NPR 2011-05-24

Vast areas of Joplin, Missouri are said to be unrecognizable, a day after a tornado¹ plowed² through downtown with up to 165-mph winds. People in the southwestern Missouri city are finding entire neighborhoods reduced to twisted metal and rubble³. Strips of clothing can be seen wrapped around tree branches or scattered⁴ far across the terrain⁵. The death toll⁶ stands at 89. That number may rise as the search for the missing continues into the night. For survivors⁷, such as Larry Bruffy, the frustration⁸ with police is growing.

"Try to go and get food and water, and they all won't let you back in on the streets and get to your house. We have emergency here for some medicine. If it weren't for that, my kids couldn't get back to our house."

Reporter Dan Verbeck of member station KCUR says police are trying to keep the area clear for mainly emergency personnel.

The firefighters are going through neighborhood by neighborhood. Right now, there is a 70-square block. There a collection of firefighters from places like Kansas City and suburban⁹ Kansas City and places in Kansas are going through house by house. They have to do it with a great deal of care because some of the houses are in danger of collapse¹⁰, but they have dogs with them, and if a dog indicates there may be someone alive in a house, they go in.

Reporter Dan Verbeck. Now, more storms are on the way for parts of Missouri and several other Midwestern and Southern states just beginning to recover from devastating¹¹ storms in recent weeks.

There's always been a little green behind the red, white and blue, those words from President Obama moving thousands of people in Dublin, Ireland to thunderous cheers today as Mr. Obama laid out the connections between the US and the homeland of his great, great, great grandfather.

"My name is Barack Obama, of the Moneygall Obamas. I've come home to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way."

The president is scheduled to leave Ireland after dinner earlier than initially¹² planned because of the cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano, much like the one that caused huge disruptions across Europe about a year ago, but some Americans, such as tourist Rebecca Anderson, who's passing through Amsterdam, seem to be taking the ash cloud threat in stride.

"Perhaps suddenly have to stay. I wouldn't be upset about it, and we're on vacation. It's a beautiful country. We want to see, see the place, and if we have to stay an extra week, I'm OK with that."

All dense¹³ cloud was being blown toward Scotland and forced two airlines to cancel their flights. Other parts of the UK and Ireland may be affected¹⁴ later this week.

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down more than 1% at 12,381 in trading of just over three billion shares; NASDAQ down 1.5% at 2,759.

This is NPR News.

The French government confirms it's sending an aircraft carrier with 12 attack helicopters to the waters off Libya. Details from NPR's Martin Kaste.

France was the first country to come to the aid of Libyan rebels when it bombed Muammar Gaddafi's military back in March. NATO soon followed suit and has been hitting Gaddafi's military almost daily, but it hasn't been enough to end the conflict between government and rebels, so France is uping the ante again. The attack helicopters allow for more precise air strikes, but they're also more vulnerable to counterattack from the ground. The Libyan rebels have been calling on NATO to step up attacks and push Gaddafi from power, but some NATO member countries are reluctant to endorse¹⁵ a military mission of regime change. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Benghazi, Libya.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" drawing the biggest crowds domestically. We have the latest from NPR's Trina Williams.

Preliminary ticket sales of 346.4 million dollars helped "On Stranger Tides" set the record as the highest-grossing movie around the world, and while domestic earnings¹⁶ make "Pirates" the best opening of the year, it falls short of some projections¹⁷ and fails to surpass its last two predecessors¹⁸. Those pirate movies debuted¹⁹ above the 100-million-dollar mark. Johnny Depp returns as the seedy but lovable Jack²⁰ Sparrow for this fourth installment²¹. Geoffrey Rush also reprises his role as the now one-legged Barbossa.

"What has become of my beloved Pearl?"

"Taken. Blackbeard."

Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane are newcomers to the franchise²². "Bridesmaids" remains²³ No.2 on the domestic chart, while last weekend's champ "Thor" dropped to third place. "Fast Five" is fourth, and "Rio" continues to hold steady in No.5. Trina Williams, NPR News.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington

1 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

2 plowed   

v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• They plowed nearly 100,000 acres of virgin moorland. 他们犁了将近10万英亩未开垦的高沼地。 来自辞典例句
• He plowed the land and then sowed the seeds. 他先翻土，然后播种。 来自辞典例句

3 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 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

8 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

9 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

12 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。

13 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

14 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

15 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

16 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

17 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

18 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

20 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。

21 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

22 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

23 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。