NPR 2011-03-09

Libya's military is unleashing¹ more air strikes on rebel positions in a campaign to end the revolt against leader Muammar Gaddafi. Warplanes are pounding areas east and west of the capital Tripoli. They brought down on the oil port of Ras Lanuf and claimed to have seized control of Zawiya, the closest city to Tripoli in rebel hands. And in Ben Jawad, pro-Gaddafi forces appear on state television, declaring control of Ben Jawad.

Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu says Israel must retain control of the Jordan Valley, the part of the West Bank that runs along the border with Jordan even after peace agreement with the Palestinians. More from Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

Speaking during a tour of the Jordan Valley, Netanyahu said that the Jordan River is Israel's security border, and that if rockets and missiles were deployed² in this area, they could reach all of Israel. At least 47,000 Palestinians live there, and Palestinians say the area must be part of any future Palestinian state. Netanyahu also criticized some Jewish settlers who live in the West Bank, saying that Israel will not allow them to break the law. Some settlers have attacked Palestinian property after Israel demolished⁴ a few structures in one of dozens of illegal outposts in the West Bank. Israeli officials say they will demolish³ any Jewish homes built on private Palestinian land by the end of the year. For NPR News, I'm Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

President Obama speaks soon to students in inner-city Boston. As NPR's Tovia Smith reports, he's hoping to promote what he calls “shared responsibility” for education.

TechBoston, in an inner-city neighborhood of Boston, was founded nine years ago with money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It's a pilot school that continues to get support from private businesses, and the headmaster has unusual flexibility⁵ that allows her, for example, to give every student a laptop and extend the school day. The school's graduation rate is 20 points higher than Boston's average, and 95% are accepted to college. In Boston, the president will also highlight plans for a new federal agency funded at $90 million that would develop technology to boost education such as digital tutoring. Tovia Smith, NPR News, Boston.

The Department of Energy is projecting a big bump up in gas prices through the summer to around 3.70 a gallon as the price of oil continues to stay above $100 a barrel. The cost of crude's been climbing the last two weeks as tensions escalated⁶ in North Africa and the Middle East and spurred new concerns over the impact on exports. In a report out today, the Energy Department says there is significant uncertainty⁷ surrounding the forecast, and that prompt prices could spike⁸ above $4 this summer.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 145 points at 12,235.

This is NPR News.

It's the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, the day set aside to honor both successes and struggles of women. In the European Union, there's still a lack of equality in many areas including leadership appointments in business. Teri Schultz in Brussels reports that EU companies are being warned to fix this or else.

Despite her own high-ranking post, EU Justice Commissioner⁹ Viviane Reding says the last century hasn't brought nearly enough change.

"One hundred years of struggle and we don't see the end of it."

Reding is ready to put her policymaking power into that struggle. She's challenging publicly held companies to significantly improve the ratio of woman to man on their boards. It's more than a mere¹⁰ recommendation, Reding warns.

"If nothing changes, then I am prepared to take action at the EU level to redress¹¹ the gender¹² balance in corporate¹³ board rooms."

Reding says she'll give public companies one year from today to make a difference and will decide whether to take legal action on International Women's Day 2012. For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz in Brussels.

New England's cleaning up from a late-winter storm that dumped more than two feet of snow in some parts. In Vermont, authorities say a two-year-old boy was killed in a storm-related incident. Some roads across the region are closed because of flooding. Burlington, Vermont registered its biggest March snowfall on record of more than 25 inches. Forecasters warn another storm is forming over the Rockies and is projecting to hit the Northeast in the coming days.

Dow's up 137 points, more than 1% at 12,227, and NASDAQ is up 22 at 2,768.

1 unleashing   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Company logos: making people's life better by unleashing Cummins power. 公司理念：以康明斯动力建设更美好的生活！ 来自互联网
• Sooner or later the dam will burst, unleashing catastrophic destruction. 否则堤坝将崩溃，酿成灾难。 来自互联网

2 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

3 demolish   

v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等)

参考例句：

• They're going to demolish that old building.他们将拆毁那座旧建筑物。
• He was helping to demolish an underground garage when part of the roof collapsed.他当时正在帮忙拆除一个地下汽车库，屋顶的一部份突然倒塌。

4 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

5 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

6 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

7 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

8 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

9 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

10 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

11 redress   

n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除

参考例句：

• He did all that he possibly could to redress the wrongs.他尽了一切努力革除弊端。
• Any man deserves redress if he has been injured unfairly.任何人若蒙受不公平的损害都应获得赔偿。

12 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

13 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。