considered a possible source of the explosion. The sprayers help control sparks and explosive coal dust. And some are believed to be clogged²⁰, broken or missing. Massey has refused to feed water to the sprayers so they can be tested. The company says running the sprayers will compromise evidence it is assessing in its own investigation²¹ of the blast. Federal regulators cited Massey for impeding²² the official state and federal investigation and initially²³ gave the company until noon Wednesday to comply, but federal mine safety officials extended the deadline to Friday. Howard Berkes, NPR News.
The head of the Transportation Security Administration is acknowledging new pat-down procedures (that) airline passengers are being asked to undergo (are) far more intrusive²⁴ than he thought, TSA head John Pistole telling members of a Senate panel he can understand why travelers are raising concerns, although Pistole told lawmakers the agency does not intend to change the policies.
I’m Jack²⁵ Speer, NPR News in Washington.

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

3 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

4 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

5 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

6 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。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

9 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

11 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

12 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

13 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

14 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

15 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

16 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。

17 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

18 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

19 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》

20 clogged   

（使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞

参考例句：

• The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
• The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。

21 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

22 impeding   

a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的

参考例句：

• Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers. 坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
• Is there sufficient room for the kiosk and kiosk traffic without impeding other user traffic? 该环境下是否有足够的空间来摆放信息亭？信息亭是否会妨碍交通或者行走？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

23 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

24 intrusive   

adj.打搅的；侵扰的

参考例句：

• The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
• Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。

25 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。