NPR 2011-05-20

One million dollars cash bail¹ has been set for former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. A grand jury in New York has indicted² him after a hotel maid accused him of sexual assault. Strauss-Kahn has been jailed since the weekend and asked to be released on bail this afternoon, that request now granted. His lawyers note that he has surrendered his passport, pledges not to flee the country and has asked to be confined to the home of his daughter, who is a student at Columbia University in New York, that request granted.

President Obama used a wide-ranging speech at the State Department to ratchet up pressure on Syria and Iraq. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports the president also expressed strong support for democratic transitions in the Middle East and North Africa.

Just a day after the US slapped sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, President Obama urged the Syrian leader to end his brutal⁴ crackdown on protesters. "The Syrian people have shown their courage in demanding a transition to democracy. President Assad now has a choice: He can lead that transition or get out of the way." He called the unrest in the Middle East an opportunity and said he's making it his top priority to support democratic change. He also called for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but said it has become more difficult with Hamas now poised⁶ to be part of a unity⁵ government. The US considers Hamas a terrorist organization. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.

The FBI has requested a DNA⁷ sample from Unabomber Ted³ Kaczynski in connection with the infamous⁸ 1982 Tylenol poisonings. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports federal investigators⁹ are taking a second look at evidence in an old case.

Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski says in court papers that the FBI wants his DNA to find out whether he was involved in putting cyanide in Tylenol pills decades ago. An FBI spokeswoman in Chicago says Kaczynski hasn't provided investigators with the sample. She says the bureau has tried to get DNA from numerous other people as part of their broad reexamination of the evidence in the unsolved 1982 poisonings. For the record, Kaczynski says in the court filings that he never had any potassium cyanide, the key component¹⁰ in those deadly Tylenol capsules. He's currently living in a federal supermax prison in Colorado, serving a life sentence for his part in bombings that killed three people. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

Government forecasters are sizing up the tropical storm season that starts June 1st. They advise people to be ready for as many as 18 named tropical storms and three to six major hurricanes.

Sales of previously¹¹ occupied homes fell 0.8% last month. On Wall Street near the close, the Dow was up 42 points at 12,602.

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The business social networking site LinkedIn today became the biggest Internet IPO since Google went public in 2004. Public trading opened robustly¹² with shares trading at close to 100% above the 45-dollar initial public offering price.

Doctors in Houston say surgery to rebuild a portion of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' skull¹³ was a big success. Carrie Feibel with member station KUHF reports that Giffords was very eager for this next step in her treatment.

Surgeons at Memorial Hermann Hospital implanted a synthetic¹⁴ piece that was custom fitted for the hole in Giffords' skull. Until this was done, Giffords had to wear a helmet to protect her head during physical therapy and her two trips to Florida for the shuttle launch. Doctor Dong Kim says that aside from some pain and nausea¹⁵ after the surgery, Giffords was doing quite well. "I started calling her Gorgeous Gabby today, and I think, and she hasn't looked in the mirror yet, but as soon as she does, she'll be very pleased." Doctors also placed a permanent shunt in Giffords to drain fluid from around her brain into her abdomen¹⁶. For NPR News, I'm Carrie Feibel in Houston.

Gasoline may be hovering¹⁷ around four dollars a gallon, but the American Automobile¹⁸ Association says that's not going to stop people from driving to holiday destinations. The AAA forecasts about 30.9 million people will drive over the Memorial Day weekend.

NBC Sports Group Chairman Dick Ebersol's stepping down. At age 63, he had run NBC Sports since 1989. This just three weeks before the International Olympic Committee opened broadcast rights bidding.

1 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。

2 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

3 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

4 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

5 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。

6 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

9 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

12 robustly   

adv.要用体力地，粗鲁地

参考例句：

• These three hormones also robustly stimulated thymidine incorporation and inhibited drug-induced apoptosis. 并且这三种激素有利于胸（腺嘧啶脱氧核）苷掺入和抑制药物诱导的细胞凋亡。 来自互联网
• The economy is still growing robustly, but inflation, It'seems, is back. 经济依然强劲增长，但是通胀似乎有所抬头。 来自互联网

13 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

14 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

15 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

16 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

17 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。

18 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。