NPR 2010-11-08

President Obama today promised to make "midcourse corrections" following his party's election losses last week. He did not provide specifics. Mr. Obama spoke¹ in Mumbai, India on the second day of a ten-day-long Asian tour. NPR's Corey Flintoff reports the president and the first lady managed to get in some sightseeing today.
Followed by a swarm² of photographers, the president and the first lady visited a 16th-century mausoleum in New Delhi that's widely considered to be an architectural precursor³ to the famed Taj Mahal. The president pronounced the monumental building to be "spectacular" and noted⁴ that it took only seven years to build. He joked that it would be hard to get something like that built in the United States in the same time frame and said the tomb was a work of good contractors⁵. Earlier in the day, the Obamas were greeted at the New Delhi airport by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It's unusual for a head of government to greet visiting dignitaries at the airport, but the prime minister accorded a similar honor to President Bush when he visited India in 2006. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, New Delhi.
President Obama is scheduled to travel to Indonesia Tuesday. But White House officials are keeping an eye on Mount Merapi. The volcano has been erupting for two weeks now. Julia Simon reports that many international flights to Indonesia are canceled because of volcanic⁶ ash.
Most domestic flights are still operating but many international flights to Indonesia are canceled because of fears of volcanic ash from the eruption⁷. That ash from the Merapi volcano has blown west, as far as the western Java city of Bandung. In Bali, flights are booked solid for several days because many passengers have re-routed trips from Java to the neighboring island. The volcano continues to rumble⁸ in central Java and Indonesians say this is Merapi's worst eruption in a century. Over 100 have died and hundreds of thousands are displaced. For NPR News, I'm Julia Simon in Jakarta.
Iran today proposed another round of international talks on its nuclear program. The Iranian foreign minister said Turkey is willing to host the discussions. Negotiations⁹ had broken down a year ago with the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. The six powers suspect Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and wants Iran to stop enriching uranium which could be used for warheads. Iran maintains it's developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
Pakistani intelligence officials say US missile strikes have killed at least nine suspected militants¹⁰. The drone attacks took place in the main town in the North Waziristan tribal¹¹ region home to hundreds of Pakistani and foreign militants, many with ties to Taliban and al-Qaeda. The groups have been known to attack US troops across the border in Afghanistan.
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Greeks voted today in regional elections. Early returns show the Socialist¹² Party of Prime Minister George Papandreou is leading. He has said that he would call for early general elections if he didn't get enough public support for his stringent¹³ austerity measures.
Police in Germany today clash with anti-nuclear activists¹⁴ over a trainload of German nuclear waste being reprocessed in France. Eleanor Beardsley reports the train is carrying 123 tons of waste.
German activists chained themselves to the tracks today to try to keep the train from unloading its shipment. Protestors also rappelled down a high bridge. Police used water cannons¹⁵ and pepper spray to try to push back about 4,000 anti-nuclear activists. Germany receives waste shipments roughly every year under an agreement that sees spent fuel sent to France for reprocessing and returned for storage. Chancellor¹⁶ Angela Merkel is extending the life of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors¹⁷. She says that's necessary to keep energy cheap and readily available as the country works to develop renewable energy resources. But activists say the waste and containers storing it are unsafe. Saturday at least 25,000 protestors demonstrated against the shipment in the northern town of Dannenberg, the largest anti-nuclear protest in German history. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.
Queen Elizabeth is joining Facebook. Buckingham Palace officials say her site will become available tomorrow, providing videos, photos and news items of the 84-year-old monarch¹⁸ and other members of the royal family. However, since this will be a corporate¹⁹ account, not a personal account on Facebook, people won't be able to ask to "friend" the Queen.

1 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。

2 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

3 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

7 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

8 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

9 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

10 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

11 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。

12 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

13 stringent   

adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的

参考例句：

• Financiers are calling for a relaxation of these stringent measures.金融家呼吁对这些严厉的措施予以放宽。
• Some of the conditions in the contract are too stringent.合同中有几项条件太苛刻。

14 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 cannons   

n.加农炮，大炮，火炮( cannon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cannons bombarded enemy lines. 大炮轰击了敌军阵地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• One company had been furnished with six cannons. 某连队装备了六门大炮。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

17 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

18 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

19 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。