NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2014-08-08

 The temporary cease-fire agreed to by Israel and Hamas militants¹ in the Gaza Strip is holding for a second day. Representatives from both sides are in Cairo, meeting separately with Egyptians mediators, who are trying to negotiate a lasting² truce³. At the UN Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today made an impassioned plea for them to reach a two-state solution, and once and for all end the cycle of violence.

Do we have to continue like this? Build, destroy and build and destroy. Will we build again? But this must be the last time to rebuild. This must stop now.

Ban also said today Israel has the right to defend itself from Hamas rocket, but he said the civilian⁴ toll⁵ in Gaza raises serious questions about whether international law has been violated.

 

 

The World Health Organization is holding an emergency meeting on Ebola as it announces the death toll from the outbreak in West Africa has surpassed 930. It's NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports. Nigeria says a second person there has died from the disease.

Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu announced five additional confirmed cases of Ebola in Nigeria, and says the patients are all in isolation⁷. He says a nurse has become the second casualty of the virus in the economic capital Lagos, home to 21 million people. She died after helping⁸ to care for a Liberian American who traveled to Nigeria and died there of Ebola last month. In Geneva, global health specialists are holding a two-day emergency Ebola meeting at the World Health Organization. West African health officials are appealing for more resources, and especially, many more health workers on the ground to help to stop the spread of the virus. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR news, Freetown.

 

 

A non-partisan think tank says nearly 600,000 unauthorized immigrant youth eligible⁹ for President Obama's deportation¹⁰ relief program has signed up in the two years since it's started. That's about half of those eligible. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports.

The Deferred¹¹ Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as a DACA, allows certain young unauthorized immigrants to avoid deportation and gain the right to work for two years. So far, the program has led to mixed results, says Michael Fix, President of the Migration¹² Policy Institute.

It's clearly a success in the sense that it was mounted quickly. It's enrolled¹³ a lot of people, but the challenges here are very deep.

More than a half million unauthorized immigrants have received temporary deportation release, but Fix says hundreds of thousands have not applied¹⁴ yet, probably because of application fees and the risk of disclosing your immigration status to the government. I am Hansi Lo Wang, NPR news.

 

 

On Wall Street, at this hour, the Dow was up 34 points at 16,463. The NASDAQ is up 15 at 4368.

 

 

This is NPR.

 

 

The US Trade deficit¹⁵ shrank in June by a more than expected 7%. The Commerce Department says at least part of it is because of imports petroleum¹⁶ dropped to a three and a half year low.

 

 

A major shake-up at Sprint¹⁷ today as Peggy Lowe of member station KCUR reports a merge⁶ is off and the CEO is out. 

Kansas City base Sprint has been a distant No.3 among US wireless¹⁸ carriers and hoped to merge with T-mobile in a 32 billion dollar deal. Reports say Sprint finally faced the inevitable¹⁹. The US anti-trust regulators would never approve the deal. Sprint announced this morning that it has removed CEO Dan Hesse and replaced him with Marcelo Claure, who has the subsidiary of Sprint's parent company, Softbank. Softbank executors say they still believe in consolidation²⁰ and they will try to enhance service to compete with the top two wireless carriers, Verizon and AT&T. For NPR news, I am Peggy Lowe, in Kansas city.

 

 

Court decision supporting gay marriage rights in four states have been appealed today in a Federal Court in Cincinnati. Among the cases being argued: Michigan and Kentucky's overturned bans on gay marriage, and the ruling that requires Ohio to recognize the marriages of gay couples who wed²¹ out of state.

 

 

A celestial²² rendezvous²³ of sorts this morning: European spacecraft has joined a comet as it orbits around the sun. The European Space Agency says after a 10-year 4-billion-mile journey, the Rosetta Probe is following the comet and in the next few weeks, it will move in close. Other spacecrafts have flown past comets, but this is the first time one is actually orbiting with it.

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

3 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 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。

6 merge   

v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体

参考例句：

• I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
• The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。

7 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

10 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

11 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划

12 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

13 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

15 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。

16 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

17 sprint   

n.短距离赛跑；vi. 奋力而跑，冲刺；vt.全速跑过

参考例句：

• He put on a sprint to catch the bus.他全速奔跑以赶上公共汽车。
• The runner seemed to be rallied for a final sprint.这名赛跑者似乎在振作精神作最后的冲刺。

18 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

19 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

20 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

21 wed   

v.娶，嫁，与…结婚

参考例句：

• The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
• The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。

22 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

23 rendezvous   

n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇

参考例句：

• She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
• I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。