美国国家公共电台 NPR This Is Only A Test: Why Your Cellphone Buzzed Wednesday Afternoon

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This afternoon at exactly 2:18 Eastern time, you can expect to get a presidential alert on your cellphone. It's not exactly from President Trump¹. Rather, it's a test of a new nationwide warning system that a president could use in case of an attack by another country or a cyberattack or a widespread natural disaster. Still, some worry President Trump could abuse the system. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE²: Back in the days of the Cold War, it was pretty common to hear this announcement on TV or radio. You know the one - this station is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcasting System. Things have gotten a little more sophisticated now. But basically, the same minute-long Emergency Alert System test is conducted every month or so on broadcast, cable and satellite TV and radio. There will be one of those this afternoon, too.

But today, you'll also be getting an alert on your cellphone. Now, some of us receive alerts already - Amber³ Alerts for missing children or flash flood or tornado⁴ warnings. But this is the first time that you'll be getting a national presidential alert from FEMA.

Irwin Redlener is director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University. He says testing the system makes sense.

IRWIN REDLENER: I think having the testing of this new wireless⁵ Emergency Alert System is a good idea. And you can think about a variety of scenarios⁶ where it would be good for the president to be able to speak directly to the public.

NAYLOR: But this is where Dr. Redlener has some qualms⁷, especially, he says, when it comes to this president.

REDLENER: We shudder⁸ to think that the president might be using such a system for political purposes or to create a diversion if he felt the presidency⁹ was under threat for whatever reason. So I think there are real concerns here. I hate to be so blunt about it, but these are not powers that many Americans would want to give to Donald Trump.

NAYLOR: Redlener is not alone. Last week, three people filed suit in New York to block the testing of the system known as Wireless Emergency Alerts, or WEA. The suit states the plaintiffs are Americans who do not wish to receive text messages of any kind on any topic or subject from President Trump. They say the government is violating their privacy and the sanctity of their homes and that it wants to turn people's cellphones into government loudspeakers that compel listening.

FEMA says that accusation¹⁰ is baseless. In a background briefing for reporters, a senior FEMA official conceded, while there is no opting¹¹ out of the alert, the system is very well-governed, and you would not have a situation where the president would just wake up one morning, as the official put it, and attempt to send a personal message. And besides, he has Twitter for that.

Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF KOETT'S "LAST NIGHT ON RIVER")

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

4 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

5 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

6 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 qualms   

n.不安；内疚

参考例句：

• He felt no qualms about borrowing money from friends.他没有对于从朋友那里借钱感到不安。
• He has no qualms about lying.他撒谎毫不内疚。

8 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

11 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网