NPR 2008-12-08

Democratic Congressional leaders and White House officials have been conferring again today as they work out final details of a plan to offer emergency short-term federal loans to struggling US automakers. Democratic Senator Carl Lewin of Michigan says he is optimistic that a deal is nearly complete. "There is now, I think a great likelihood that within 24 hours, you're gonna see a bipartisan bill which the leadership of the Congress and the White House will both support, which will provide these bridge loans. " Lewin was less certain that the plan will have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to avoid a possible filibuster¹ by Republican lawmakers such as Richard Shelby of South Carolina who does not think the loan proposal will work. "As long as we, the taxpayer² will support them, give them last support, we have no endgame.” Both Shelby and Lewin were on Fox News Sunday.

President-elect Barack Obama says he supports the short-term loan plan as long as it's tied to requirements that the automakers undertake some major restructuring. "If they expect taxpayers³ to help in that adjustment process, then, they can't keep on putting off the kinds of changes that they frankly⁴ should have made, 20 or 30 years ago.” Mr. Obama was on NBC’s Meet the Press.

The President-elect today formally introduced retired⁵ general Eric Shinseki as his choice to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, the government's second largest agency. Shinseki says US military personnel returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve better treatment than they've been getting. "They deserve a smooth, error-free, no-fail, benefits-assured transition into our ranks as veterans, and that is our responsibility.”  Shinseki served as army chief of staff until 2003 when he stepped down after criticizing the Bush administration's plan to invade Iraq with a relatively⁶ small military force which he felt was inadequate⁷ for the task. Shinseki is the first army four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry⁸.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he was ashamed of Jewish settlers who attacked Palestinian civilians⁹ in the West Bank town of Hebron last week. He called the incident a pogrom, a riot targeting a particular group in much the same way Jews have themselves been targeted in the past. Linda Gradstein has the story from Jerusalem.

Speaking at the opening of the Israeli cabinet meeting, Olmert said the sight of Jews firing at innocent Palestinians has no other name than a pogrom. He was speaking about Thursday's rampage by Jewish settlers in Hebron, after Israeli police evicted¹⁰ some 200 settlers from a house that has disputed ownership. Palestinian said 17 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, five of them by gunfire. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem showed footage of a settler firing shots at Palestinian stone-throwers, hitting two of them. For NPR news, I'm Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

This is NPR News from Washington.

For a second day, hundreds of young people went on rampages in Athens and other cities in Greece following the killing¹¹ of a teenage boy by police this weekend. Two officers have been arrested for their roles in the boy's death. But that did not quell¹² the protests. Thousands of people took part in a march to protest the killing of the boy in Athens. But the peaceful demonstration¹³ was interrupted by rioters throwing rocks and homemade bombs. Police lobbed tear gas in an effort to disperse¹⁴ the crowd.

Canada's political crisis shows no sign of ending, rallies this weekend for and against the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, have highlighted the country's sharp divisions. Dan Karpenchuk has more.

Two of Canada's opposition¹⁵ leaders stood together before several thousand people in front of Toronto city hall this weekend to sell the idea of a coalition¹⁶ to replace Harper's minority government. Stephane Dion, the Liberals and Jack¹⁷ Layton of the New Democratic Party denounced the Prime Minister and accused him of running away from a vote in parliament. The two leaders shook hands and promised to work together to fight the economic crisis that is coming to Canada. In Montreal, the leader of the separatist Bloc¹⁸ Quebecois Party also lent his support to the coalition, accusing Harper of doing nothing about the economy, and instead trying to make Canada into a banana republic. But in other cities, such as Ottawa and Calgary, thousands also gathered for rallies in support of Mr. Harper. The issue has become an emotional one and has galvanized Canadians to take sides in a way that is rarely seen. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

Gasoline prices have fallen to a near five year low. Prices at the pump were down 22 cents a gallon over the past two weeks. The national average now for self-service regular is $1. 75. The highest gas prices in the most recent survey were in Anchorage, the lowest in Cheyenne Wyoming.

1 filibuster   

n.妨碍议事，阻挠；v.阻挠

参考例句：

• A senator dragged the subject in as a filibuster.一个参议员硬把这个题目拉扯进来，作为一种阻碍议事的手法。
• The democrats organized a filibuster in the senate.民主党党员在参议院上组织了阻挠议事。

2 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

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 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

7 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

8 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

9 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

10 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

11 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。

12 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

13 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

14 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

15 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

16 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。

17 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

18 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。