NPR 2010-01-16

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

 

International aid is being distributed to more earthquake survivors¹ in Haiti, but getting to the masses with food, aid and medical services is still difficult. An estimated 3 million people, 1/3 of Haiti's population lost their homes in Tuesday's 7.0 quake. Reaching all of them is a logistical nightmare. The one airport that's operational is clogged² with dozens of planes carrying aid. The situation in the capital Port-au-Prince is turning ugly. Reuters news service, citing a Time Magazine photographer, reports angry survivors have set up roadblocks out of corpses³ and rocks. There are also accounts of looting. President Obama spoke⁴ to Haitian President Rene Preval by phone earlier today. He pledged to help Haiti rebuild. The president also thanked military and civilian⁵ teams who've joined searching rescue operations.

 

"I wanna thank our people on the ground, our men and women in uniform who have moved so swiftly, our civilians⁶ and embassy's staff, many of whom suffered their own losses in this tragedy. "

 

The International Committee of the Red Cross reports it has set up a new website to help connect families with loved ones missing since the earthquake last Tuesday, as Lisa Schlein reports thousands have already registered.

 

Red Cross spokesman Marcal Izard says the family website which was set up just two days ago already has registered 13, 000 names.

 

"It's really growing and lots of people are putting their names on it to look for loved ones in Haiti. There are, among these 13, 000, there are several hundred Haitians in Haiti who are also there, who are telling the world or the people there, I'm, I'm still around, I'm, I'm alive."

 

Izard says many visitors to the site are from the United States and Canada which have large Haitian communities. He attributes the quick response to the spread of information on Internet social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. He says the Haitian website is growing even faster than the one set up for the 2004 tsunami⁷. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

 

Exiled former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide says he's ready to return home. Here’s NPR's Gwen Tompkins.

 

Former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide now lives in Pretoria with his wife and children as reportedly embraced a writer's life. A rebellion ousted⁸ him from office in Haiti in 2004. But, on Friday, Arsitide told reporters that he may return to his homeland and be of service at this time of great national emergency. Tuesday's earthquake has leveled much of that island nation, and Aristide, who was formerly⁹ a street preacher in Haiti, says he has friends who can charter a flight for him to return home. Aristide remains¹⁰ enormously popular in Haiti, despite accusations¹¹ of corruption¹² and of targeted assassinations¹³ of his political enemies. But his return could destabilize national politics at this time, making an already catastrophic situation even worse. Gwen Tompkins, NPR News, Nairobi.

 

This is NPR.

 

Eastern Venezuela was hit by an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6. There have been no immediate¹⁵ reports of injuries or damage.

 

President Obama's plan for preventing foreclosures has now reached close to a million homeowners, but critics say the program is running into trouble. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

 

Nine hundred and two thousand homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure have now had their mortgage payments reduced at least temporarily through the president's plan, but only 7% of qualified¹⁶ for permanent help. It's unclear to what degree, that's because these people can't document their income, or whether the bigger problem is just getting the banks to deal with all the paperwork. Assistant Treasury¹⁷ Secretary Michael Barr.

 

"We believe there is much, much more work to be done, to make sure the program is running right, to stabilize¹⁴ our housing market in the broader economy. But we're encouraged very much by the efforts we've seen today. "

 

Bank of America has started 19% of its delinquent¹⁸ loans in the program. Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase are at 35%, and Citimortgage has reached 47%. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

 

JP Morgan Chase posted a more than 3-billion-dollar profit in the final month of 2009, more than 4 times its earnings¹⁹ a year earlier, but sales were not as high as investors²⁰ had hoped. And shortly after the open on Wall Street, JP Morgan shares were down 2%.

 

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 120 points at 10, 594, NASDAQ down nearly 30 at 2, 287, S&P 500 down 14 at 1,135.

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.
 

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 clogged   

（使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞

参考例句：

• The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
• The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。

3 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

4 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。

5 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

6 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

7 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

8 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

9 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

10 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。

11 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

12 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。

13 assassinations   

n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most anarchist assassinations were bungled because of haste or spontaneity, in his view. 在他看来，无政府主义者搞的许多刺杀都没成功就是因为匆忙和自发行动。 来自辞典例句
• Assassinations by Israelis of alleged terrorists habitually kill nearby women and children. 在以色列，自称恐怖分子的炸弹自杀者杀害靠近自己的以色列妇女和儿童。 来自互联网

14 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

15 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

16 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

17 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。

18 delinquent   

adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者

参考例句：

• Most delinquent children have deprived backgrounds.多数少年犯都有未受教育的背景。
• He is delinquent in paying his rent.他拖欠房租。

19 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

20 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会