NPR 2010-03-08

President Obama congratulated Iraqis for coming out to vote in today’s parliamentary elections in spite of violence by insurgents¹ that killed at least 38 people.

 

That's the sound of the morning call to prayer during voting this morning at a Baghdad polling station. The attacks were carried out even though extraordinary security measures were put in place including shutting down the country’s borders and the Baghdad International Airport. NPR’s Jamie Tarabay has more on President Obama’s reaction to today’s vote.

 

President Obama said he had great respect for the millions of Iraqis who refused to be deterred² by the violence and made it to the polling stations. In a statement released by the White House, he said he honored the courage and resilience of the Iraqi people who defied threats to advance their democracy. He also commended the Iraqi government and security forces for providing security at more than 8, 000 polling stations across Iraq. Bombs, rocket attacks and roadside bombs killed scores in Baghdad and other cities in the campaign by insurgents to scare people from coming out to vote. One of the deadliest incidents was an explosion in an apartment building in Baghdad. Rescuers frantically³ worked to pull people alive or dead from the rubble⁴. Jamie Tarabay, NPR News, Washington.

 

Iran’s defense⁵ minister says his country is starting a production line of highly accurate, long range cruise missiles that cannot be detected by radar⁶. The Iranian general told state television that the missile will be capable of destroying targets that weigh up to 100 tons. Iran has often made announcements about new military technology in the past that cannot be independently verified.

 

Flags have been lowered across Chile as the nation begins three official days of mourning for the victims of last Saturday’s earthquake. NPR’s Jason Beaubien describes the scene from Santiago.

 

Special church services are being organized and flags are being flown at half-staff as Chile moves forward from one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded. A weekend telethon in the capital called “Chile helps Chile” raised 60 million dollars for the relief effort. International aid continues to pour in; two US Air Force C130 cargo⁷ planes arrived on Saturday to help ferry supplies into the hardest-hit areas. Schools are set to reopen in most of the country tomorrow although some students will be in temporary buildings because their schools were damaged or destroyed. And the inauguration⁸ of President-elect Sebastian Pinera, scheduled for this week has been scaled back. Instead of a day packed with celebrations, Pinera will spend most of Thursday in meetings regarding the reconstruction⁹. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Santiago.

 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised Greece today that euro-zone countries would help it emerge from its financial problems and vowed¹⁰ to crack down on financial speculators that Greece blames for its problems. Sarkozy was speaking after meeting with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.

 

This is NPR News.

 

The US government has handed an ultimatum¹¹ to residents of a west Pacific island exposed to fallout from nuclear testing back in the 1950s. Stewart Cowan in Sydney reports they’ve been told they can either return home by October of next year or have their funding cut off. "Fifty-six years ago, the US government set off a 15 megaton hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Residents on the islands downwind of the blast got no warning and most were exposed to a near lethal¹² dose of radiation according to scientists at the time. They were later evacuated¹³ to a nearby atoll where they have been living in a temporary community. Now Washington wants the roughly 400 islanders to go home by October next year. Over the past ten years, the US has spent 45 million dollars on clean-up. But the people say much of the land is still unsafe for growing food. American scientists insist radiation is less than the usual environmental levels in the US and Europe. But the islanders say it’s hard to believe anything the Americans tell them after what happened more than 50 years ago. For NPR News, I’m Stewart Cowan in Sydney.

 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences delivers its 82nd annual awards ceremony tonight. Kathryn Bigelow is the front-runner to win Best Director with her Iraq war film “The Hurt Locker”. She is going up against her former husband James Cameron with his blockbuster Avatar. Millions of cable subscribers in New York may not be able to see the award show tonight, that's due to a dispute over money between ABC’s parent company and Cablevision. The Walt Disney Company which owns ABC switched off its signal to Cablevision customers at midnight after the two companies could not reach an agreement over fees. The companies are blaming each other for the disagreement.

 

I’m Carol Van Dam, NPR News in Washington.

 

1 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

2 deterred   

v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告诉他我不感兴趣，可他却不罢休。
• Jeremy was not deterred by this criticism. 杰里米没有因这一批评而却步。 来自辞典例句

3 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

4 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

5 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。

6 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

7 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。

8 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

9 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

10 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

11 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

12 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

13 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。