NPR 2010-12-27

Forecasters say the big winter storm blowing up the East Coast could just graze the nation's capital, but other regions may not be so lucky. The National Weather Service's Bob Oravec says the storm will be a blizzard¹ in some areas.

"Blizzard warnings are still in effect across good part of the northeastern US, concentrating around the New York City area and extending northeast where along coastal² sections of New England."

Tow trucks in Raleigh, North Carolina have already responded to hundreds of calls and airlines have canceled hundreds of flights. Parts of New York and New England could get up to a foot of snow. Travelers across the eastern US are saying goodbye to their families earlier than planned to beat the storm. At Washington D.C.'s Union Station, NPR's Neda Ulaby spoke³ to some of the people cramming⁴ themselves on the trains.

Here's how one young woman feels about getting on a packed train for the next four hours.

"Pretty excited."

Thirty-year-old Stefanie Smith works in fashion in New York. She spent the past two days with her mom and dad in D.C. She had been planning to leave later today by bus, but

"got canceled and now it's train, cuz there aren't any flights there. It's kind of hard to get a flight now."

"Was it hard to get a train ticket?"

"Actually, I was the last one to get one for this particular journey or whatever"

"We have another daughter coming in from St. Louis, Missouri, and her flight's been canceled."

That's Stefanie's mom, Michelle Smith. Even though over a thousand flights have already been canceled with many more expected for later this afternoon, she says her daughter will make it home eventually. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

A new economic advisor⁵ is expected to be the only big change at the White House in the New Year. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports the president's spokesman does not anticipate a big cabinet shuffle⁶.

Robert Gibbs told CNN's "State of the Union" television show that there won't be a major cabinet reshuffle in 2011. He said the only switch to expect after the new Congress convenes⁷ is a new top economic advisor. Lawrence Summers, the chairman of the president's National Economic Council, is a former treasury⁸ secretary and president of Harvard. He announced months ago he expected to leave the administration. Summers was a key player in the administration's decision to enact⁹ the 814-billion-dollar economic stimulus¹⁰ package. Gibbs would not say who Summers' replacement¹¹ might be. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

General David Petraeus is reporting progress in fighting insurgence¹² along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

"Operations by a mix of special operations, conventional, and Afghan forces have taken down many of the assassination¹³ cells, still some there. And again, this progress is just going to continue through the winter."

Petraeus, who commands US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, says Pakistani forces have been helping¹⁴ with operations against insurgence in strongholds in tribal¹⁵ areas.

This is NPR.

With Mideast peace talks deadlocked¹⁶, Palestinian leaders are pursuing other options including seeking recognition of a Palestinian state by as many countries as possible. Some Latin American nations have recently done so. And an Israeli Cabinet minister is warning without peace talks, more countries will recognize a Palestinian state within a year, possibly even the US.

Iranian officials call the last-minute halt to today's planned execution of a Kurdish student convicted of waging war against God. NPR's Peter Kenyon in Istanbul.

Human rights and pro-opposition Iranian websites said 29-year-old Habibollah Latifi's lawyer was informed on Thursday that his client would be executed in three days. Latifi was convicted in 2008 of cooperating with a banned Kurdish rebel group. Human Rights Watch said the evidence suggests that Iranian authorities tortured Latifi during his detention¹⁷ and called his trial unfair. Latifi's sister told an Iranian human rights group that she believed their efforts to prevent her brother's execution had been going well and the family were shocked by the sudden announcement that the execution had been scheduled. Human Rights Watch said in 2009, Iran executed 388 people, more than any other nation except China. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Istanbul.

The filmmaker who documented the Olympics for more than six decades has died. Bud Greenspan died at his New York City home apparently¹⁸ of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 84. Even as controversies¹⁹ over politics, commercialism and performance-enhancing drugs hit the Olympics, Greenspan continued to focus on the most uplifting stories from the world's biggest sporting event.

1 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

2 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 cramming   

n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课

参考例句：

• Being hungry for the whole morning, I couldn't help cramming myself. 我饿了一上午，禁不住狼吞虎咽了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She's cramming for her history exam. 她考历史之前临时抱佛脚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

6 shuffle   

n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走

参考例句：

• I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
• Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。

7 convenes   

召开( convene的第三人称单数 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The Premier convenes and presides over the executive meetings and plenary meetings of the State Council. 总理召集和主持国务院常务会议和国务院全体会议。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法
• Chinese woman tenth the National People Congress convenes grandly today in Beijing. 中国妇女第十次全国代表大会今天在北京隆重召开。

8 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

9 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

10 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

11 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

12 insurgence   

n.起义；造反；暴动；叛乱

参考例句：

• US troops moved into the Afghan mountains in an offensive to stop Taliban insurgence. 美军日前进军阿富汗山区阻止塔利班组织的一次暴动。 来自互联网

13 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

14 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

15 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

16 deadlocked   

陷入僵局的；僵持不下的

参考例句：

• The plan deadlocked over the funds. 这个计划由于经费问题而搁浅了。
• The meeting deadlocked over the wage issue. 会议因工资问题而停顿下来。

17 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

18 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

19 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句