NPR 2011-05-17

A bit of good news for residents of Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin this afternoon: Flood level projections¹ have been lower slightly. But as NPR's Greg Allen reports from Baton² Rouge³, people who live along the Mississippi River and its bayous are beginning to see rising water.

Most of the communities threatened by the opening of the Morganza Floodway are watching for backflooding. Water then will back up as the Atchafalaya Basin fills. But in the town of Millville, a handful of residents who live right on the river have already seen water rise several feet and begin to lap at their backyards. Wendy Comal has lived here for 50 years. She says it's a beautiful river.

"But it can get angry, and it's angry right now. When you live in the flood, you always, you know, going to expect it."

She's already moved everything out of her house. She was here the last time the Morganza was opened in 1973. Based on that experience, she expects she might not get back home until the end of this summer. Greg Allen, NPR News, Baton Rouge.

The US has reached the legal limit on borrowing money. Treasury⁴ Secretary Timothy Geithner today told Congress he's dipping into government workers' pension fund and won't be adding to the fund. That pushes the deadline for either raising the debt ceiling or cutting the budget by about 40% to August 2nd. If neither step is taken, the government will go into default.

The head of the International Monetary⁵ Fund remains⁶ in police custody⁷. As NPR's Joel Rose reports, a New York judge has ordered Dominique Strauss-Kahn held without bail⁸ on charges that he sexually assaulted a maid in a high-end Manhattan hotel room.

Prosecutors¹⁰ asked the judge in Manhattan to deny bail, contending that Dominique Strauss-Kahn is at risk to flee the country, and the judge agreed, ordering Strauss-Kahn to be held without bail until his next hearing. Strauss-Kahn was arrested on Saturday night aboard an Air France plane that was about to leave New York for Paris. Strauss-Kahn is charged with several counts of sexual assault including attempted rape¹¹, but his lawyer Benjamin Brafman says Strauss-Kahn is innocent.

"We think this case is very defensible. We do not believe he has any intention of ever fleeing the jurisdiction¹². His principal intention is to try and clear his name."

Strauss-Kahn faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. His job as director of the IMF, not to mention his political career, is also in jeopardy¹³. Joel Rose, NPR News, New York.

The International Criminal Court is calling for the arrest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son and his brother-in-law. The ICC's chief prosecutor⁹ in The Hague says the three have committed crimes against humanity including rape and murder of civilians¹⁴, and that they should be tried. ICC judges will decide whether to issue an international arrest warrant.

Just before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 41 points at 12,054; the NASDAQ was off 45 points at 2,783.

This is NPR.

Donald Trump¹⁵ says he won't run for president. He released a formal statement today saying while he believes he could win the Republican primary and beat President Obama, he's not ready to leave the private sector¹⁶. Trump says he'll continue to host NBC's "Celebrity¹⁷ Apprentice¹⁸."

Space shuttle Endeavour is on its way to the International Space Station after lifting off from the launch pad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. As NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports, it’s Endeavour's last mission and a busy one.

Endeavour's final voyage in space will last a little more than two weeks. Six astronauts will deliver supplies for the station as well as new equipment, like a couple of communications antennas¹⁹. They'll also install a two-billion-dollar physics instrument onto the orbiting outpost. The device is a big particle detector²⁰ that will spend years measuring cosmic rays and searching for evidence of antimatter and dark matter. Astronauts are scheduled to go on four spacewalks to do maintenance work and retrieve²¹ experiments that have been left outside. The shuttle will dock to the station early on Wednesday. After this mission ends, NASA will have just one shuttle flight left before all the space ships are retired²². Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

The world's Roman Catholic bishops²³ are getting letters from the Vatican with instructions on how to deal with cases of sex abuse by priests. It suggests bishops cooperate with civil authorities, but does not say reporting cases is mandatory²⁴.

The Rev²⁵. Billy Graham is back home after being treated for pneumonia²⁶ at a North Carolina hospital. Doctors say the 92-year-old evangelist is responding to treatment, but that his recovery will be slow.

I'm Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.

1 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

2 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

3 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 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。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

8 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

9 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

10 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

11 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

12 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

13 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

14 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。

15 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

16 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

17 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

18 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

19 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

20 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

21 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

22 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

23 bishops   

（基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象

参考例句：

• Each player has two bishops at the start of the game. 棋赛开始时，每名棋手有两只象。
• "Only sheriffs and bishops and rich people and kings, and such like. “他劫富济贫，抢的都是郡长、主教、国王之类的富人。

24 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

25 rev   

v.发动机旋转，加快速度

参考例句：

• It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
• Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。

26 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。