NPR NEWS 2008-02-05

Fans took to the streets of Manhattan last night as the New York Giants managed to pull off one of professional football's biggest upsets. The Giants shocked the previously¹ unbeaten New England Patriots² in the Super Bowl by beating the Pats 17 to 14. Quarterback Eli Manning led the Giants on a late fourth quarter drive that culminated³ with a touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with just 35 seconds remaining. 'There are so many touch plays by this team and big wins throughout the whole season that they make it, they get as soon as point and again the same thing tonight, a lot of big plays to win the game.' Manning was named the game's Most Valuable Player. It was a bitter loss for the Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick who had kind words for the Giants. 'It was a tough game about the way we expected about the way it was our last time and congratulate to Giants. You know, they made some plays there at the end. We had the chances, but they just, they just made a couple more than we did.' the Patriots' loss means the 1972 Miami Dolphins remain the league's only unbeaten single season franchise⁴.

Two Palestinian suicide bombers⁶ attacked a shopping area in the southern Israeli desert town of Dimona today killing⁷ at least one Israeli and wounding ten others. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

An Israeli police spokesman says one bomber⁵ blew himself up in a busy outdoor shopping area in downtown Dimona. A policeman then shot dead a second attacker before he could detonate his explosives belt. It's not yet known where the attackers came from. Already several militant⁸ Palestinian groups have claimed responsibility. Israeli security officials had been warning of possible attack from Palestinians infiltrating⁹ along the poor Sinai border with Egypt ever since Hamas militants¹⁰ blew up the southern Gaza border barrier letting tens of thousands of Palestinians cross into Egypt over the last 12 days. Dimona is home to Israel's secretive nuclear program. It's the first suicide attack in Israel since January 2007. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Jerusalem.

China's brutal¹¹ winter weather continues, leaving millions stranded¹² today. Freezing storms have killed scores of people and left travelers without means to get to holiday destinations. The Chinese New Year is just days away and for many, it's the only opportunity to take a vacation. The Chinese Weather Service says the country is suffering through the coldest winter in a century.

Wall Street will look to continue the momentum¹³ from last week when the markets opened this morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week up more than 4%. Asian markets were pleased by Wall Street's advances last week and rallied today. Markets in China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea all showed gains.

A U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will hear legal challenges today in a case of a Canadian terror suspect. The 21-year-old is accused of killing a U.S. soldier when he was just 15 years old.

From Washington, this is NPR news.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain took a break from campaigning yesterday to watch the Super Bowl with independent Democrat¹⁴ Senator Joseph Lieberman. McCain says he is incredibly nervous as Super Tuesday approaches. Most polls put McCain ahead of GOP rival Mitt¹⁵ Romney but McCain says he's seen that movie before. Mitt Romney meanwhile kicks off a bicoastal campaign tour today with stops in Tennessee, Georgia and California. NPR's Audie Cornish reports.

Romney wrapped up a weekend of campaigning in the Midwest at a Super Bowl kick-off game in St. Louis. There Romney told supporters that he was the best and last Conservative option in the GOP race. 'My campaign has prospects¹⁶ of going all the way. And if we wanna keep the, er, if we wanna keep our party in the House of Reagan Bill, that we are gonna have to get behind my campaign.' Romney says he is focusing on picking up as many delegates as he can in states with their order for Congressional District instead of winner take-off. He is especially focusing attention on California where he hopes to run competitively with current frontrunner John McCain. Audie Cornish, NPR News, Nashville.

The two Democrats¹⁷ running for the presidential nomination¹⁸ took a different approach during their campaigning yesterday. Democrat Barack Obama appeared with some celebrities¹⁹ including Oprah Winfrey, Caroline Kennedy and her cousin California's first lady Maria Shriver. Hillary Clinton meanwhile spent Sunday attacking Republicans saying that she's been tested.

And the head of the United Auto²⁰ Workers says the union will not endorse²¹ any presidential candidate during the primary season. However, Ron Gettelfinger told a Washington meeting of union activists²² that it will work aggressively to elect a Democrat to the White House.

I'm David Bianculli, NPR News, in Washington.

1 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

2 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

3 culminated   

v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• a gun battle which culminated in the death of two police officers 一场造成两名警察死亡的枪战
• The gala culminated in a firework display. 晚会以大放烟火告终。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

6 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

9 infiltrating   

v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网

10 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。

11 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

12 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

13 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

14 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

15 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

16 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

17 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》

18 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

19 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

20 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

21 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。

22 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》