NPR 2011-01-12

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is able to breathe on her own, but doctors says they’re keeping her on a breathing tube to protect her airway¹, and they have cut back her sedation. Giffords is the only one of the 14 survivors² of Saturday’s shooting in Tucson who’re still listed in critical condition. Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old man accused of trying to assassinate³ Giffords, made his first court appearance yesterday. Family members of some of victims are speaking after the first time since the shooting. NPR’s Jeff Brady, who’s in Tucson, recounts the story of Bill Hileman, whose wife was among those gunned down.

Bill Hileman is the husband of Suzi Hileman. She was injured in the shooting, and she was the woman who took nine-year-old Christina Green to see Representative Giffords that day and were told that Suzi Hileman has been sort of coming in and out of a morphine-induced haze⁴ and recalling certain parts of the events. And she has been told that Christina Green did not survive that attack, and Bill Hileman, Suzi’s husband, says that that’s gonna be a difficult thing for her to deal with in coming years. NPR’s Jeff Brady.

Funeral arrangements are under way for the six people killed in Saturday’s rampage at a shopping complex. The Tucson community plans to hold Mass tonight and a memorial service tomorrow which President Obama is expected to attend.

The Northeastern US is in for a third snowstorm in less than three weeks, the same system that hit the Southeast. Some areas from Louisiana to North Caroline got nearly a foot of snow. NPR’s Kathy Lohr reports freezing temperatures continue to cause hazardous⁶ conditions.

Atlanta streets are mostly deserted⁷, and some drivers who have ventured out are clogging⁸ the roads and major interstate highways. The few snow plows⁹ as it has are working to keep major routes open, and some are trying to free a dozens of tractor-trailers stuck along ice-covered interstates. Schools are closed for a second day; many businesses remain shut down; and thousands of flights are again canceled at Atlanta’s airport. At least nine people have died in weather-related traffic accidents across the South. More snow and ice are predicted for parts of the Southeast before the system heads north, where it’s expected to dump heavy snow from Pennsylvania to New York and into New England by Wednesday. Kathy Lohr, NPR News, Atlanta.

In his visit to Afghanistan, Vice⁵ President Joe Biden said American troops could stay past a scheduled 2014 security handover if Afghanistan’s government wanted that. While visiting Kabul, Biden told Afghanistan leader Hamid Karzai that while the US is not in Afghanistan to govern, it will support the Afghanistan people in rebuilding. American troops are scheduled to start withdrawing from Afghanistan this July.

At last check on Wall street, the Dow was up nearly 30 points at 11,665.

This is NPR.

In Germany today, a scandal over elevated levels of dioxin in the food supply prompted authorities to kill hundreds of pigs after tests showed high levels of the cancer-causing chemical in some swine. As NPR’s Eric Westervelt reports, the dioxin problem in the country has now widen beyond poultry¹⁰ and eggs.

Authorities in the northwest German state of Lower Saxony found elevated levels of dioxin in swine flu for the first time and ordered all the pigs at one farm to be killed. Before today’s pig farm discovery, the excessive levels of dioxin had been found only in eggs and some chicken meat, which prompted hundreds of farms to be closed last week. Many farms have now reopened, but more than 500 remain closed today. Government tests on fat products used in feed pellets have found feed containing more than 70 times the allowed amount of dioxin. German authorities are now investigating how fat products reserved for industrial use ended up in animal feed. Germany’s agriculture minister now wants to prohibit companies from producing both industrial fats and fats used for livestock¹¹. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Berlin.

The words you write on Twitter can reveal a lot about where you live. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University studied 380,000 messages on the social networking site and found a chockful of regional dialects. There obvious one such as “you-all” in the South. Not so obvious to researchers were such as “s-u-t-t-i-n-suttin” in New York City, shorthand for something. Interest in this area of language is growing rapidly among the linguists¹² underscoring that Georgetown University reportedly will hold a conference this year examining new media speech.

1 airway   

n.空中航线，通风口

参考例句：

• Lay them on their side and ensure the airway is unobstructed.让他们侧躺着，并确保呼吸道畅通。
• There is a purple airway in London Airport.伦敦机场里有一条皇家专用飞机跑道。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 assassinate   

vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤

参考例句：

• The police exposed a criminal plot to assassinate the president.警方侦破了一个行刺总统的阴谋。
• A plot to assassinate the banker has been uncovered by the police.暗杀银行家的密谋被警方侦破了。

4 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

7 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

8 clogging   

堵塞，闭合

参考例句：

• This process suffers mainly from clogging the membrane. 这种过程的主要问题是滤膜的堵塞。
• And you know that eyewitness that's been clogging up the airwaves? 你知道那个充斥着电视广播的目击证人？

9 plows   

n.犁( plow的名词复数 )；犁型铲雪机v.耕( plow的第三人称单数 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• Alex and Tony were turning awkward hands to plows and hoe handles. 亚历克斯和托尼在犁耙等农活方面都几乎变成新手了。
• Plows are still pulled by oxen in some countries. 在一些国家犁头仍由牛拖拉。

10 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

11 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

12 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句