NPR 2011-05-23

President Obama says the flap over his proposal to use Israel's pre-1967 border[s] in any future Israeli-Palestinian peace deal has gotten out of hand. Speaking to members of the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC today in Washington, the president said he simply brought a much-discussed issue out into the open. "What I did on Thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately¹. I've done so because we can't afford to wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades to achieve peace. The world is moving too fast." The president also said the part of his proposal calling for border adjustments has been underreported.

A five-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near Baton² Rouge³ remains⁴ closed today. The Coast Guard shut down the river Friday after a towboat struck a bridge and three barges⁶ sank. Blake Farmer of member station WPLN reports barge⁵ traffic is halted until further notice.

Because of the high water, towboats have been under speed and weight restrictions⁷. More barges than normal were already tied up in what amount to parking lots on the river. Says Merritt Lane, CEO of Canal Barge Company, "We're having to put more barges in fleets, which is what those parking lots are called." Some companies are now trying to offload their cargo⁸ onto trains. A Coast Guard spokesman says the five-mile stretch of the Mississippi will remain closed until the three sunken barges are hauled up from the river bottom. As yet, the Coast Guard hasn't approved a recovery plan from the barge operator, the American River Transportation Company, a subsidiary of Archer⁹ Daniels Midland. For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer in New Orleans.

And in Yemen, the American, European and Gulf¹⁰ Arab ambassadors had to be airlifted to safety after an armed mob attacked the embassy where they were meeting in the capital today. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson has more from Cairo.

The ambassadors were said to have been flown to the presidential palace. Yemeni state television later showed the US ambassador and Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh standing¹¹ behind his ruling party leaders as they signed a pact¹², but Saleh himself didn't sign. It was a third time he called off signing the Gulf Arab-brokered deal after publicly agreeing to it. His latest excuse was that he wanted opposition¹³ leaders to be present during the signing. The deal, which the United States backs, but that his opponents have mixed feelings about, would grant Saleh immunity¹⁴ if he leaves office within 30 days. Protesters say the deal falls short of their demand for the Yemeni president's immediate¹⁵ departure and the dismantling¹⁶ of his regime. Soraya Sarhiddi Nelson, NPR News, Cairo.

Clouds of smoke rising above a naval¹⁷ aviation station in Pakistan that's been attacked by militants¹⁸. Up to a dozen are believed to be involved, and witnesses say they attacked three hangars of the station in the southern city of Karachi.

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Los Angeles police say they have detained one of two suspects they've been searching for in the brutal¹⁹ beating of a San Francisco Giants fan. They say the suspect is one of several people detained for questioning after they served search warrants today. Bryan Stow was attacked in a parking lot after the Dodgers²⁰ home opener. Doctors say he suffered brain damage and remains in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital.

The French Open tennis tournament is under way in Paris. Eleanor Beardsley reports that sportscasters are predicting excitement on the men's side and unpredictability among the women.

The men's No.1 player Rafael Nadal is seeking his sixth title at Roland Garros, which would put him in a tie with 1970's tennis legend Bjorn Borg. The women's No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki has never won a Grand Slam event. Third-seeded Roger Federer has won 16 Grand Slam titles, more than any other man. The third-seeded woman Vera Zvonareva has not won one, but Federer has not won a Grand Slam event since the 2010 Australian Open. Sports analysts²¹ expect Nadal and No.2 Novak Djokovic to fight it out for the men's title this year. They say the women's side is completely unpredictable. Most of the game's biggest names will begin playing on Monday or Tuesday. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

American director Terrence Malick has walked away with the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. His film "The Tree of Life" won the Palme d'Or, but he was not there to accept it. Malick's notoriously shy, so two of the film's producers accepted the prize in his stead. Kirsten Dunst won the best-actress prize for her role in the apocalyptic²² saga²³ "Melancholia."

I'm Giles Snyder, and this is NPR News from Washington.

1 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

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 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。

5 barge   

n.平底载货船，驳船

参考例句：

• The barge was loaded up with coal.那艘驳船装上了煤。
• Carrying goods by train costs nearly three times more than carrying them by barge.通过铁路运货的成本比驳船运货成本高出近3倍。

6 barges   

驳船( barge的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tug is towing three barges. 那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。
• There were plenty of barges dropping down with the tide. 有不少驳船顺流而下。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

9 archer   

n.射手，弓箭手

参考例句：

• The archer strung his bow and aimed an arrow at the target.弓箭手拉紧弓弦将箭瞄准靶子。
• The archer's shot was a perfect bull's-eye.射手的那一箭正中靶心。

10 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

13 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

14 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

15 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

16 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

17 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

18 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

19 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。

20 dodgers   

n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a crackdown on fare dodgers on trains 对火车逃票者的严厉打击
• But Twain, Howells, and James were jeeringly described by Mencken as "draft-dodgers". 不过吐温、豪威尔斯和詹姆斯都是被门肯讥诮地叫做“逃避兵役的人。” 来自辞典例句

21 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

22 apocalyptic   

adj.预示灾祸的，启示的

参考例句：

• The air is chill and stagnant,the language apocalyptic.空气寒冷而污浊，语言则是《启示录》式的。
• Parts of the ocean there look just absolutely apocalyptic.海洋的很多区域看上去完全像是世界末日。

23 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。