NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2014-02-11

 It was a big win for Russia in the new Team Figure Skating Competition at the Olympic Games in Sochi today. NPR’s Robert Smith reports on the results.

 

Team Russia took the skating gold. In fact, it is the first gold medal the home country has won so far. The Russians did by combining the old and the new. First the old, OK, just the 31 years old Evgeni Plushenko dazzled out some his classic move for individual program. But everyone is talking about the new, the new comer, 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya wowed the crowd with the stunting¹ short program and then at own move free programs set the music from Schindler's List. Canada took the silver medal in team skating. The US got bronze supported by good performance from first time Olympic’s Jason Brown and Gracie Gold. Robert Smith, NPR News, Sochi.

 

A California company is recalling nearly 9 million pounds of beef product that is shipped to four states. NPR’s Nathan Rott reports. The company processed the diseased animals and did not undergo proper federal inspection². 

 

Over the last year, Rancho Feeding Corporation in Northern California processed more than 8.7 million pounds of beef product that includes everything from beef carcasses to just beef tongues. Some it does not know how much of those products came from diseased and unsound animals and none of those products received the full federal inspection. That is according to the US Department of Agriculture. The meat product was shipped to distribution centers and stores in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas but there have been no reports of illness to date. Nathan Rott, NPR News.

 

Residents in Portland again have begun to venture out under an ice storm crippled the city for several days. Conrad Wilson reports it virtually shutdown the city.

 

The early razors in Portland had scraped rail on Sunday but by mid-afternoon the ice was melting. The city issued an emergency alert, urging residents to stay indoors while at the same time the light rail and NNNN car network resume limited service. The storm entered the air travel in the area. Dozens of flights were cancelled and delayed on Sunday at the Portland International Airport. Residents are breathing. Forecasters say there is a chance of more freezing rain Monday, For NPR News, I am Conrad Wilson in Portland.

 

In Pennsylvania, estimated 44,000 thousand homes and business are still without power after last week’s ice storm. Utility crews have been working around the clock to get customers back on line. PECO Power Company’s spokesman Fred Maher calls last week’s weather event a perfect storm. 

 

Snow on Monday heavy snow onto the trees already then we got a little bit of rain on earlier Wednesday morning which soaked into the snow where still on the trees and then we got ice on top of that which just added so much weight to a lot of these already stressed trees. 

 

Most of the meteorologists were in the Philadelphia area.

 

This is NPR.

 

Officials in Homs, Syria say humanitarian³ teams have evacuated⁴ more than 600 civilians⁵ from the besieged⁶ center of the city and delivered the aid to those who remain. This as aid workers continue to come under fire for a second day, shelling yesterday, injured four aid workers and violated what was supposed to be a three-day pause in fighting.

 

The European Union is considering upgrading relations with Cuba. In Brussels tomorrow, EU foreign ministers are expected to seek a new framework for political exchanges but continue to NNNN to Cuba’s human rights record. Lauren Frayer report from Madrid.

 

The European Union lifted diplomatic sanction on Cuba in 2008 and Spain is leading efforts to lift commercial restrictions⁷ too. Carlos Malamud is the analyst⁸ at Madrid Elcano Royal Institute.

 

From the US point of view, Cuban efforts are internal US efforts especially in some states like Florida. In Europe is very different except Spain.

 

More than half of Cubans have Spanish ancestor. For years ago, Madrid intervened to get hundreds of Cuban dissidents from prison. Now the EU is poised⁹ to follow China and Latin America with increased trade with Cuba, looking ahead to a possible leadership transition on the communist island. For NPR News, I am Lauren Frayer in Madrid. 

 

Secretary of States John Kerry will make his 5th trip to Asia this week. He will travel to South Korea, China and Indonesia. The trip comes among high intensions between China and its smaller neighbors over territorial¹⁰ disputes in the east and south China seas.

1 stunting   

v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective To report three-year-old twin brothers with speech stunting. 目的报道孪生兄弟同患语言发育迟缓的临床结果。 来自互联网
• No one should talk while stunting except coach or back spotter. 在技巧进行的过程中，只有教练或后保能说话。 来自互联网

2 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 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。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

6 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

10 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。