NPR 2010-02-14

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Barbara Klein.

 

At least nine people have been killed and dozens injured by a bomb at a busy restaurant in Western India. Anti-terrorism forces have been dispatched to the scene and major cities around the country have been placed on heightened alert. NPR's Philip Reeves has more from the capital New Delhi.

 

The explosion was at the German Bakery, a restaurant in the city of Pune in Western India. It's near a meditation¹ center popular with foreign visitors. A senior Indian official said intelligence services have initially² concluded it was a bomb in an unattended package. It detonated during the evening of a holiday weekend when the restaurant was busy. This is the first big attack of this kind since more than 160 people were killed in a multiple assault on the city of Mumbai in late 2008. That attack was the work of Pakistan-based militants³. India responded by freezing peacemaking with Pakistan. Recently, India's moved towards ending that freeze. Only yesterday, India and Pakistan finalized⁴ plans for high-level talks this month. Attentions are now focusing on whether this attack will impact those talks. Philip Reeves, NPR News, New Delhi.

 

U.S. forces in Afghanistan are leading a major offensive to push Taliban militants out of the southern town of Marjah. It's the largest area in southern Helmand province that remains⁵ under Taliban control. Lieutenant⁶ Ryon Angle says his company has met scattered⁷ resistances, but he’s had to deal with buried mines and booby traps. "3/6 Lima Company came into the northwest area of Marjah and took this intersection⁸ of the canals. There’s limited resistance much less than was expected, although we did find several IEDs and bombs and things like that." The military says Marjah has been a recruitment center for insurgents⁹.

 

Police in Alabama have charged a college professor with murder after a deadly shooting spree at the University of Alabama at Huntsville yesterday. Oliver Stoutner of member station WLRH has details.

 

The UAHuntsville campus remains closed today after the shootings that left three faculty¹⁰ members dead and another three university employees injured yesterday afternoon. Authorities say Biology Professor Amy Bishop¹¹ opened fire during a faculty meeting. She'd reportedly been denied tenure¹² and had lost her final appeal yesterday. Police say that a 9 mm pistol believed to be used in the shootings was found in the second-floor bathroom of the university's science and technology building where the shootings took place. University President David Williams said that classes had been canceled for all next week, and that a prayer service has been scheduled for tomorrow noon. For NPR News, I'm Oliver Stoutner in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

The Deep South is digging out of one of its deepest snowfalls on record. Hundreds of flights at Atlanta's International Airport have been canceled. More than half a foot of snow fell in South Carolina. And in Texas, the Dallas area got more than a foot. Tens of thousands of people throughout the region are without power.

 

This is NPR News in Washington.

 

The International Space Station has a new addition after its crew and space shuttle astronauts connected the new segment yesterday and opened the hatch last night. But NASA has run into a problem with a critical insulation¹³ cover and engineers are trying to determine what to do about it. The new module¹⁴ is an additional living compartment¹⁵ for the space station crew.

 

On the first full day of competition at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, luge athletes won't face the full length of the sliding course in Whistler. Crews have made changes to the ice in response to a training accident yesterday that killed a Georgian slider. From Vancouver, NPR's Howard Berkes reports.

 

The changes were made for what luge officials called emotional reasons, given the death yesterday of 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili, who flew from the track at close to 90 miles an hour and slammed into a steel post. Overnight crews raised the sidewall coming out of the last turn of the track so that an athlete who crashes will stay on the ice. They also shaved the ice so that it presumably directs out-of-control sleds away from the wall. And they’re starting the men's competition from the women's start that eliminates the first turn and should slow the speed of sleds. There's a talk about starting the women's races lower as well. Luge officials essentially¹⁶ blame "driver error" for the accident. They say the course is not too fast or too dangerous as some luge and bobsled athletes allege¹⁷. Howard Berkes, NPR News, Vancouver.

 

President Obama today named White House official Rashad Hussain to be special envoy¹⁸ to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. In a message to the US-Islamic World Forum¹⁹ in Qatar, the president called Hussain a respected member of the American Muslim Community.

 

I'm Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.

 

1 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

2 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

3 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。

4 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 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。

6 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

7 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

8 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

9 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

10 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

11 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

12 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

13 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

14 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

15 compartment   

n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间

参考例句：

• We were glad to have the whole compartment to ourselves.真高兴，整个客车隔间由我们独享。
• The batteries are safely enclosed in a watertight compartment.电池被安全地置于一个防水的隔间里。

16 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

17 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

18 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

19 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。