美国国家公共电台 NPR 2015-12-31

 From NPR news in Washington, I'm Barbara Klein. Missouri governor Jay Nixon says he's calling up the state's national guard to help deal with unprecedented¹ floods. It's very clear that Missouri is in the midst of a very historic and dangerous flooding event. The amount of rain we received, in some places in excess of a foot, has caused river levels not only to rise rapidly but to go to places they've never been before. The death toll³ for Missouri's flooding has risen to 13. 12 died in vehicles that were swept from flooded roads. He says the rain has moved out but the threat from rising water levels along the Mississippi river and its tributaries⁴ continues. 

 

 

Cleveland's mayor is discussing the next steps regarding two police officers involved in the fatal shooting death of Tamir Rice. A grand jury decided⁵ yesterday not to indict⁶ them but as Elizabeth Miller⁷ of member station WCPN reports they could still face consequences. Mayor Frank Jackson said on the media to discuss the administrative⁸ review process for officer Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback. Loehmann fatally shot twelve-year-old Rice as the officers arrived at the park responding to a 911 call of a guy waving what was discovered to be an airgun. Garmback was driving the cruiser. The community will review the case to determine whether the officers violated any department procedures. With protests going on in Cleveland and other cities, Jackson emphasized that they need to continue investigation⁹. 'Whether they agree with the grand jury's decision or not, we are moving here with our process.' Disciplinary actions, if any, for the officers could range from suspension to termination. For NPR news, I'm Elizabeth Miller in Cleveland.

 

 

Iraqi prime minster Haider al-Abadi made a triumphant¹⁰ lap through the center of the strategically key city of Ramadi today. Yesterday, Iraqi troops backed by the US-led coalition¹¹ pushed IS militants¹² out of the provincial¹³ government complex but NPR's Tom Boldman tells us Iraqi forces have not yet retaken all of Ramadi. Colonel Steve Warren, the American military spokesman in Baghdad, said there are still pockets of resistance, there are still IS fighters they have to deal with before Ramadi can be cleared. And colonel Warren wound't give an estimated when that would happen. An old Iraqi general told US officials just last week the day expected Ramadi to be cleared by about mid² January. NPR's Tom Boldman.

 

 

The State Department says there's been a marked and troubling increase in civilian¹⁴ casualties in Syria since Russia's air campaign started September 30th. Non-governmental groups say emergency response workers were among those killed and medical facilities, schools, and markets have been struck. US officials say secretary of state John Kerry has called his Russian counterpart to voice his concerns. 

 

 

On Wall Street today, the Dow gained 192 points to close at 17720. The NASDAQ rose 66 points to close at 5107. The S&P was up 21. This is NPR. 

 

 

The WHO says the west African country of Guinea is now Ebola-free. Still NPR's Joanne Silberner reports it will be some time before the epidemic¹⁵ can be declared over. The two-year Ebola outbreak showed up first in Guinea and then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Guinea is the last of the three nations to be designated transmission-free. But Ebola has re-emerged before. The virus can persist for months in fluids in semen and breast milk. Epidemiologists in Guinea will be watching closely over the next three months so that they can identify new cases in time to stop the disease to stop the disease to spread again.  The WHO official says the key to ending the epidemic once and for all is building up the nation's healthcare system. Joanne Silberner, NPR news in Washington.

 

 

DuPont says it will cut 1700 jobs, about 28 percent of its workforce¹⁶ in its home state of Delaware in the beginning of the New Year as it undertakes merging¹⁷ with Dow Chemical. Thousands of positions around the world will also be eliminated. DuPont says the restructuring will affect about 10 percent of its workforce. 

 

 

Twitter is updating its terms of service to tackle abuse on the social networking service. The new rules offer more details of about what kinds of tweets and actions can result in suspended accounts. Twitter says it will not tolerate behavior intended to harass¹⁸, intimidate¹⁹ or use fear to silence another user's voice. Twitter is faced criticism of the way it's handled complaints of abuse. I'm Barbara Klein. NPR news in Washington.

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

3 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。

4 tributaries   

n. 支流

参考例句：

• In such areas small tributaries or gullies will not show. 在这些地区，小的支流和冲沟显示不出来。
• These tributaries are subsequent streams which erode strike valley. 这些支流系即为蚀出走向谷的次生河。

5 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。

6 indict   

v.起诉，控告，指控

参考例句：

• You can't indict whole people for the crudeness of a few.您不能因少数人的粗暴行为就控诉整个民族。
• I can indict you for abducting high school student.我可以告你诱拐中学生。

7 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

8 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

9 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。

10 triumphant   

adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的

参考例句：

• The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
• There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。

11 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

12 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。

13 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

14 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

15 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

16 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

17 merging   

合并（分类）

参考例句：

• Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。

18 harass   

vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰

参考例句：

• Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
• They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。

19 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。