NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-12-16

 A 17-year-old high school student remains¹ hospitalised in critical condition after another student shot her yesterday at Colorado’s Arapahoe High School. Arapahoe County Sheriff, Grayson Robinson, says in addition to brandishing² a shotgun, the shooter was well-armed. 

 

The individual also had a bandolier of multiple rounds of shotgun ammunition³ strapped⁴ across his body, and he was also armed with a machete, a very large knife. The individual also carried a backpack with him as he entered the school. We now know as a result of our investigation⁵ that inside that backpack were three incendiary devices. 

 

Robinson says the 18-year-old gunman purchased the shutgun legally. 

 

Meanwhile, Newtown, Connecticut today marked the first anniversary of the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which left 20 children and six educators dead. Bells rang out at 9:30 this morning the time that Adam Lanza shot his way into the school.

 

A 1,000-mile storm system that hammered the Midwest is dumping heavy snow in New England and it’s tangled⁶ up travel. NPR’s Sam Sanders reports more than 1,200 flights throughout the country are called off. 

 

Flights in airports throughout the Northeast and Midwest have been canceled with most in Chicago and New York. Mark Duell is with FlightAware, a website that tracks commercial airlines. He says travel issue expects hold up this weekend. 

 

At Chicago, they’ve canceled just up to 200 flights which is about 10% of the schedule and at New York, they’ve canceled 350 flights which is about 40% of the schedule. There's definitely going to be tens or hundred thousand people who were displaced.

 

Duell says if you are dealing⁷ with the flight cancelation, it’s best to get straight to an airline's website, because their phone lines could be overwhelmed. Snow is expected through Sunday morning in New England and New York state. Sam Sanders, NPR News.

 

Members of Nelson Mandela’s family are holding an overnight vigil in the South African village of Qunu on the eve of his funeral. Qunu is Mandela hometown, his coffin⁸ was handed over to the family today after being transported through crowds gathered at the roadside. As the BBC’s Mike Wooldridge reports. 

 

Nelson Mandela came home today after final ceremonial send-off from an airbase near Pretoria where his body had been lying in state. The military plane that brought him here to the town of Umtata was received with formal ceremony too. But as a hearse containing Nelson Mandela’s coffin draped in the South African flag, set off for Qunu where the funeral would take place. The people of the eastern Cape⁹ took over to give him their send-off. A farewell for the local herds¹⁰ boy who fought apartheid and became president and who they saw as their own.  The BBC’s Mike Wooldridge.

 

This is NPR.

 

The Obama administration says healthcare.gov’s error rate for transmitting health insurance applications to insurance companies has plunged¹¹. It also says the website will be unavailable as of midnight Eastern Time tonight until noon Eastern Time tomorrow as it undergoes extended maintenance. Application and enrollment¹² tools as well as the federal data services hub will not be accessible. 

 

The federal government has decided¹³ to send help to California in the wake of a major and destructive wildfire as Bob Hensley reports it’s a reversal of an earlier decision. 

 

The so-called Rim¹⁴ Fire burned 400 square miles in and around Yosemite National Park. The fire erupted in mid-August. It took firefighters more than two months to extinguish what turned out to be one of the worst wildfires in California history. The estimated losses to property, business and public infrastructure¹⁵ was in the tens of millions of dollars. In early October,  Governor Brown asked for federal disaster aid. But officials of FEMA ruled the fire didn’t merit from Washington. So Brown appealed directly to President Obama and the White House sent word to the governor that federal assistance would be forthcoming. Officials determined¹⁶ a hunter who started an illegal camp fire was responsible for the disaster. For NPR News, I’m Bob Hensley, in Modesto, California. 

 

China says it has joined the US and the former Soviet¹⁷ Union in landing a spacecraft on the moon. Chinese state media says it’s the first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly 40 years. A soft landing doesn’t damage the craft or the equipment it carries. China says a will undertake a lunar rover three-month exploration of the moon. 

 

1 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。

2 brandishing   

v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀

参考例句：

• The horseman came up to Robin Hood, brandishing his sword. 那个骑士挥舞着剑，来到罗宾汉面前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He appeared in the lounge brandishing a knife. 他挥舞着一把小刀，出现在休息室里。 来自辞典例句

3 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

4 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

7 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。

8 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

9 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。

10 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

11 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

12 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

15 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

16 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

17 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。