美国国家电台 NPR 2012-11-02

 From NPR News in Washington, I’m Lakshmi Singh. The Defense¹ Department is flying in support from California to the East Coast to help restore power to the nearly five million who are still without electricity since hurricane Sandy. Here is Pentagon spokesman George Little.

 

A famous request to Air Mobility² Command is playing for a large significant pair of mission to move critically-needed power restoration equipment to the Northeast.

 

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says progress has been made in restoring electricity and transit³ lines in the wake of Sandy. The mayor also says food and water are now being distributed in some hard-hit areas of the city. That’s NPR’s Allison Keyes explains.  

 

Bloomberg says police and firefighters continue going door-to-door in search for people in need, and so far the death toll⁵ from Sandy in the city is at least 37. The mayor says there will be help for some who have been suffering.  

 

And we will be distributing thousands of bottles of water and thousands of pre-prepared meals at a number of locations in hard-hit areas.  He says volunteers will also go door-to-door to take food to the elderly in homebound. The mayor says Con⁴ Ed is working fast to restore power, though some 534,000 people still don’t have electricity, and some parts of the city served by overhead lines might not have it before the end of next week. Allison Keyes, NPR News.  

 

The overall death toll from the storm has risen to 85 on the East Coast. In New Jersey⁶, the National Guard is spending another day delivering food and water to flood victims in Hoboken. 

 

  Another news. Former Penn State University President Graham B. Spanier has become the third school administrator⁷ charged with crime in the child sexual assault case of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. NPR’s Tom Goldman reports prosecutors⁸ assert the three men concealed¹⁰ and covered up Sandusky’s crimes. 

 

Graham Spanier was charged with five counts including failure to report suspected child abuse and perjury¹¹ for making false statements to a Grand Jury. Former school officials Tim Curley and Gary  Schultz, were charged a year ago, but today were hit with the additional counts, the same one as Spanier. Linda Kelly is the Pennsylvania Attorney General. 

 

This was a conspiracy¹² of silence by top officials working to actively¹³ conceal⁹ truth with the total disregard for the children who were Sandusky’s victims.  

 

All three men denied taking part in the cover-up. Spanier was fired as president a year ago, but still was a tenure¹⁴ professor at the university. Penn State has now placed him on leave.Curley and Schultz are scheduled for trial in January. Attorney General Kelly says all three men should be tried together. Tom Goldman, NPR News.  The Associated Press reports a woman will formally serve as president of the University of Alabama for the first time in the school’s 181-year history. Today the Board of Trustees voted to appoint Judy L. Bonner who previously¹⁵ serve as interim¹⁶ president. She succeeds Guy Bailey who stepped down unexpectedly yesterday, less than two months after he was hired. He said he was leaving due to his wife’s health. 

 

At last check on Wall Street, Dow was up 135. This is NPR.  

 

Officials in Kentucky are still working to control an ongoing¹⁷ blaze caused by a train derailment south of Louisville. As Eric Peterson reports from member station WFPL, the train was carrying toxic¹⁸ substances and several have already lit.

 

  The train derailment happened on Monday when 10 cars carrying toxic chemicals came off the truck. One of the cars carrying the flammable chemical butadiene began leaking. Then yesterday, the tank exploded. Several workers were injured and nearby homes were evacuated¹⁹. Air monitoring doesn’t show  the spread of any toxic chemicals, but there are concerns the soil and water have already been contaminated. Once the fire is extinguished, there's still a problem of stabilizing²⁰ the remaining tanks of chemicals. Of particular worry are two tanks of hydrogen fluoride. That chemicals are corrosive²¹ gas which turns into hydrofluoric acid when it comes into contact with human tissue. For NPR News, I’m Eric Peterson, in Louisville, Kentucky.  

 

Consumers appear to remain positive about the economy. Lynn Franco with the Conference Board says the group’s consumer confidence index rose to 72.2 last month.  

 

Cautiously optimistic, it’s still a relatively²² weak reading, not quite what we’ve seen during past recessions. But definitely not a very optimistic consumer.  All the reading is still the highest since February of 2008.   Some optimistic news out of the auto²³ industry today, Chrysler says its U.S. sales rose 10% last month, the best October showing in five years.  Dow was up 132 points at 13,229; NASDAQ gaining 41 at 3,018; S&P 500 up 15. 

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

3 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

4 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

5 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

6 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

7 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

8 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。

9 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

10 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

11 perjury   

n.伪证；伪证罪

参考例句：

• You'll be punished if you procure the witness to commit perjury.如果你诱使证人作伪证，你要受罚的。
• She appeared in court on a perjury charge.她因被指控做了伪证而出庭受审。

12 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

13 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

14 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

15 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。

16 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

17 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

18 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

19 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

20 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

21 corrosive   

adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的

参考例句：

• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。
• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。

22 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

23 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。