NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2014-01-04

 New England is bracing¹ for a winter storm. The Massachusetts port authorities have already put in place a plan to ground planes at Boston’s Louger International Airport. WUBH’s Eibic Pjudal reports from the airport the last departure will be in about half an hour.

 

No planes will be found[fine?]flying into or out of Lougan airport overnight. Director of Aviation Ed Freney says all flights Friday morning have been cancelled.

 

“Friday morning, we don’t expect to really start up operations somewhere before noontime.”

 

Freney advises passengers to call their airlines for information about flights. Most airlines have agreed to wait/waive fees for changing reservations. Forecasters are expecting up to 14 inches of snow in Massachusetts. The city of Boston declared a snow emergence² and public schools will be closed Friday. For NPR News, I’m Eibic Pjudal. 

 

Two of the major newspapers that had published information from documents released by accused National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden are saying that rather than punishment, he should be praised for his disclosures. Both the New York Times and Britain’s Guardian³ newspaper say the former NSA contractor⁴ \has helped to spark a global debate over civil liberties and surveillance and should be granted clemency⁵. [Stepped in the]Snowden's activities in terms of leaking top-secret NSA documents on US surveillance practices, [there’s gonna be/he's gonna face] espionage⁶ charges in the US. Snowden is currently in Russia.

 

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are on/in Afghanistan, meeting with US and Afghan officials. NPR’s Sean Carberry reports the senators believe the two countries are getting closer to signing a security agreement. It would allow US troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond this year.

 

Senator McCain says the agreement is essential for the security of Afghanistan and the US. 

 

“We don’t want to see a repeat of what happened in Iraq, where we won the war and lost the peace because of a complete withdrawal⁷.”

 

McCain says the differences over the bilateral⁸ security agreement(or BSA) have narrowed to the point that a deal could be signed in the coming weeks. But President Karzai says he still wants the US to stop raids on Afghan homes and to start the peace process with the Taliban before signing the BSA. 

 

“The best way to get the peace progress moving is a/the signing of the BSA.”

 

McCain says that will show the Taliban that the US is not going to abandon Afghanistan. Sean Carberry, NPR News, Kabul.

 

Fewer Americans were filing first-time claims of/for unemployment benefits last week. The Labor⁹ Department says weekly jobless claims fell by 2,000 to a seasonally¹¹ adjusted 339,000 as companies appeared to be lying(laying) off fewer employees and boosting hiring. Before [we’re]the moving average was higher [than/that one part of frungchin]though in part a reflection of seasonal¹⁰ volatility¹² around Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, the nation’s unemployment rate declined to 7% in November. The jobless figures for December are due out next week.

 

A slow start on Wall Street for the first official trading day of 2014. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 135 points to close at 16,441; the NASDAQ dropped 33 points; the S&P 500 fell 16 points. 

 

You’re listening to NPR News in Washington.

 

Authorities in Iraq say more than a dozen people are dead [upwards¹³/afterwards/with a] - upwards of, 30/Thirty others were(who are) wounded today when a vehicle bomb exploded in a street full of shoppers. The bombing took place Thursday evening local time in a city northeast of Baghdad as people were doing [arrants/errants]errands. Authorities say an explosives-laden pickup¹⁴ truck blew [out of/up on/at]up on about a commercial street, destroying several shops. In the other attacks, a number of people were killed and wounded when authorities say a bomb exploded aboard a minibus in Baghdad. 

 

A Catholic Church official serving time for his handling of child sex abuse claim/claims has been released from prison. NPR’s Jeff Brady reports Monsignor William Lynn is out on bail¹⁵ after his conviction was overturned.

 

A Pennsylvania appeals court reversed Monsignor Lynn’s child endangerment conviction last month. Justices ruled he was improperly¹⁶ prosecuted¹⁷ under a law passed after he committed the crime. A jury convicted Lynn in 2012 after prosecutors¹⁸ argued that he relocated problem priests to new parishes instead of notifying police. Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams says his office will try to reinstate the conviction, but meanwhile, Lynn is free on 250,000 dollars’ bail. As part of his release, Lynn also agreed to surrender his passport and submit to an electronic monitoring. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Philadelphia. 

 

Fifty-two passengers have spent nine days aboard a trapped research vessel¹⁹ in the ice of Antarctica have been flown into safety. Officials came from a helicopter and the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon ferried the passengers safely in small groups, [transforming]transferring them to an Australian supply ship. Meanwhile, the ship’s 22 crewmembers(crew members) plan to stay aboard the wellstark/well-stocked vessel until it’s free/freed from the ice. A Russian-owned ship left New Zealand in November, but [it came]became trapped in ice reportedly three meters thick in some spots. 

1 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

2 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

3 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

4 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

5 clemency   

n.温和，仁慈，宽厚

参考例句：

• The question of clemency would rest with the King.宽大处理问题，将由国王决定。
• They addressed to the governor a plea for clemency.他们向州长提交了宽刑的申辨书。

6 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

7 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

8 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

11 seasonally   

参考例句：

• The price of vegetables fluctuates seasonally. 蔬菜的价格随季节变动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They moved seasonally among various vegetation types to feed on plants that were flourishing. 它们还随着季节的变化而在各种类型植物之间迁移，以便吃那些茂盛的植物。 来自辞典例句

12 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

13 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

14 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

15 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

16 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

17 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

18 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

19 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。