NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2014-07-16

 Seven days into the latest round of violence between Israel and Hamas,a ceasefire does not appear close.As XX explains Hamas has made a series of demands Hamas is unlikely to accept.A Hamas lawmaker in Gaza XX told reporters that there had been no serious effort towards a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.He also said Hamas has a series of demands including the lifting of Israel eight-year-blockade of Gaza and reopenning the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.Hamas also wants the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners that Israel re-arrested in recent weeks.The death toll¹ in Gaza from Israeli air strikes continues to climb.The United Nations said at least 177 Palestinians have been killed in the past week,one quarter of them children.In Israel,an elderly woman had a heart attack last week while running to a shelter during a rocket attack.And two Bedouin sisters were injured today from rocket fire.For NPR news,I'm XX in Jerusalem.

 

The US department of agriculture is noting more deficiencies in the way the Center for Disease Control and Prevention handled an anthrax contamination incident last month.NPR's XX says the CDC apparently² used expired disinfectant when de-contaminating in the lab.Last month,dozes of scientists said the CDC were exposed to anthrax and said it was supposed to have been rendered safe but which might still have posed a risk.The CDC said last week that it appeared unlikely that any of the anthrax material was actually dangerous.But scientists didn't know that at the time.And the USDA says CDC made mistakes as it reacted to the problem.According to a summary of the report released by a congressional committee,technicians said that the CDC used bleach³ that had expired to decontaminate the lab.And many people potentially exposed to the dangerous bateria waited days to be informed and to get a medical exam.The USDA will testify about its report Wednesday.XX,NPR news.

 

Crews in the west are battling a string of wildfires today,some touched off by lightning strikes over the past several days.In Oregan,a fire near Sprague River has already destroyed 6 homes and more than a dozen other buildings.Walter Butch Browning owns a local general store and he says so far the flames are moving away from him...pretty harsh,stronger in the right direction...my house,I'm sure...Crews are also dealing⁴ with fires in Idaho's Boise county where officials say 60 residents have now been advised to evacuate⁵.

 

 

Citigroup has agreed to pay out 7 billion dollars to resolve claims that it misled investors⁶ about shoddy mortgages during the height of the financial crisis.The New York based financial firm's settlement with the Justice Department involves the largest ever civil penalty levelled by the agency.Justice contends Citigroup knew many of the mortgage-back securities in the market were unsafe and actually ticking time-bombs which will collapse⁷.

 

On Wall Street,the Dows was up 111 points.

 

This is NPR.

 

According to Ukraine's Defence Minister,one of the country's transport planes was shut down today along the eastern border with Russia.Officials say all eight of those on board were able to bail⁸ out safely.Separatist rebels have claimed responsibility for the attack.But Ukrainian officials are rejecting that and blaming Russia for shooting down the plane.In the past two weeks,Ukrainian government has taken back around half of the territory in eastern Ukraine that had been held by pro-Russian separatists.

 

 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is issuing new guidelines on pregnancy⁹ discrimination.NPR's XX reports it's the first update in more than 30 years.Even though the pregnancy discrimination act passed in 1978,XX of the EEOC says the message didn't get through.So we continue to receive a lot of charges from pregnant women who are not hired because they are obviously pregnant,who are terminated when they become pregnant or when they return from maternity¹⁰ leave.The new EEOC guidelines make clear none of these is legal.And they spell out how the Americans with Disabilities Act can cover some conditions related to pregnancy.The EEOC also suggest possible accomodations,letting a pregnant worker sit on a stool,carry a water bottle,or change her schedule.XX,NPR news,Washington.

 

The government's consumer financial protection bureau says it's going out for a major debt collection firm which it's accusing of being essentially¹¹ a mill for producing what it calls shoddy credit-card collection lawsuits¹².Its claim filed in federal court in Atlantic,the government claims Federick J Hanna Associate failed to do even basic due diligence.In one instance in Georgia,an attorney signing off 180,000 lawsuits over a two-year period.

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 bleach   

vt.使漂白；vi.变白；n.漂白剂

参考例句：

• These products don't bleach the hair.这些产品不会使头发变白。
• Did you bleach this tablecloth?你把这块桌布漂白了吗？

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 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。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 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。

9 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

10 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句