NPR 2011-01-02

A powerful bomb exploded outside a Coptic Christian¹ church in Alexandria, Egypt this morning as worshipers emerged from a New Year's Mass. Twenty-one people were killed. Speaking through an interpreter, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak condemned² the attack. He said militants³ may be attempting to provoke sectarian violence.

"This sinful act is part of a series of efforts to drive a wedge between Copts and Muslims, but Allah has aborted⁴ the plotters' plans and turned it against them. We are all in this together and will face up to terrorism and defeat it."

The attack prompted angry demonstrations⁵ later in the day by young Christians⁶, who hurled⁷ rocks at the police outside the church. Police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. Eygpt has seen growing tensions between its Muslim majority and Christian minority.

President Obama condemned the attack, saying the perpetrators were clearly targeting Christian worshipers and must be brought to justice. He said the US is prepared to offer any necessary assistance to the Egyptian government.

President Obama starts the New Year with a massage⁸ to politians as well as the American people at large. NPR's Paul Brown reports the president is pushing cooperation in the New Year with a divided Congress.

In his first weekly address of 2011, the president says when the lawmakers return to Washington, they need to be ready to make serious decisions about how to help the economy recover in the short term and how to help the US stay competitive in the long run, and he says he's ready to work with Democrats⁹ and Republicans.

"I'm willing to work with anyone of either party who's got a good idea and the commitment to see it through. And we should all expect you to hold us accountable for our progress or our failure to deliver."

Mr. Obama warns that the economic recovery is still fragile. He shares his New Year's resolution to do all he can to help the economy create jobs and strengthen the middle class. Paul Brown, NPR News.

An apartment fire in Redmond, Washington took the lives of five people last night, including four children under the age of ten. NPR's Martin Kaste reports.

Police in the Seattle suburb say the fire started a couple of hours into the New Year and moved through three units of a 12-apartment building. Officer Matt Peringer says the investigators¹⁰ are just starting the process of looking for the cause.

"The scope of an investigation¹¹ like this is awfully¹² big, and, including making sure that the structure is strong enough to support firefighters going through it and investigators and so on, so everybody's just kind of taking the appropriate amount of time that they need to make sure that it is safe."

The five fatalities¹³ included four children and one 32-year-old man. A 30-year-old woman was hospitalized. Police have not yet released their identities, nor have they confirmed whether all the victims were in the same family. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Seattle.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

The US Capitol was evacuated¹⁴ today when a plane entered restricted airspace. The FAA says a Piedmont Airlines flight from Hilton Head, South Carolina had lost radio contact as it approached Washington's Reagan National Airport. Fighter jets were scrambled¹⁵. Air traffic controllers reestablished contact with the plane, and it landed safely at Reagan.

Three people have died in Russia's far north after a airliner¹⁶ caught fire and exploded before takeoff. Peter Van Dyk reports from Moscow that 43 people were injured, including six who were badly burned.

There were more than 120 passengers and crew aboard the Tupolev Tu154 as it taxied at the airport in the western Siberian oil town of Surgut. An emergency ministry's spokesman said the fire started in one of the three engines and spread before the plane exploded. Most of the people escaped before the explosion, and most of those hospitalized were suffering from smoke inhalation. The aircraft belonged to a regional airline and was bound for Moscow. The rear engines planes have been the workhorse of Soviet¹⁷ and post-Soviet air travel since the 1970s. Aeroflot withdrew all its Tu154s from service a year ago over safety concerns, and last month two people were killed when one crashed at a Moscow airport after its engines failed. For NPR News, I'm Peter Van Dyk in Moscow.

Inmates¹⁸ rioted at a low-security prison in England today. The riot broke out at around midnight after some of the prisoners had refused to submit to breathalyzer tests. Large amounts of alcohol were later recovered. There were no immediate¹⁹ reports of injuries. The prison is located about 60 miles south of London.

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

3 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。

4 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

6 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

7 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

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 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》

11 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。

12 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

13 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

15 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

17 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

18 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。