NPR 2008-12-28

Israel says the offensive it launched against the Islamist Hamas Group in the Gaza Strip today is aimed at improving the security situation in southern Israel which has been the target of salvos of rockets and mortar¹ shells fired from Gaza. Israeli warplanes struck at Hamas targets today, killing² more than 230 people and injuring hundreds of others. Israeli Defense³ Minister Ehud Barak did not rule out the use of ground forces in the offensive. "If boots on the ground will be needed, there will be too. I don't to hide it. We will act until we reach the objective of this operation. " Barak was on FOX NEWS.

The daytime attack triggered widespread confusion as well as problems at hospitals in Gaza as the BBC's Rushdi Abou Alouf reports.

The main hospital, Shifa Hospital, in Gaza are still sending appeal for the people to go on donate their blood there since that we are running out of medicine. The operation rooms in the hospital are out of capacity. We have hundreds of people. They are in urgent need for a surgeon as we have no surgeons to do the surgeries. They are calling that Egypt to open the Rafah crossing, and we had that Egypt has already opened Rafah crossing and they are now caught or anything in some sort of transferring some people to the hospital in Egypt. The BBC's Rushdi Abou Alouf in Gaza.

The US is calling for re-establishment of a ceasefire there, but is blaming Hamas for violating the truce⁴ in the first place. The reaction was quite different in the Arab world as NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Arab League head Amr Moussa said "we face a major humanitarian⁵ catastrophe⁶ as the dead and wounded are collected. " Demonstrations⁷ have been reported from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. As one of the few Arab states with diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, Egypt summoned the Israeli ambassador to complain about the air strikes. President Hosni Mubarak also ordered Egyptian emergency crews to bring wounded Gazans to Egyptian hospitals. Statements from the United Nations, Britain, France and Russia all called on both the Israelis and the Islamist Hamas Movement to end the violence. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Cairo.

The explosion of a kerosene⁸ heater touched off a fire at a duplex in Philadelphia last night. The blaze killed seven people. Joel Rose reports.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation⁹, but the deadly blaze appears to have started with a kerosene heater. One neighbor told the Associated Press he saw a woman at the home add fuel to the heater shortly before it exploded. Firefighters arrived at the scene minutes after receiving an emergency call but they were not able to save the four adults and three children who died in the fire. Six of the victims were discovered in a basement that had only one exit. Firefighters say there were no smoke detectors¹⁰ in the house. For NPR News, I'm Joel Rose in Philadelphia.

Environmental groups are accusing public health officials in Tennessee of downplaying the risk from a massive spill of potentially toxic¹¹ residue¹². The sludge came out of a reservoir at a coal-fired power plant.

This is NPR News.

Rain and higher temperatures in the Pacific Northwest are expected to melt much of the snow that has fallen in the region over the past couple of weeks, 19 inches of snow in Portland for instance. In Seattle, forecasters are optimistic the rain will not trigger any major flooding. But there were still travel problems in eastern Oregon today and eastern Washington State got several inches of additional snow.

Consumer confidence is down not only in the United States but also across North America. But you wouldn't know it from watching shoppers in Canada on this, the traditional biggest shopping day of the year in that country, Boxing Day. More from Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

Hordes¹³ of customers jammed parking lots and long lineups marked Boxing Day sales in most of Canada's major cities. Some store owners described it as retail¹⁴ fever as Canadians came out in the tens of thousands in their annual search for bargains on the day after Christmas when many retailers¹⁵ offered their deepest price cuts. Some store owners say many held off making big purchases, hoping for better deals closer to Christmas. At least one analyst¹⁶ says it won't last, adding that even if store traffic remains¹⁷ high, that won't be reflected in dollar sales as Canadians batten down their wallets for a tough year ahead. However, many retailers report Boxing Day sales at least as strong as last year. In contrast, the US holiday shopping season has been less jolly as some agencies say retail sales are down as much as 8% compared with last year. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

Federal Prosecutor¹⁸ Patrick Fitzgerald has asked Illinois lawmakers not to subpoena¹⁹ two aides to President-elect Barack Obama and the lawmakers have agreed. Fitzgerald said those subpoenas²⁰ would interfere²¹ with his ongoing²² probe of corruption²³ charges against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

1 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。

2 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。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

5 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。

6 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

7 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

8 kerosene   

n.(kerosine)煤油，火油

参考例句：

• It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
• Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电，有煤油灯。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

11 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

12 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

13 hordes   

n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落

参考例句：

• There are always hordes of tourists here in the summer. 夏天这里总有成群结队的游客。
• Hordes of journalists jostled for position outside the conference hall. 大群记者在会堂外争抢位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

15 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

16 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。

17 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

18 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

19 subpoena   

n.（法律）传票；v.传讯

参考例句：

• He was brought up to court with a subpoena.他接到传讯，来到法庭上。
• Select committees have the power to subpoena witnesses.特别委员会有权传唤证人。

20 subpoenas   

n.（传唤出庭的）传票( subpoena的名词复数 )v.（用传票）传唤（某人）( subpoena的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• My company has complied with committee subpoenas by supplying documents confirming all that I have said. 本公司按照委员会的要求，提供了能够证实我刚才发言的文件。 来自辞典例句
• Congressional Investigations: Subpoenas and Contempt Power. Report for Congress April 2, 2003. 金灿荣：《美国国会的监督功能》，载《教学与研究》2003年第2期。 来自互联网

21 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

22 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

23 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。