NPR 2012-03-24

 Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has been charged with 17 counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Afghan civilians¹. We get more on the story from NPR's Larry Abramson.

 

The Army has charged Bales with killing² 17 Afghan villagers in a rampage early in the morning of March 11th. It was originally believed that only 16 had died, but the charges list 17 victims. In addition, Bales is charged with attempted murder of six additional villagers. Bales now faces the so-called “Article 32 hearing” at Joint³ Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. That's the equivalent of an indictment⁴. After that, the court will decide whether to proceed with a court-martial. The shooting has caused tensions between US and Afghan authorities. The Afghan government wanted the accused to be tried in Afghanistan. The maximum punishment, if convicted, is death. The minimum is life in prison with a possibility of parole. Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.

 

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt⁵ Romney is campaigning in Louisiana one day ahead of its primary, and he's promising⁶ to repeal⁷ President Obama's health care program. Eileen Fleming of member station WWNO reports Romney says he puts states in charge of their own health care plans.

 

Romney is marking the second anniversary of the president's health care program dubbed⁸ “Obamacare” by Republicans by promising to dismantle⁹ the legislation he says is too expensive.

 

“I’m going to get that waiver for all the states from ‘Obamacare.’ I’m going to work to get it repealed¹⁰. I’m going to work to get it replaced with something which actually does bring down the cost of health care.”

 

As Massachusetts governor, Romney signed a state law requiring that residents buy health care insurance. The US Supreme¹¹ Court is set to hear arguments next week on the constitutional challenges to that requirement. For NPR News, I'm Eileen Fleming in New Orleans.

 

Elsewhere on the campaign trail in Louisiana, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum fired a semiautomatic pistol at a gun range in West Monroe, while at the same time a woman in the crowd shouted this out.

 

“Pretend it’s Obama.”

 

“Pretend it's Obama,” said the woman in the crowd. The secret service is investigating Santorum, who was wearing protective earmuffs, later said he hadn't heard the remarks and condemned¹² the comment. 

 

President Obama says the tragic¹³ shooting of an unarmed black Florida teenager has made him think of his own children. President Obama says it's imperative¹⁴ that there be an complete investigation¹⁵ of every aspect of the episode involving the death of Trayvon Martin after a neighborhood watch volunteer said he shot the teen. The president said that his message to the parents of the teenager was “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

 

On Wall Street at this hour, the Dow was up 53 points at 13,099; NASDAQ up six.

 

This is NPR.

 

Sales of new homes fell 1.6% last month. Since December, overall sales have fallen nearly 7%. Nonetheless, PNC Financial’s chief economist¹⁶ Stuart Hoffman believes this will be a stronger year for housing than last year.

 

“Even though we didn't get any confirmation¹⁷ of it in February. Over the balance of this year, we are going to see an upside movement in home sales, not only new and existing, and also the building of new homes and remodeling of homes. They go along with that.”

 

At the same time, new home prices rose to their highest level in eight months. 

 

Greece is beefing up security to keep anti-austerity protesters from disrupting National Independence Day Parades this coming Sunday. Joanna Kakissis has details.

 

During the good times, thousands of people used to line the streets for the parade of marching bands and school children in blue and white uniforms. They applauded politicians giving patriotic¹⁸ speeches, not this year. Instead, the streets will be patrolled by more than 5,000 riot police. Metal barricades¹⁹ will also be set up outside parliament. Many Greeks blame their own politicians for the country's devastated²⁰ economy. They pelt²¹ politicians with yoghurt and eggs. The dark mood comes just weeks before snap elections. Polls show no party has enough support to form a government. For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Athens.

 

In overnight openings, “The Hunger Games” raked in 19.7 million dollars domestically.

 

I'm Louise Schiavone, NPR News, Washington.

1 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。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

5 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

6 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

7 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

8 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

10 repealed   

撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Labour Party repealed the Act. 工党废除了那项法令。
• The legislature repealed the unpopular Rent Act. 立法机关废除了不得人心的租借法案。

11 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

12 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

13 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

14 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

16 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

17 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

18 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

19 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

20 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

21 pelt   

v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火

参考例句：

• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。
• Crowds started to pelt police cars with stones.人群开始向警车扔石块。