NPR 2011-08-26

 NATO is playing a major role in helping¹ Libyan rebels trying to track down Muammar Gaddafi, landing reconnaissance and intelligence assets. But Gaddafi loyalists continued to put up fight in pockets of the capital Tripoli and in his hometown of Sirte. The BBC’s Paul Wood is there with the rebel convoy².

 

We just outside town of Bin³ Jawad, and after that, the road leads straight to Sirte, passing us by, transporters carrying tanks on top of which sit teenager rebels cheering as they head for what they hope would be the final battle of this war. But rebels are making slow progress. The loyalists are proving a stubborn enemy. One rebel commander told me the only explanation he had was that many of Gaddafi’s fighters were still unaware⁴ of what changed in the past couple of days. 

 

The BBC’s Paul Wood reporting from Libya.

 

Hurricane Irene is continuing to churn toward the East Coast. The National Hurricane Center says there’s little certainty where the storm will make landfall though North Carolina has already ordered evacuations in the outer banks and the Navy is moving ships out of Hampton Roads in Virginia. The current track projects Irene would hit just east of New York City sometime Sunday. Charles Lim of member station WUSA2 is at the point lookout⁵ on Long Island. 

 

 

Forecasters are expecting a big storm and warning residents in the mid-Atlantic to New England prepared for heavy rains and high winds. Long Island has 3 million people living on it and only a handful of bridges to get them off. So far no mass evacuation has yet been ordered and if the order does come, official said it would likely be localized, asking residents on south shore to find refuge on the Jonny’s Island’s north coast. But Kenbridge beach had been ordered to leave, which has Julie McMillen and her family packing up early.

 

 

“It’s been a great vacation week, we stuck out through all the storms. At this moment we are going to go home so.”

 

 

With rough seas, locals chased swimmers out of the water leaving only the hardest fishermen left on the beach. For NPR News, I’m Charles Lim on Long Island.

 

 

Delta⁶ Airline says it would buy 100 new jets from Boeing. NPR’s Wendy Kaufman reports its multi-billion dollar order for the aerospace⁷ company.  

 

 

The Delta order is a big win for Boeing bidding out European rival Airbus. The 2 airplane makers⁸ compete aggressively for just about every major order. The deal involves 100 737- 900ER jets. It’s a long-range single-aisle aircraft which carries up to 180 passengers. Delta will use the new more fuel-efficient planes to replace its agent fleet of Boeing 757s. All the planes will be delivered to the Airline by 2018. As listed prices, the deal is valued more than $8.5 billion though airlines rarely, if ever, pay the sticker price. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News, Seattle.

 

 

Just before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 171 points at 11,150; the NASDAQ was down 46. This is NPR News.

 

 

Homes in some stage of foreclosure or already bank-owned, accounted for nearly 1/3 of all home sales in the second quarter of this year. That’s according to Realty Trac. Rick Sharga is senior vice⁹ president.

 

 

“The banks appeared finally to be willing to take some marginal discounts earlier in the process and execute short sales rather than go through a whole foreclosure process we possess the property and sell it at later day in the market at probably a great loss.”

 

 

Realty Trac keeps a data base of the nation’s foreclosures. 

 

 

In Syria, a well-known cartoonist who compared the Syrian President to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi has been dragged from his car and severely¹⁰ beaten. NPR’s Kelly McEvers reports.

 

 

Activists¹¹ and relatives say 60-year-old cartoonist Ali Ferzat had his hands broken and his beard burnt by masked men. His assailants then put a bag over his head and dumped him on the side of the road. Photographs the artist posted online showing him with bandaged hands and bandage over one eye. The UN says some 2200 people have been killed in a brutal¹² crackdown on anti-government protestors in Syria. Activists say thousands more have been detained and tortured. A UN team is in Syria to investigate but activists say they’ve not been able to enter towns that have the worst stories to tell. Kelly McEvers, NPR News, Beirut.

 

 

African Union leaders are pledging more than $350 million to tackle the famine in the Horn of Africa. At a summit in Ethiopia today 21 AU countries said the money is to help some 12 million people in desperate need of emergency food aid. 

1 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。

2 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

3 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。

4 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

5 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

7 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

8 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 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。

10 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 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。