NPR 2008-06-29

President Bush has issued an emergency declaration for California, opening the way for more federal assistance for fire crews battling hundreds of wildfires there, most sparked by lightning. More than 260, 000 acres have burned so far. Christina Aanestad from member station KZYX has more.

Terry Morgan is a firefighter with Cal Fire in Cloverdale. He says Cal Fire has two engines, a private bulldozer and 22 volunteer firefighters working on a near 1,000 acre fire. "Multiply that by ten times, so that's how short we are. We have no hand crews, to speak of, you'll probably at least have ten hand crews on a fire of this magnitude, if this was the only fire going. Obviously, that's not. So (that), that's where we are at." President Bush's federal emergency declaration is expected to bring in more support and supply of the 75% in federal funds for relief efforts in the state. FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security are expected to provide some of that support, which would relieve fatigued¹ firefighters who have been on the frontlines for days now. For NPR News, I'm Christina Aanestad in Philo, California.

More heavy rain in the Midwest is adding to flooding woes² in southwest Missouri. In the town of Winfield, a makeshift sandbag levee failed today, sending floodwaters into dozens of homes. Dan Flippant manages an emergency shelter there for the Red Cross. "The morale³ is pretty good, because at this point of time, everyone has cleared out of their houses, and they are kind of wondering when FEMA and when, you know, when they can get help both monetary⁴ and materials." More than 125 homes in Winfield have been destroyed or damaged by the flooding.

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses remain without electricity in Omaha after storms packing high winds tore through the area, ripping off rooftops and downing trees and utility poles. Local officials say it will take days to restore power completely.

President Bush says the US will press the UN Security Council to take strong action against Zimbabwe for a presidential election that he called a "sham⁵". The European Union is also considering sanctions as Larry Miller⁶ reports from London.

The European Union called the Zimbabwe election a "sham". Nobel Peace laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said the world has the right to intervene in Zimbabwe. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the election as "a new low" and said the world is united in rejecting the illegitimate regime of Robert Mugabe. Brown said tougher EU sanctions are being prepared and that Britain will work to close, what he called, "this sickening chapter". Brown urged the African Union to take strong action when it meets Monday. Meanwhile, London's independent newspaper reports agents of the Mugabe regime are harassing⁷ and intimidating⁸ Zimbabwean dissidents in Britain through surveillance, threats against family members in Zimbabwe and late-night phone calls. The paper said this was confirmed by British security sources. Larry Miller reporting.

This is NPR News from Washington.

The US military says 32 militants⁹ have been killed in Afghanistan as they were attacking a patrol of Afghan and coalition¹⁰ forces. When the militants first ambushed¹¹ the patrol, coalition troops called in airstrikes.

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are both pledging to reform the nation's immigration policies. They each got standing¹² ovations¹³ in separate appearances today before a meeting of Latino elected officials.

Riot police in Bulgaria detained dozens of extremists who were tossing rocks, bottles and gasoline bombs at the capital city's first ever gay pride parade today. About 150 people took part in the event, no serious injuries were reported.

One of North America's largest gay pride festivals is underway in Toronto. More from Dan Karpenchuk.

The feathers, leather and lace are out. The parties have been going strong all week. It's the 28th year that the city has held gay pride celebrations. Toronto has become one of the most prominent gay pride festivals in the world. This year, about 1.2 million people are expected to attend the pride parade on Sunday. And that's become big tourist business for the city. It's also become a political event, as politicians from all parties and levels of government show their support. And this year, for the first time, Canadian military personnel in uniform will be allowed to take part in the march. The soldiers will march alongside firefighters, police and others. One officer says it will send out the message that the Canadian Forces is an employer of choice for all people. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk, in Toronto.

A teenager was struck and killed by a roller coaster at the Six Flags amusement park outside Atlanta this afternoon after entering a restricted area near the ride. A spokeswoman for the park said the 17-year-old apparently¹⁴ ignored warning signs and scaled two large fences to enter that area.

1 fatigued   

adj. 疲乏的

参考例句：

• The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
• The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑，疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。

2 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

3 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

4 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

5 sham   

n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的)

参考例句：

• They cunningly played the game of sham peace.他们狡滑地玩弄假和平的把戏。
• His love was a mere sham.他的爱情是虚假的。

6 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

7 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

8 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

9 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。

10 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

11 ambushed   

v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The military vehicles were ambushed. 军车遭到伏击。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

13 ovations   

n.热烈欢迎( ovation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Everywhere they appeared there were ovations. 他们出现在哪儿，哪儿就是一片欢呼声。 来自辞典例句
• There were notable standing ovations for the Iraqi and the Palestinian teams. 而且引人注目的是，伊拉克和巴勒斯坦代表团还受到了持久的掌声欢迎。 来自互联网

14 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。