NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2015-05-17

 A jury in Massachusetts has sentenced Boston Marathon bomber¹ Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for the 2013 attack that left four people dead and more than 260 wounded. His lawyers had argued he should be sentenced to life in prison, claiming he was a follower² of his brother Tamerlan, who was killed during the manhunt. Karen Brassard was injured in the bombing along with her husband and daughter. She says the sentence gives her some closure.

“I know that there’s still a long road ahead. There’s going to be many many many more dates ahead. But right now it feels like we can take a breath and kind of actually breathe again.”

The jury reached its unanimous decision in favor of the death penalty after three days of deliberations. The 21-year-old was convicted on 30 federal counts earlier this month. The appeals are expected to take years to work through the courts. 

 

Federal investigators⁵ say the Amtrak train that derailed Tuesday in Philadelphia killing⁶ eight may have been hit by something. NTSB leading investigator⁴ Robert Sumwalt says one of the assisting conductors told him she thinks she heard the engineer say that something hit the train. 

“She reported that approximately three to four minutes after departing Philadelphia, she said she heard the engineer talking to a SEPTA engineer. She recalled that the SEPTA engineer had reported to the train dispatcher that he had either been hit by a rock or shot at.”

Sumwalt interviewed the engineer and two assisting conductors today, but he says the engineer, while cooperative, can’t remember the crash. 

 

One of Osama bin³ Laden⁷’s most trusted lieutenants⁸ has been sentenced to life in prison. As NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports, his case is the third major international terrorism case resolved in New York in the past year. 

Khaled al-Fawwaz ran an al-Qaeda terrorist training camp in Kenya, helped to launch the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings and helped to arrange two American television interviews with Osama bin Laden. The announcement of his life sentence could provide more ammunition⁹ for critics, who say that the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay aren’t necessary. He’s the third prominent terrorist to be sentenced to life in an American civilian¹⁰ courtroom in the past year. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News. 

 

A nearly $612bn defense¹¹ bill passed the House today despite a veto threat by the president. Democrats¹² oppose the policy bill because they say it paves the way to cut domestic programs. A bipartisan budget deal from four years ago places caps on defense and domestic spending, but the defense bill gets around the limits by putting $89bn into an emergency war-fighting fund that’s exempt¹³.  

 

Wall Street was a mixed territory by the closing bell today. The Dow gaining 20 points to close at 18,272. The Nasdaq was down 2 points to close at 5,048. The S&P500 up 1 point at 2,122—that’s a second record close. 

 

This is NPR News. 

 

House Republicans have introduced a two-month extension of the federal highway and mass transit¹⁴ program just weeks before it was scheduled to expire. Congress wants a long-term extension of the program, but can’t agree on how to pay for it. Lawmakers say they hope the short-term extension will be approved next week before Congress leaves for the Memorial Day holiday. Officials worry that without a cash infusion¹⁵, summer construction projects throughout the country would be suspended. 

 

The new British Parliament has more open gay and lesbian members than any other country in the world. NPR’s Ari Shapiro reports from London they make up about 5% of the lawmakers in Westminster. 

Thirty-two lawmakers in Parliament now openly identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. That’s a big increase from last time when there were 26. The Liberal Labour Party has 13 out lawmakers. The Conservative Tory Party nearly matches them with 12. The rest are Scottish Nationalists. No other country comes close to these numbers. There are 12 in Sweden and 10 in the Netherlands. At this point the percentage of gays in British Parliament is roughly equal to their relative size in the general population. That’s a milestone¹⁶ that women have not yet reached. Women make up half the population, but less than 1/3 of British lawmakers. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, London. 

 

Blue Bell Creameries says it will lay off more than 1/3 of its workforce¹⁷ after listeria illnesses were linked to its ice cream. That prompted a recall of all of its products. The company says more than 1,400 employees will lose their job. Another 1,400 will be furloughed. Blue Bell Creameries’ production plants remain closed. 

1 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

2 follower   

n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒

参考例句：

• He is a faithful follower of his home football team.他是他家乡足球队的忠实拥护者。
• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。

3 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

4 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

5 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

8 lieutenants   

n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员

参考例句：

• In the army, lieutenants are subordinate to captains. 在陆军中，中尉是上尉的下级。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Lieutenants now cap at 1.5 from 1. Recon at 1. 中尉现在由1人口增加的1.5人口。侦查小组成员为1人口。 来自互联网

9 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。

10 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。

11 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。

12 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》

13 exempt   

adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者

参考例句：

• These goods are exempt from customs duties.这些货物免征关税。
• He is exempt from punishment about this thing.关于此事对他已免于处分。

14 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。

15 infusion   

n.灌输

参考例句：

• Old families need an infusion of new blood from time to time.古老的家族需要不时地注入新鲜血液。
• Careful observation of the infusion site is necessary.必须仔细观察输液部位。

16 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

17 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。