NPR 2012-06-28

 A fast-moving wildfire is spreading into the Colorado Springs city limits. More than 32,000 people have been ordered to evacuate¹. At least six subdivisions have been included, officials say, along with residents of the Air Force Academy. And Colorado Springs incident commander Richard Harvey says high winds make a perilous² situation even worse. 

 

“Embers driven by the wind can jump a half mile, and the probability of ignition for most landing based on our fire behavior forecast is about 65%.”

 

Tens of thousands have left their homes. Tropical Depression Debby is retreating and is headed out to sea. But forecasters say until it does, the weather system could deliver more flooding and tornados³ as it crosses Florida. 

 

House Speaker John Boehner says there is encouraging progress on two time-sensitive legislative⁴ issues: one to prevent interest rates on student loans from rising this weekend, and the other to revamp the nation's transportation programs.

 

The largest city in the nation to declare bankruptcy⁵ threw in the towel last night. NPR's Richard Gonzales has details on what's next for Stockton, California.

 

Stockton is a central valley city of about 290,000 people. The city council faced a 26-million-dollar budget deficit⁶. So if voted to adopt the budget plan, that eliminates payments to bondholders and slashes⁷ money promised to city employees' medical retirement⁸. Stockton was hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, which depressed⁹ tax revenues and made it unable to afford several expensive civic¹⁰ projects developed during the proceeding¹¹ boom. State-sponsored mediation¹² talks with creditors¹³ failed. Stockton tried to forestall¹⁴ bankruptcy in recent years by laying off 25% of its police and 30% of its firefighters. With its vote, the city council is expected to make the filing official as early as today. Richard Gonzales, NPR News.

 

Syria will be the subject where representatives of the region and world powers convene¹⁵ in Geneva. As NPR's Deborah Amos tells us, the violence there continues to rage. 

 

In new clashes overnight, rebels challenged an elite¹⁶ unit assigned to protect the presidential palace a few miles outside of the capital. The military response trapped civilians¹⁷ in their homes in the neighborhood of Cascia for hours. Anti-government activists¹⁸ report that more than 135 people were killed across the country on Tuesday, making it the bloodiest¹⁹ day since the uprising began. A UN official confirmed violence in Syria has reached and now even surpassed the fighting since the UN brokered²⁰ a failed ceasefire in April. The Syrian military has stepped up an offensive to retake rebel-held areas. Deborah Amos, NPR News, Beirut.

 

On Wall Street at this hour, the Dow was up 81; the NASDAQ up 15.

 

This is NPR News.

 

The blockbuster movie “The Avengers” from Disney and Marvel²¹ has made more than 600 million dollars at the box office in the US. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports it's the third movie to reach that high watermark.

 

The superhero movie has set a box office record since it opened in May, with the biggest opening weekend. It's taken in more than 1.4 billion dollars worldwide. Now it's the third movie to cross the 600-million mark in the US. 

 

“This is nothing we were ever trained for.” 

 

Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, the Black Widow and others recruited to save the planet have yet to top Titanic²², which earned even more in domestic box office profits - 659 million dollars. 

 

“I am the king of the world.”

 

And even Titanic can sink the epic²³ sci-fi film Avatar. 

 

“This is our land.” 

 

Avatar remains²⁴ No.1 at the box office with 761 million dollars in domestic profits. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

 

Author and filmmaker Nora Ephron lost a battle with leukemia yesterday. In stories and movie scripts, like “Heartburn,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “When Harry²⁵ Met Sally” and many more. Ephron helped define the state of American culture and relationships.

 

“Would you like to have dinner? …Just friends.”

 

“I thought you didn't believe men and women could be friends.”

 

“When did I say that?”

 

“On the ride to New York.”

 

“No, no, no, no, I never said that.” 

 

The three-time Oscar nominated artist, Ephron began her career as a journalist. She was 71 years old.

 

I'm Louise Schiavone, NPR News, Washington.

1 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

2 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

3 tornados   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And the national weather service reports several tornados touch down. 国家气象中心报告预测龙卷风将来袭。 来自互联网
• They had stock footage of lightning, tornados, and hurricanes. 他们存有关于闪电、龙卷风和飓风的电影胶片。 来自互联网

4 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 slashes   

n.（用刀等）砍( slash的名词复数 )；（长而窄的）伤口；斜杠；撒尿v.挥砍( slash的第三人称单数 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• They report substantial slashes in this year's defense outlays. 他们报道今年度国防经费的大量削减。 来自辞典例句
• Inmates suffered injuries ranging from stab wounds and slashes to head trauma. 囚犯们有的被刺伤，有的被砍伤，而有的头部首创，伤势不一而足。 来自互联网

8 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

9 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

10 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

11 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

12 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

13 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 forestall   

vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止

参考例句：

• I left the room to forestall involvements.我抢先离开了这房间以免受牵累。
• He followed this rule in order to forestall rumors.他遵守这条规矩是为了杜绝流言蜚语。

15 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

16 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

17 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。

18 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》

19 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

20 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

21 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

22 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

23 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

24 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。

25 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。