NPR 2011-09-07

 A mass shooting at a restaurant in Carson city, Nevada this morning reportedly is blamed for at least three deaths and a number of injuries. We have the latest from NPR's Ted¹ Robbins. 

 

Witnesses say a man drove up to an IHOP in a strip mall this morning. They say he pulled out an automatic rifle and shot a man on a motorcycle, then he walked inside the restaurant and began shooting. One witness says the man then left the IHOP and began firing into other businesses in the strip mall. Police and FBI agents arrived at the scene. Carson City sheriff Kenneth Furlong says the gunman shot himself, others are in surgery at a local hospital. Ted Robbins, NPR News.

 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt² Romney, is in North Los Vegas this hour, calling for a lower corporate³ tax rate and for eliminating capital gains taxes as part of the plan to lift the struggling economy and create jobs. 

 

More than 1000 homes across Texas are damaged or destroyed as a result of the growing number of wild fires burning in the central and eastern section of the state. Majority of losses were in Bastrop, a county near Austin where one fire wiped out hundreds of homes. Thousands of people were forced to evacuate⁴. The flames were fueled by tinder-dry conditions and high winds generated by tropical storm Lee. 

 

Thousand are without power and schools are closed today in parts of the South dealing⁵ with the remnants of Lee. From member station WPLN Blake Farmer reports some areas have measured record rainfall.

 

Gauges⁶ in Chattanooga Tennessee have been filled more rains than any other 24 hour period, ten to eleven inches in some spots. Mocksville's also seen a historical rainfall and is still coming down. Rivers and creeks⁷ are starting to flood, rising above roads in southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. Forecaster has expected the worst of the flooding will happen today since the ground is saturated⁸. Wind was the problem in Georgia yesterday, chainsaws and tarps are coming out after the slow-moving storm, spun⁹ up suspected tornados¹⁰ and damaged some 100 homes North Atlanta. In Alabama as many as 200,000 lost power after the storm blew through Birmingham. From NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer in Nashville.

 

Storms and wild fires apparently¹¹ make for captivating images in space. NASA Astronaut Ron Garan is aboard the International Space Station where he's taking pictures of the forces of Mother Nature from 240 miles up.

 

It was scary from it up here as well, you know, it's just, you know when you see these massive storms, you see how powerful they are, it's just really unsparing from up here, it's terrifying.

 

The crew on the orbiting outpost say ground controllers are figuring out how best to leave the complex running, such as what lights to leave on in case it needs to be temporarily vacated. This is after a Russian rocket carrying supplies to the outpost failed during lift-off two weeks ago and delayed other planned launches. 

 

The Dow is down 170 points at 11,067. This is NPR News.

 

Thousands of jobs could be at stake if members of Congress don't act quickly to extend a transportation bill when they return. As NPR's Tamara Keith tells us the deadline is September 30th.

 

All Congress needs to do is passing an extension of the transportation funding bill to keep projects humming. It's something they've done many times before. But there are still concerns something could go wrong, because before the recess¹², Congress failed to pass a FAA funding extension, forcing furloughs, and that was supposed to be simple too. Jack¹³ Basso is the COO of the American Associations of State Highway and Transportation officials.

 

Naturally when you see that, it gives you some concern, but I think just all of the discussions we've had seem to be very positive and getting this taken care of. 

 

Both Republicans and Democrats¹⁴ have indicated they don't plan to hold up the extension. Tamara Keith, NPR News, the capital.

 

Service sector¹⁵ firms have accounted for the majority of the U.S. work force, such as health care, hospitality and financial service companies, is showing signs of improvement. The Institute for Supply Management finds the sector rose at a slightly faster pace in August than the month before. Its index reading for services remains¹⁶ above 50 which indicates expansion, but overall, the service sector is still considered too weak to turn the economy around.

 

Here's the latest from Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 169 points a 1.5% at 11,072, paring back earlier losses in the day. NASDAQ down 30, more than 1% at 2,451.

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh NPR News.

1 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。

2 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 gauges   

n.规格( gauge的名词复数 )；厚度；宽度；标准尺寸v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的第三人称单数 )；估计；计量；划分

参考例句：

• A thermometer gauges the temperature. 温度计可测量温度。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fuel gauges dropped swiftly. 燃料表指针迅速下降。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

8 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

9 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

10 tornados   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And the national weather service reports several tornados touch down. 国家气象中心报告预测龙卷风将来袭。 来自互联网
• They had stock footage of lightning, tornados, and hurricanes. 他们存有关于闪电、龙卷风和飓风的电影胶片。 来自互联网

11 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

12 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

13 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

14 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 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。

16 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。