美国国家电台 NPR 2012-08-05

 At the Summer Olympics in London, it's a big day for Michael Phelps. He is swimming in what he says, is the final race of his career this hour. NPR's Howard Berkes says it's Phelps' last chance to add to his record number of Olympic medals. 

It's a pretty good chance, because Michael Phelps will be swimming in a race the United States has never lost, the 4 by 100 medley¹ relay. The event closes the swimming competition at the London Olympics, an match that announces the end of Phelps' competitive swimming career. He has 17 gold medals going into the race, and 21 allover including three golds in London. But as Phelps swims off into the sunset team USA, as a couple of youngsters already making their remarks. Seventeen-year-old Missy Franklin set a world record in the 200 backstroke Friday. Earning her third gold medal. Fifteen-year-old Katy Ledecky also won gold Friday in the 800-meter freestyle just a shade after record. Franklin also races one more time Saturday in the relay. Howard Berkes, NPR News, London.

 

 

President Obama praised the US Olympic team today in his weekly media address. He says he is proud as he watched Gymnast Gabby Douglas won her individual gold medal and enjoyed following Michael Phelps. 

 

 

In the Republican's weekly response, House Majority leader Eric Cantor stuck mostly to politics, calling on Democrats² to broad the tax relief for all Americans including wealthier taxpayers³. 

 

 

Southwest Airlines is apologising to customers today. A computer glitch⁴ caused fliers to be charged ten or more times for a single reservation. Jim Burress from member station WABE in Atlanta has this report.

Some customers woke up Saturday to max out credit cards or empty bank accounts. Southwest spokesman  Brad Hawkins, says the problem started after overwhelming response to one-day 50% off-sales promotion⁵ on Friday. Hawkins says the Airlines' website experienced performance issues, it buries times throughout the day. He says customer service agents worked overnight and continued working to cancel any duplicated itineraries⁶ and reverse extra charges. Meanwhile, Southwest 800 reservation line is overrun with calls, making a difficult for customers  to reach the airline. Southwest says it's not sure how many travellers are affected⁷. For NPR News, I'm Jim Burress, in Atlanta.

 

 

Dozens of homes have burned in Oklahoma as dozens of fire scorched⁸ more acreage. High gusty⁹ winds fined flames have died down, but people were told to evacuate¹⁰ in four counties, several Oklahoma state highways are closed. And officials say a fire burning in the town near Oklahoma city may have been deliberately¹¹ set. 

 

 

Tropical storm Ernesto was swirling¹² south of Jamaica and headed for Mexico. The National Hurricane Centre says its top winds are about 50 miles per hour. Also today, tropical storm Florence formed far out in the Atlantic about 330 miles of the Cape¹³ Verde Islands.

 

 

This is NPR.

 

 

The conflict in Syria is having a devastating¹⁴ effect in the country's food, crop and livestock¹⁵ production. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports UN and Syrian government assessors find that up to 3 million people will need assistance in the coming year.

The report finds Syria's agricultural sector¹⁶ has lost 1.8 billion dollars this year as a result of the ongoing¹⁷ conflict. World Food Program spokeswoman  Emilia Casella says there is a great risk of a complete collapse¹⁸ of livelihoods¹⁹ of farming families in the next few months.  

Many of these farming families and Bedouins and herders have had to start to cut the size of their meal. They are taking their children out of school and sending them to work. 

Casella says families are selling their livestock and other assets just to survive. The UN report says female-headed households, migrant farmers and herders are in an immediate²⁰ need of assistance. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Schlein, in Geneva.

 

 

Afghanistan's parliament cast no confidence votes in against the country's interior and defense²¹ ministers today. Lawmakers are angry over the poor response to cross-border attacks staged out of Pakistan. The lawmakers want to know why.Afghanistan has not responded with its military. 

 

 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she is pleased with progress that leaders from Somalia are making as they try to rebuild a government. Somali troops backed by the United Nations have tried to defend off al-Qaeda militants²² for several years. Clinton, who's traveling in Kenya, discussed the Somali leaders' plan to vote on a new constitution. This despite the fact that al-Qaeda still controls much of Somalia. 

1 medley   

n.混合

参考例句：

• Today's sports meeting doesn't seem to include medley relay swimming.现在的运动会好象还没有混合接力泳这个比赛项目。
• China won the Men's 200 metres Individual Medley.中国赢得了男子200米个人混合泳比赛。

2 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》

3 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

4 glitch   

n.干扰；误操作，小故障

参考例句：

• There is a glitch in the computer program somewhere.这个计算机程序中的某个部分有点小问题。
• It could just be a random glitch that can be solved by restarting the machine.可能只是一个小故障，重新启动主机就能解决了。

5 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

6 itineraries   

n.旅程，行程( itinerary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Submit weekly status reports and monthly itineraries to Region Vice President. 每周递交工作报告，每月递交工作计划给总经理。 来自互联网
• Big Ticket ItemsBig Savings-Complex international itineraries can offer opportunities for significant savings. 复杂线路节省更多：复杂的国际航线其实有更多的省钱机会。 来自互联网

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 scorched   

烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦

参考例句：

• I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
• The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。

9 gusty   

adj.起大风的

参考例句：

• Weather forecasts predict more hot weather,gusty winds and lightning strikes.天气预报预测高温、大风和雷电天气将继续。
• Why was Candlestick Park so windy and gusty? 埃德尔斯蒂克公园里为什么会有那么多的强劲阵风？

10 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。

11 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

12 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

13 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

14 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

15 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

16 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。

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 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

19 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

20 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。

21 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。

22 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。