NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-12-27

 Iran’s state-run media say Iranian lawmakers have introduced the bill to force the government to increase uranium enrichment if new sanctions are imposed. Last week a bill was introduced in the US Senate authorizing¹ new economic sanctions if Iran breaches² the interim³ nuclear deal reached last month. That deal limits Iran’s uranium enrichment to 5%, the bill before the Iranian parliament cause for 60% enrichment in the face of stiffer sanctions.

 

NSA leaker Edward Snowden delivered a Christmas message on British television today. Each year, Britain’s Channel Four broadcast what it calls an alternative to the Queen’s holiday message, mimicking⁴ her format⁵ and sometime playful, sometime serious way. As Larry Miller⁶ reports from London, Snowden’s statements today were very serious.

 

Snowden says today surveillance society goes well beyond anything George Orwell imaged. NSA technology gets more invasive. A child born today will never experience privacy.

 

They will never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. Privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.”

 

Snowden says the conversation going on today will determine the balance between the technology and the government they regulated. And he says if government really wants to know what people are doing and thinking, asking is always cheaper than spying. For NPR News, I am Larry Miller in London.

 

In South Sudan heavy fighting continues between two tribes that supported the country’s two competing politicians. They ignored the ceasefire that was proposed by the African Union. Meanwhile an AU delegation⁷ is heading to South Sudan’s capital Juba to try a negotiated political peace. NPR’s Gregory Warner is in Juba.

 

The African Union delegation includes the Kenyan president and Ethiopian prime minister. They will join other international diplomats⁸ trying to negotiate talks between South Sudan’s two most power politicians, President Salva Kiir and former vice⁹ President Riek Machar. A power struggled between the two men sparks to more than a week, a violence along ethnic¹⁰ lines that left thousands dead across the country. Some 45,000 people are taking shelter in UN compounds afraid to return to their homes. The United Nations voted to almost double its peacekeeping force to 12,500 troops for fear further ethnic violence around next year’s party elections. Gregory Warner, NPR News, Juba.

 

Officials at US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan say the compound was hit today by two rounds of mortar¹¹ a rocket fire. They say all Americans are accounted for and no one was injured. Taliban militants¹² claim they fired four rockets at the embassy.

 

This is NPR.

 

UPS says some of its holiday shipments are delayed because of heavy volume and bad weather in recent days. The company says the volume of packages being transported by air exceed its capacity. FedEx also delay getting shipment out. A spokesman says relative few are not being delivered in time. 

 

The Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count is underway across the country but in Utah its bird counts are very different nature. Wildlife official is finding unusually high number of dead and dying bald eagles. NPR’s Howard Berkes reports at least dozen have died from a mysterious disease. 

 

Utah wildlife officials are expecting necropsy results after the New Year from a government wildlife health lab in Wisconsin. Six of the body goes to find alive but suffering from debilitating¹³ disease that trigger tumors, paralysis¹⁴ seizure¹⁵ and death. Other eagles were found dead by hunters, farmers and homeowners, all within the general vicinity of the Great Salt Lake. Wildlife rehabilitation¹⁶ experts initially¹⁷ suspected the lead poisoning from shotgun bullets but so far none of birds are tested positive for lead. Avian cholera¹⁸ is also a possibility. It reflects other species of birds around Great Salt Lake where hundreds of eagles often spent the winter. Howard Berkes, NPR News, Salt Lake City.

 

At the Vatican today, Pope Francis celebrated¹⁹ Christmas in keeping with simple style that is smart to papacy so far. He wore a white cassock as he delivered his first Christmas message at St. Peter’s Basilica. Speaking in Italy, Francis prayed for peace which he called a daily commitment and for protection of Christians²⁰ under attack, battered²¹ women and trafficked children.

1 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

2 breaches   

破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背

参考例句：

• He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
• This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。

3 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

4 mimicking   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• She's always mimicking the teachers. 她总喜欢模仿老师的言谈举止。
• The boy made us all laugh by mimicking the teacher's voice. 这男孩模仿老师的声音，逗得我们大家都笑了。 来自辞典例句

5 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

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 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

8 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 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。

10 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

11 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

12 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。

13 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。

14 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

15 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。

16 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

17 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。

18 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。

19 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

20 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。

21 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。