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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
President-elect Barack Obama's choice for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says Senator Obama will push for a middle class tax cut soon after taking office. President Bush welcomes the President-elect and Mrs. Obama to the White House tomorrow. One of the leaders of Senator Obama's transition team Valerie Jarrett says there is a solid commitment to make the transfer of power as smooth as possible. "We will be looking to be efficient, transparent1, bipartisan. We want the American people to understand the transition and how we are moving forward in the days and weeks ahead. Jarrett was on NBC's Meet the Press.
Meeting today at Red Sea resort in Egypt, international mediators pledged support for Israeli and Palestinian efforts to continue with peace talks that so far have shown few tangible2 results. From Sharm El-Sheikh, NPR's Eric Westervelt has the story.
It's been clear for some time that the Quartet, the UN, the EU, Russia and US will fail to reach the goal of sealing a peace agreement by year's end as outlined at the US-sponsored Annapolis Summit one year ago. Today the Quartet endorsed3 continuity of the process, and Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged to continue bi-lateral talks. Quartet Mid-East envoy4 Tony Blair today urged the incoming Obama administration to make negotiations5 a priority from the start. "So there's a foundation it can be built on, and it has to be built on by treating this issue as of fundamental importance, not just to this region, but to the world from the first day of the next administration. " It's not clear if the process begun at Annapolis will survive upcoming national elections in Israel and ongoing6 internal disarray7 among Palestinians. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
The United Nations says there's been new fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo forcing thousands more people to flee the area. Doctors there are struggling to contain an outbreak of cholera8 in one of the sprawling9 refugee camps near Goma. More from NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton.
Thousands of worshipers packed church services to pray for peace in eastern Congo, they were also mourning the execution of apparently10 defenseless civilians11 by Tutsi rebels and rival pro-government militiamen. The UN peacekeeping chief in Congo Alan Doss has blamed both groups and condemned12 the killings14. "We remind all concerned that under international humanitarian15 law, these actions will be considered as war crimes. " As medical relief agencies raced to curb16 growing numbers of choleraic cases around Goma, the strategic provincial17 capital, more civilians were fleeing yet another outbreak of fighting. This time the latest battlefront is in Gongo, 40 miles west of Goma, but outside the immediate18 conflict zone in the east. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton. NPR News, Harare.
Work crews in Cuba are trying to restore power and fix damage caused by Hurricane Paloma which has now been downgraded to tropical storm status. The storm caused damage across the eastern part of the island but not the widespread devastation19 seen after hurricanes Gustav and Ike. This is NPR News.
African leaders meeting in Johannesburg say Zimbabwe's rival political factions20 should share control of the Police Ministry21 as part of the effort to form a unity22 government. Then the leaders said both factions should focus on the country's economic crisis. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition23 leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal in September, but the pact24 has stalled over the allocation of cabinet posts.
Police in Haiti have arrested the owner of a school building that collapsed26 killing13 at least 88 people, most of them school children. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports.
Search and Rescue teams from the US and France in addition to Haitian authorities continued to comb the wreckage27 looking for survivors28 and extracting the dead. The school collapsed on Friday during a party. Officials say there may have been 500 children on the premises29 when the building crumbled30. On Saturday, rescuers pulled 4 students from the rubble31 alive. The head of civil protection for the region told the Associated Press that in addition to the dead, 150 people were injured and many more remained missing. Haitian President Rene Preval toured the disaster site on Saturday, afterwards he attributed the school's collapse25 to shoddy construction, and he said it is a problem that plagues buildings throughout his country. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Mexico City.
There's been no letup in the plunging32 gasoline prices. Over the past two weeks, prices at the pump fell 48 cents a gallon on average nationally to $2. 30 for self-service regular. Industry analyst33 Trobi Lambert says there are two key reasons for the sharp decline. "What we have is much lower crude oil prices, and shrinking U. S. gasoline demand. " But Lambert says gas prices may level off now unless crude oil prices fall further.
1 transparent | |
adj.明显的,无疑的;透明的 | |
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2 tangible | |
adj.有形的,可触摸的,确凿的,实际的 | |
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3 endorsed | |
vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 );在(尤指支票的)背面签字;在(文件的)背面写评论;在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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4 envoy | |
n.使节,使者,代表,公使 | |
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5 negotiations | |
协商( negotiation的名词复数 ); 谈判; 完成(难事); 通过 | |
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6 ongoing | |
adj.进行中的,前进的 | |
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7 disarray | |
n.混乱,紊乱,凌乱 | |
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8 cholera | |
n.霍乱 | |
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9 sprawling | |
adj.蔓生的,不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 );蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着) | |
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10 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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11 civilians | |
平民,百姓( civilian的名词复数 ); 老百姓 | |
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12 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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13 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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14 killings | |
谋杀( killing的名词复数 ); 突然发大财,暴发 | |
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15 humanitarian | |
n.人道主义者,博爱者,基督凡人论者 | |
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16 curb | |
n.场外证券市场,场外交易;vt.制止,抑制 | |
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17 provincial | |
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人 | |
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18 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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19 devastation | |
n.毁坏;荒废;极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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20 factions | |
组织中的小派别,派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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21 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
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22 unity | |
n.团结,联合,统一;和睦,协调 | |
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23 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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24 pact | |
n.合同,条约,公约,协定 | |
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25 collapse | |
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷 | |
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26 collapsed | |
adj.倒塌的 | |
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27 wreckage | |
n.(失事飞机等的)残骸,破坏,毁坏 | |
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28 survivors | |
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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29 premises | |
n.建筑物,房屋 | |
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30 crumbled | |
(把…)弄碎, (使)碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 衰落; 坍塌; 损坏 | |
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31 rubble | |
n.(一堆)碎石,瓦砾 | |
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32 plunging | |
adj.跳进的,突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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33 analyst | |
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家 | |
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