NPR 2011-03-27

Libyan rebels say coalition¹ air strikes are helping² them. They credit the allied³ action with enabling them to retake the eastern city of Ajdabiya. President Obama says the US-led military campaign in Libya is succeeding. He made the comments in his weekly address today. As NPR’s Allison Keyes reports, they’re aimed at critics who say the US mission in Libya is unfocused.

The president, who’s set to address the nation about Libya on Monday, says the role of American forces there is limited. And though president Obama says the US cannot intervene every time there’s a crisis somewhere in the world, he says it’s in America’s national interest to act with the international community as prepared to come together, to save many thousands of lives.

“Our military mission in Libya is clear and focused. Along with our allies and partners, we’re enforcing the mandate⁵ of the United Nations Security Council.”

The Republicans used their weekly address to criticize the year old health care overhaul⁶ law, calling it a burden for states and businesses. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.

Geraldine Ferraro, the country’s first female vice⁷ presidential candidate on a major party ticket, has died. She was 75. NPR’s Karen Grigsby Bates has more.

A spokesperson for Ferraro’s family says the former congresswoman died at Massachusettes General Hospital this morning around 10:00 am eastern time. Ferraro had been battling blood cancer for several years. An obscure congresswoman from a blue-collar district in Queens, Ferraro became national news when Walter Mondale picked her as his running mate in 1984 against the Republican ticket of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. At the Democratic National Convention, Ferraro told an ecstatic crowd that her selection meant “America is the land where dreams can come true for all of us”. The Ferraro-Mondale ticket lost in one of the biggest landslides⁹ in election history, but Geraldine Ferraro would remain an advocate for women in American politics until she died. She once said she’d like to live long enough to see America’s first woman president elected. Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is calling for new elections May 2nd. He says voters now have to choose either a stable government or a reckless coalition.

“We need to ensure that our government is stable, national and wholly committed to the unity⁴ of our country.”

Harper’s conservative government lost a no-confidence vote yesterday.

Japanese authorities are confirming a sharp elevation¹⁰ of radioactive contamination in seawater near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The President of the Institution for Energy and Environmental Research Arjun Makhijani says iodine¹¹ released into the air by the plant is traveling.

“A lot of it has blown over the ocean. That ’s why you’re finding contaminated ocean water, and then some of it also overland. So, water and food and vegetables are contaminated. It’s a very, very difficult situation.”

Makhijani spoke⁸ on NBC’s Today Show.

This is NPR.

Swiss police have rescued all but one of eleven skiers who were swept away by an avalanche¹² earlier today. From Geneva, Lisa Schlein reports the accident occurred near Switzerland’s border with Italy.

Swiss police report one of the eleven skiers buried in the snow was able to free himself and raise the alarm. Rescuers eventually managed to recover all but one person. The incident happened on Mont Velan, a towering 12,200-feet peak that straddles the Swiss-Italian border. Switzerland’s National Avalanche Center had issued warnings of considerable risk of snowslides in the region. No one knows what triggered the accident, but very often people ignore avalanche warnings, and they get into trouble. Avalanche is the most common in spring, when the snow begins to melt. For NPR News, I’m Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

Tens of thousands of protesters in Germany took to the streets today to protest nuclear power. They want the government to shut down the nation’s reactors¹³ in light of events in Japan.

An estimated 250,000 angry demonstrators in London today protested sharp cuts in government funding. The government is cutting nearly $140 billion for civil service jobs and public programs. Union leader Brendan Barber says today’s march is the first of many.

“That we’re strong, and that we’re united, that we’ll fight that savage¹⁴ cuts, and that we will not let them destroy people’s services, people’s jobs and people’s lives.”

The government says the cuts are necessary to get the country out of debt.

1 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。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

4 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

5 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

6 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

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 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

10 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

11 iodine   

n.碘，碘酒

参考例句：

• The doctor painted iodine on the cut.医生在伤口上涂点碘酒。
• Iodine tends to localize in the thyroid.碘容易集于甲状腺。

12 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

13 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

14 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。