NPR 2012-07-17

 A fierce race for the White House is playing out on the campaign trail today for the 8th time this year. President Obama is in a battleground state of Ohio where he addressed supporters in Cincinnati a short time ago.

 

The problem is we got a stalemate right now in Washington. It's between two fundamentally different ideas about how we move the country forward.

 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt¹ Romney is blasting the Obama camp for attacking his record at bank capital??, including charges that he's more supportive of outsourcing than bringing more jobs back to the US. Romney says just look at the high employment rate on President Obama's watch. Romney's latest campaign stopped with Baton² Rouge³, Louisiana where he appeared with Governor Bobby Jindal.

 

The resignation of Florida A&M president James Ammons is the latest in the fall out from the hazing⁴ death of the band drum major and other problems at the Tallahassee university.  Florida public radio's Lynn Hatter reports Ammons was set to step down in October but was now leaving immediately under a deal reached with the school's board. A&M U president Ammons will leave with more than 98'000 dollars and bonuses agreed to by the school's board in exchange for speeding up his resignation date. University provost Larry Robinson will serve as interim⁵ president until a permanent one is named. Board member and student body president Marisa West says Robinson's appointment is needed to steer⁶ the school through the next a few months. Robinson returned FAMU last year after a temporary stand? at Obama administration. His appointment will have to be confirmed by FAMU's forward at August meeting. For NPR News, I'm Lynn Hatter in Tallahassee.

 

A senior United Nations official is warning many Syrians will die if donors⁷ don't contribute more funds for humanitarian⁸ aid. Lisa Schlein reports the official told participants attending the 4th Syrian humanitarian forum⁹ in Geneva that one and a half million civilians¹⁰ in war torn Syria are in need of help. 

 

The United Nations expects to increase food aid from half a million people last month to 850'000 this month. But UN operations director John Ging warns the situation in Syria is deteriorating¹¹ and the gap between the needs and means is widening. 

 

We need more money. If we don't get more money, people will die and will be more humanitarian suffering. The needs will continue to grow as long as this conflict continues. 

 

The UN has received only 20% of its 180 million dollar appeal for humanitarian operations inside Syria and only 20% for a separate 193 million dollar refugee appeal. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

 

Two Americans in Egypt have been freed days after they were taken hostage by a Bedouin tribesman. They were abducted¹² Friday along with a local tour guide along the Sinai Road to a Christian¹³ monosque? area on Friday.

 

At a last check on Wall street, Dow was down more than 30 points. 

 

This is NPR News.

 

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first medication shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection. Studies in the past year reveal the drug Truvada if taken every day, can be most useful in situations where people are higher risk of HIV, such as a couple in which one person is HIV positive and the other is not. But the FDA is still urging individuals who take Truvada to practice safe sex to further reduce their risk of HIV infection. 

 

Consumers are still extremely cautious about spending as retailers¹⁴ found out last month. Today the Commerce Department announced June sales had fallen half percent, maintaining a downward trend for a third month. 

 

A political shake up is reported out of North Korea. The government has fired the head of its army saying the official was ill. As NPR's Louisa Lim reports the surprising announcement has certainly sparked speculation¹⁵. 

 

A worker's party central committee meeting on Sunday relieved Ri Yong Ho of his duties, issuing a terse¹⁶ statement citing illness. The army chief had been one of the most powerful men in the country. He's deputy chairman of the central military commission and worker's party. He had been a key figure smoothing the transition to power to Kim Jong Un who took over after his father died in December. He was 69 years old and hadn't been seen in public recently. In Seoul government officials said such a prompt announcement was very unusual indeed for a normally secretive North Korean government. Such analysts¹⁷ believe this could indicate a purge¹⁸ is taking place and that Kim Jong Un has enough loyalty¹⁹ among the military to take such action. Louisa Lim, NPR News.

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.

1 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。

2 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

3 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

4 hazing   

n.受辱，被欺侮v.（使）笼罩在薄雾中( haze的现在分词 )；戏弄，欺凌（新生等，有时作为加入美国大学生联谊会的条件）

参考例句：

• With labor, the hazing period ends. 费了好大力气，痛苦的时期终于过了。 来自互联网
• A high-gloss paint surface is one that directly reflects light with minimum hazing or diffusion. 高度光洁的漆表面可以直接反射光源。 来自互联网

5 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

6 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

7 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 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。

10 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。

11 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

12 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

13 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

14 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

15 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

16 terse   

adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的

参考例句：

• Her reply about the matter was terse.她对此事的答复简明扼要。
• The president issued a terse statement denying the charges.总统发表了一份简短的声明，否认那些指控。

17 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

18 purge   

n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁

参考例句：

• The new president carried out a purge of disloyal army officers.新总统对不忠诚的军官进行了清洗。
• The mayoral candidate has promised to purge the police department.市长候选人答应清洗警察部门。

19 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。