NPR 2008-06-12

Pakistan has launched what it is terming "a strong protest" with the US over an attack by US forces at the Afghan-Pakistan border, which claimed the lives of 11 Pakistani soldiers. The deaths came as US Special Forces were apparently¹ battling militants² in that area. The Pentagon has defended the attack. Reporter Graham Usher³ in Islamabad says the Pakistani government claims the US should have been aware its forces were in the area at a border outpost.

 “What they are saying is that the US Special Forces must have known there is a, that there was an army border post there, there is regular coordination⁴ between the Pakistan, Afghan and NATO forces. So, there is outrage⁵, really, on the Pakistani side that the US simply ignored its border post, or suggested even that they had permission to fire missiles in and around it.”

 Pakistan summoned the US ambassador to the Foreign Ministry⁶ over the incident. The US says it is still trying to determine if Pakistani forces were killed in the assault.

 Barack Obama has accepted Jim Johnson’s decision to leave his post heading Obama’s vice⁷ presidential search committee follows reports in the Wall Street Journal that Johnson got favorable treatment from a mortgage lending company. More from NPR’s David Greene.

 Johnson is a longtime Washington insider. He helped Walter Mondale and John Kerry pick their running mates, and he was leading the vetting⁹ process for Obama. Johnson is the former CEO of mortgage lender Fannie Mae. And on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Johnson obtained loans at below-market rates from another mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. On Tuesday, Obama said he wasn’t about to hire a vetter to vet⁸ the vetter. But a day later, Obama has accepted Johnson’s resignation. Obama said in a statement he’s grateful for Johnson’s work, but the candidate said Johnson, (quote), “didn’t want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering¹⁰ information about my vice presidential nominee”. David Greene, NPR News, Washington.

 More rain is falling today in already drenched¹¹ areas of the Midwest, worsening the flooding. In Iowa, residents continued to pile up sandbags to hold back flood waters. NPR’s David Schaper reports.

 With rain falling again in Iowa, water began pouring up and out of the storm sewers¹² in downtown Des Moines around noontime, flooding downtown streets and some businesses. In Cedar¹³ Falls, northeast of Des Moines, volunteers have been working all day and all night to fill and pile up sandbags in an effort to keep the Cedar River from flooding the town. There are evacuation orders downstream on the Cedar River in the towns of Waterloo and Waverly, where a section of highway is completely submerged. A 200-mile section of the Mississippi River, north of St. Louis, has been closed to barge¹⁴ and shipping¹⁵ traffic because of high water in the worst flooding along the Mississippi in 15 years. David Schaper, NPR News.
 

Giant InBev NV, a company that has grown from a collection of Flemish-owned brands to become the top beer maker¹⁶ in Latin-America, has made a more-than-46-billion-dollar offer for Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser. Anheuser says its board will evaluate the offer.

On Wall Street, the Dow fell more than 200 points. This is NPR.

US health officials say they are continuing to receive reports from people falling ill from eating salmonella-tainted tomatoes, and that there are now at least 167 reported cases in a total of 17 states. Representatives from the Food and Drug Administration along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today they are continuing to try to find the source of the salmonella outbreak, which appears to have hit New Mexico and Texas the hardest. Officials say the outbreak is considered ongoing¹⁷ as reports of people becoming ill continue to come (in). And officials say it is safe to eat tomatoes grown in either Florida or California, since those states have now been ruled out as sources of the outbreak.

NASA’s Phoenix¹⁸ Lander had a bit of luck last night: the clumpy Martian soil that had been causing trouble loosened up. NPR’s David Kestenbaum reports.

The Phoenix Lander is trying to study a part of Mars that has not gotten close-up attention before----the region near the planet’s icy North Pole. And NASA’s first attempt to analyze¹⁹ the soil there hit a snag. The dirt behaved strangely: it clumped²⁰ together. When the Lander tried to sift²¹ out small particles for analysis, they would not sift. NASA has been periodically ordering the Lander to shake the soil. And after the 7th try on Tuesday night, enough tiny bits of dirt came loose to fill the analyzer, scientists cheered and clapped. Some now speculate that maybe ice had been holding the soil together in clumps²², and that the moisture evaporated over the days, letting it break up. One instrument is now ready to bake and analyze the soil. Among other things, researchers will look for organic molecules²³, the type that might be helpful for life. David Kestenbaum, NPR News.

Crude oil futures²⁴ rose more than five dollars a barrel in New York today.

1 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。

2 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。

3 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

4 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

5 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

9 vetting   

n.数据检查[核对，核实]v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的现在分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• Scripts had to be submitted to Ministry of Information officials for vetting. 必须把脚本提交给信息部官员审查。 来自互联网
• Their purpose in clicking deeper into a site is one of vetting. 他们深入点击网站的目的是一种诊疗。 来自互联网

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

11 drenched   

adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体）

参考例句：

• We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨，淋得浑身透湿。
• The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 sewers   

n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

13 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

14 barge   

n.平底载货船，驳船

参考例句：

• The barge was loaded up with coal.那艘驳船装上了煤。
• Carrying goods by train costs nearly three times more than carrying them by barge.通过铁路运货的成本比驳船运货成本高出近3倍。

15 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

16 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

17 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

18 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

19 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

20 clumped   

adj.[医]成群的v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的过去式和过去分词 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• The bacteria clumped together. 细菌凝集一团。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He clumped after her, up the stairs, into his barren office. 他拖着沉重的步伐跟在她的后面上楼了，走进了他那个空荡荡的诊所。 来自辞典例句

21 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

22 clumps   

n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• These plants quickly form dense clumps. 这些植物很快形成了浓密的树丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bulbs were over. All that remained of them were clumps of brown leaves. 这些鳞茎死了，剩下的只是一丛丛的黃叶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

24 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。