NPR 2011-05-16

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jim Howard.

At least 13 people are dead in anti-Israeli protests along the Lebanese and Syrian borders and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The violence comes on a day called Nakba, the annual observation of the day Israel was created in 1948. From Beirut, the BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones has this report.

Protest organizers hope that the demonstrations¹ that have occurred throughout the Arab world in the last few months would encourage a big turnout on this Nakba Day. And they were not disappointed. Tens of thousands of Palestinians and their supporters from both Lebanon and Syria marched to the border fence. In Lebanon, several hundred people reached the fence and threw stones over it. The protesters were chanting "We will return to Palestine." In Syria, some people breached² the fence and crossed over into the occupied Golan Heights. The Israelis responded by firing at the protesters in both locations.

The BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones reporting from Beirut.

Senator John Kerry arrives in Islamabad today en route from Kabul, where he said relations with Pakistan are at a critical moment following the killing³ of Osama bin⁴ Laden⁵ at a secret compound in Pakistan. From Islamabad, NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that tensions are at an all-time high as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman sits down for what are expected to be tough meetings with the Pakistanis.

Senator Kerry arrives as the anti-American rhetoric⁶ becomes more bellicose⁷. A marathon debate in parliament on the feelings of Pakistan's discredited⁸ military and intelligence agency, the ISI, ended Saturday with the country's lawmakers condemning⁹ the United States. They unanimously denounced US drone strikes as a violation¹⁰ of sovereignty equivalent to the US raid on bin Laden's compound. The ISI chief denied intentional¹¹ negligence¹² in not detecting bin Laden. Pakistan's role in identifying other high-valued terror suspects in Pakistan is expected to be high on Senator Kerry's agenda. The go-between for the Obama administration is well liked here, but Kerry is also reported to be bringing a stern message from Washington. Julie McCarthy, NPR News, Islamabad.

At least four of the massive floodgates of the Morganza Spillway in Louisiana are now open, sending floodwaters in the direction of smaller communities instead of the state's two larger cities. National Guard Colonel Daniel Bordelon says these are tough times for residents in the path of the planned flooding.

"It's a very stressful situation for them, but surprisingly, we've had no incidents of any kind, any kind of problem. Everyone's been orderly, stressed, maybe a little sad, but they're, they're really helping¹³ themselves and allowing us to help them too."

Residents in communities along the levees of the spillway have been packing up their belongings¹⁴ and moving out of the area after days of warnings from officials.

Political posturing¹⁵ is beginning in earnest over the federal debt limit. House Speaker John Boehner says there's no reason for negotiators to wait until the eleventh hour to reach an agreement. He says he's ready to cut a deal now. What he's looking for is an exchange to lower the federal spending by the amount the debt limit has increased.

This is NPR News.

The head of the International Monetary¹⁶ Fund is pleading not guilty, according to his attorney, to charges that he sexually assaulted a hotel maid in New York. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested yesterday and removed from an Air France flight moments before it was set to leave New York.

NASA will try again to launch space shuttle Endeavour tomorrow morning. The mission is Endeavour's last and the second-to-last for NASA's shuttle fleet. NPR's Richard Harris has details of Endeavour's mission.

Endeavour's six-person-crew is planning to bring a physics experiment and other gear up to the International Space Station. The mission is supposed to last for 16 days, and it includes four spacewalks. It's garnered¹⁷ extra attention in part because it's slated¹⁸ to be the second-to-last shuttle launch ever and partly because shuttle commander Mark Kelly is married to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely wounded during a shooting in Arizona. The mission has been delayed because of mechanical problems, but assuming it goes up as planned, the next and final shuttle launch should be good to go in early- to mid-July. Richard Harris, NPR News.

President Obama is set to deliver the high school commencement speech at Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tennessee tomorrow. Students at the school live with high crime, intense poverty and broken families. The school's principal says the president's visit validates¹⁹ the hard work of the school's students.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he knows what he wants and he knows what he doesn't want. He says he's serious about his campaign for president. Appearing on NBC, the Georgian Republican says he has no interest in being anyone's vice²⁰ presidential pick.

Wisconsin Republican Representative Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, says he is considering a run for the US Senate. Appearing on CNN, Ryan says he could make his decision known this week.

I'm Jim Howard, NPR News from Washington.

1 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

2 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

5 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

6 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

7 bellicose   

adj.好战的；好争吵的

参考例句：

• He expressed alarm about the government's increasingly bellicose statements.他对政府越来越具挑衅性的声明表示担忧。
• Some irresponsible politicians made a bellicose remarks.一些不负责任的政客说出一些好战的话语。

8 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。

9 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

11 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

12 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

13 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。

14 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

15 posturing   

做出某种姿势( posture的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was posturing a model. 她正在摆模特儿的姿势。
• She says the President may just be posturing. 她说总统也许只是在做样子而已。

16 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。

17 garnered   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith gradually garnered a national reputation as a financial expert. 史密斯先生逐渐赢得全国金融专家的声誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals. 他的提议得到了广泛的支持。 来自辞典例句

18 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

19 validates   

v.证实( validate的第三人称单数 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力

参考例句：

• Other research validates that when it comes to chocolate, type does matter. 其他的研究也证实了不同种类的巧克力确实功效不同。 来自互联网
• Trouble shoots equipment, review and validates data and complete reports. 管理错误描述设备，审查并确认试验数据，完成试验报告。 来自互联网

20 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。