NPR 2008-05-04

Emergency workers are searching for more victims from deadly storms that raked Arkansas yesterday. At least eight people are dead and more are hurt in four more states. Dozens of homes have been damaged or destroyed. And the National Weather Service says as many as 25 tornadoes¹ may have touched down. Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has declared states of emergency in seven counties. He’s ordered out the National Guard to help rescuers.

 The Democratic presidential candidates are campaigning in Indiana and North Carolina ahead of next Tuesday’s primary elections. Although Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both have similar views on many government policies, this week, they differed sharply on whether to suspend the federal gas tax temporarily over the summer. Clinton, like presidential candidate John McCain, supports the suspension. Obama says it wouldn’t really work. That’s because consumers would save about 28 dollars over three months.

 Republican candidate McCain has visited Colorado. He used the campaign stop in Denver to drum up support for his health care plan. But as Sarah Hughes reports, the event also attracted protesters.

 In a town hall meeting at a local community center, John McCain told a crowd of several hundred that his health care plan would give every family the option to have a 5000-dollar tax credit. “You’ve got 5000 dollars. You’ve got 5000 dollars to go out and then invest in health insurance.” Just outside of the community center, over a dozen protesters including Mike Cerbo, head of the Colorado AFL-CIO, gathered to protest the tax credit, calling it “too little, too late”. “The only measure that Senator McCain is offering to help perform, just not gonna be enough. It’s, it’s, it’s a crumb².” McCain is using the tax credit as one of the hallmarks of his health care plan. For NPR News, I’m Sarah Hughes, in Denver, Colorado.

 President Bush says Congress is partially³ to blame for the high costs of gasoline and energy. Mr. Bush has visited St. Louis where he gave a speech. From member station KWMU, Adam Allington reports.

 With stimulus⁴ checks starting to hit bank accounts this week, President Bush said an economic rebound⁵ is on the horizon. Bush said the full effect of the stimulus won’t kick in immediately, but America can spend its way out of the current economic slowdown. “We want to make sure that people were encouraged to be consumers. We wanted there to be consumption in our society, and no better way to stimulate⁶ consumption than to let you have some of your own money back.” Bush says with more cash on hand, Americans will be better able to cope with higher energy costs and rising food prices. Some fiscal⁷ conservatives remain skeptical⁸ that people will spend the rebate⁹ checks on the kinds of things that actually stimulate growth. Overall, the economy grew at a meager¹⁰ 0.6% in the first quarter of 2008. For NPR News, I’m Adam Allington, in St. Louis.

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 Members of Zimbabwe’s political opposition¹¹ are meeting to decide whether to participate in a run-off election. The opposition claims it won March’s presidential election outright¹². Yesterday, Zimbabwean election officials finally released results of the voting. The ruling party acknowledges the opposition won, but not by enough to avoid a run-off election. If the opposition party rejects the run-off election, Zimbabwean law says the ruling party gets to stay in power.

 The space shuttle Discovery is a step closer to lift-off. Engineers at the Kennedy Space Center rolled the vehicle out to the launch pad for final testing before launch day at the end of this month. From member station WMFE, Pat Duggins reports.

 The trip to the launch pad goes at a snail’s pace. The shuttle is bolted to its external fuel tank and booster rockets. The whole spacecraft is then hoisted¹³ onto a huge tractor for the trip out. Once Discovery is secured at the pad, engineers will load its main cargo¹⁴. It’s a 30,000-pound Japanese science lab bound for the International Space Station. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide’s part of the crew of space shuttle Discovery. He says he really can’t believe he’s going to space. “It hasn't sunk in yet for me. I’m feeling very calm and I’m hearing that sometimes it hits you, when the solid rocket booster ignites. So, we’ll see, we’ll see when it hits me.” Discovery’s cargo is the second part of the three-part Japanese Kebo complex on the space station. Once finished, it will be the biggest research lab on the orbiting outpost. For NPR News, I’m Pat Duggins, in Orlando.

 The US military says that an American soldier has been killed in Iraq. He died on patrol when a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad. Two soldiers have been killed in May.

1 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

2 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。

3 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

4 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。

5 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

6 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

7 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

8 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

9 rebate   

v./n.折扣，回扣，退款；vt.给...回扣，给...打折扣

参考例句：

• You can claim a rebate on your tax.你可以要求退回部分税款。
• Customers are to benefit from a rebate on their electricity bills.顾客将从他们的电费退费中得到实惠。

10 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

13 hoisted   

把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He hoisted himself onto a high stool. 他抬身坐上了一张高凳子。
• The sailors hoisted the cargo onto the deck. 水手们把货物吊到甲板上。

14 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。