NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2014-06-02

 In the Rose Garden this evening, President Obama was joined by the parents of army sergeant¹ Bowe Bergdahl who was released after being held by the Taliban for nearly 5 years. The President says the US has an ‘ironclad commitment’ to bring home its prisoners of war. 

 

"As commander-in-chief, I am proud of the service members who recovered Sgt. Bergdahl and brought him safely out of harm's way. As usual, they performed with extraordinary courage and professionalism, and they have made their nation proud. Right now our top priority is making sure that Bowe gets the care and support that he needs and that he can be reunited with his family as soon as possible.”

 

His father, Bob Bergdahl, says his son’s return to freedom will be tough.

 

“I'd like to say to Bowe right now, who is having trouble speaking English, 'I'm your father, Bowe. People in Afghanistan, the same. The complicated nature of this recovery will really never be comprehended.”

 

In exchange for Bowe’s freedom, 5 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay will be transferred to Qatar. 

 

The State department has confirmed an US citizen helped carry out a suicide bombing in Syria this week. NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang reports that the American was 22-year-old man from Florida.

 

Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha is the first-knew US-born suicide bomber² in Syria, since the conflict there broke out 3 years ago. Abu-Slha grew up in south Florida. In middle school, he played on a basketball team as a power forward with Time Fernel in Vero Beach, Florida.

 

“It’s really frustrating³. Generally, he’s a very nice guy, very outgoing. He’s definitely more than free to speak his mind.”

 

Fernel remembers Abu-Salha is one of the few Muslim students in their middle school. Late last year Abu-Salha traveled to Syria where this week he took part in a suicide truck bombing against Syria government. Hansi Lo Wang. NPR news.

 

President Obama says new rules curbing⁴ greenhouse gases from power plants are essential to protect the health and wellbeing of Americans.

 

“This week, we’re unveiling … proposed guidelines [that] will cut down on the carbon pollution, smog, and soot⁵ that threaten the health of the most vulnerable Americans, including children and the elder.”

 

The President speaks in his weekly radio address this morning, but in the Republican response, Senator Mike Enzi says President’s energy policies are bad for the economy.

 

“The administration has set out kill coal and its 800,000 jobs. If it succeeds in death by regulation, we’ll all be paying a lot more money for electricity – if we can get it.”

 

President Obama says the environmental protection agency has been building on the efforts of many states and companies to reduce carbon pollution. The rules will be announced on Monday.

 

This is NPR news.

 

A 40-million-dollar settlement paying college football and basketball players for the use for their likeness⁶ and NCAA granted video games is now complete. The pay will go to more than 100,000 athletes, including some current players for using their likeness and games made by electronic arts featuring college teams. Games can range from $48 to $951 a year. But the deal does not include the NCAA, in case against that agency is set for trail early next year.

 

Thousands of people are collaborating⁷ this weekend on civic⁸ projects, more than 100 events across the country. NPR’s Julie Abelly reports software programmers and hacker⁹ are teaming up with local government agencies to develop technological¹⁰ solutions to local community problems.

 

The aim of the #HackforChange events are to make certain government data more accessible For example, one of this weekend’s events is taking complaints about financial products and services from a government database and making that data more accessible to consumers. One of the organizers Todd Khozein told NPR the hackers¹¹ want to help to provide communities access to “inaccessible yet acceptable government data.”

 

“This is not controversial data. This is a sort of data that nobody would object you but they may be sitting in a corner is not being used well.”

 

The Hackathon had planned a coordination¹² with White House office of science and technology policy. Julie Abelly, NPR news, Washington. 

 

A rare comic book collection included the first appearance of Superman and Batman is hitting the auction¹³ block. Among the offerings is a pristine¹⁴ issue of Flash Comics No. 1 from 1940 which is expected to get the highest price from the auction’s end next Tuesday.

 

This is NPR.

1 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

2 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。

3 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 curbing   

n.边石，边石的材料v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Progress has been made in curbing inflation. 在控制通货膨胀方面已取得了进展。
• A range of policies have been introduced aimed at curbing inflation. 为了抑制通货膨胀实施了一系列的政策。

5 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

6 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

7 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

8 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

9 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

10 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

11 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

12 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

13 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

14 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。