NPR 2011-02-21

The government crackdown against protesters in Libya continues. The Associated Press is quoting a doctor at a hospital in Benghazi as saying the morgue there has received at least 200 dead from the days of unrest. Meanwhile, Fred Abrahams with Human Rights Watch is putting the number closer to 170. He tells NPR troops continue to fire at the protesters.

“Yesterday and today, the protesters, they gathered to mourn and carry the bodies to the cemetery¹ of people who had been killed in previous days, so the procession marches peacefully and goes by the main security compound in the town of Benghazi in the east about a million people. And as the crowd gets near to the compound, security forces from inside are opening fire. This is what we’ve gotten on the phone from witnesses as well as doctors who’re treating the wounded and seeing the dead come to the hospital.”

Again, that’s Fred Abrahams, an advisor² to Human Rights Watch.

The US ambassador to the United Nations says leaders in the Middle East and North Africa facing the protests should recognize a yearning³ for reform. And as NPR’s Allison Keyes tells us, lead the way rather than be forced.

Ambassador Susan Rice says the Obama administration has been encouraging Bahrain and other governments in the region to understand that the desire for change and reform isn’t going to go away. And then it has sent a consistent message that those governments need to get ahead of reform by leading rather than being pushed, but Rice tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” the White House is very concerned about reports of violence and attacks on civilians⁴ in Libya and elsewhere.

“We’ve been very clear with our partners in Bahrain that they ought to exercise restraint, that there’s no place for violence against peaceful protesters there or anywhere else, and we’ve condemned⁵ that violence.”

Rice says the US isn’t pushing leaders in the region out or dictating⁶ that they stay. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.

The US is hoping to reach out to new populations by launching Twitter feeds in Arabic and Farsi. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appearing on ABC’s “This Week”, says she has high hopes for the feeds.

“We want them to hear directly from us what our policies are. We want to use it to rebut⁷ some of the falsehoods and accusations⁸ that unfortunately are made against the United States.”

Clinton says by launching the feeds they'll be reaching millions of new populations like those demonstrating in the Mideast.

Authorities say it was an engine failure that forced a Delta⁹ Airline’s flight to make an emergency landing this morning. Aviation officials say they recovered several pieces of what appears to be a damaged engine from a highway near the Fort Lauderdale airport. No injuries were reported. It is unclear what caused the engine to malfunction¹⁰. The 140 passengers were rebooked on other flights.

This is NPR News.

A winter storm is getting in the way of travel plans for folks using the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Officials say hundreds of flights in and out of city have been canceled as a major storm sweeps in. The National Weather Service says 10-15 inches of snow could fall by tomorrow.

A European Union team starts to work in Italy today, providing backup for local authorities overwhelmed by thousands of illegal migrants, mostly from Tunisia. They've recently arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Terri Shultz reports from Brussels that EU member states are grappling with the obligation to show solidarity¹¹ with Italy while not wanting to accept more refugees themselves.

The EU has fast-tracked funding from Brussels to help with accommodating and processing the more than 5,000 migrants. A team of 30 people, a plane and some ships has just arrived to help stop more Tunisians from sailing the 70 miles to Italian territory. Italy is angrily reminding its fellow EU members. They're required by regulation to provide assistance. The so-called “principle of solidarity”, that's one of the basic tenets of the bloc¹². But Austria, France and Germany have said publicly they won’t take in any significant number of Tunisians; no government has said it will. Rome wants an emergency EU summit of heads of state to deal with the situation. So far, that’s not in the works. But foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels tonight to discuss the crisis. For NPR News, I’m Terri Shultz in Brussels.

Four Senators are asking Florida’s governor to enact¹³ some sort of program to keep better track of the flow of abused prescription¹⁴ drugs out of the state. Senators from Florida, New York, Rhode Island and West Virginia call the flow the “Flamingo Express”. The governor of Florida says he will repeal¹⁵ the state’s drug trafficking law and monitoring system before it can take effect.

1 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

2 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

3 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

6 dictating   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• The manager was dictating a letter to the secretary. 经理在向秘书口授信稿。 来自辞典例句
• Her face is impassive as she listens to Miller dictating the warrant for her arrest. 她毫无表情地在听米勒口述拘留她的证书。 来自辞典例句

7 rebut   

v.辩驳，驳回

参考例句：

• He attempted to rebut the assertions made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳控方证人所作的断言。
• This open letter is to rebut the argument of abstractionism.这封公开信是反驳抽象派论点的。

8 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

9 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

10 malfunction   

vi.发生功能故障，发生故障，显示机能失常

参考例句：

• There must have been a computer malfunction.一定是出了电脑故障。
• Results have been delayed owing to a malfunction in the computer.由于电脑发生故障，计算结果推迟了。

11 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

12 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

13 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

14 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

15 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。