NPR 2009-01-22

Senate lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved the nomination² of Hillary Clinton to be the nation's next Secretary of State. The Senate on a vote of 94:2 today, approving Clinton's confirmation³ despite some Republican questions by a possible conflict of interest created by her husband, former President Bill Clinton's fund-raising for his foundation. Majority Leader Harry⁴ Reid urged senators to sign off on the approval of Mrs. Clinton's  appointment made by his former colleague, now president, Barack Obama. "Senator Clinton is uniquely capable and profoundly prepared to lead our State Department at a time of unprecedented⁵ global challenges, and a time when quick confirmation of Senator Obama's national security team, I'm sorry, President Obama's national security team is critical." Both Republicans and Democrats⁶ have called for a quick confirmation, setting pressing foreign policy issues, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and continued tensions in the Mid-East. Hillary Clinton will replace former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as  nation's top diplomat⁷.

Final sales numbers are in for 2008 and for the first time Toyota has topped General Motors to become the world's best-selling automaker. But as NPR's Frank Langfitt reports, it's something of a dubious⁹ honor given that it comes amid the worst industry downturn in decades.

Toyota beat GM, not because it posted big gains, but because its sales didn't fall as far as its Detroit rival. Last year, GM's global sales fell 11%, Toyota's were down just 4%. Toyota ended the year selling nearly 9 million vehicles worldwide, has about 600, 000 more than GM. Winning by not doing as badly is an odd way to top a competitor, but it's a sign of the times. The credit crunching¹⁰ recession had devastated¹¹ auto⁸ sales, and Toyota, widely admired in business circles and beloved by customers has some big challenges ahead. After aggressively expanding in the last decade, it now faces sliding demand and its first operating loss in 70 years. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.

The salmonella outbreak linked to a peanut manufacturing plant in Georgia continues to widen as an unopened tub of peanut butter in Connecticut's to link to the plant. Joanne Silberner has more.

The count is now 486 infections with the identical bacterium¹² in 43 states with six deaths. More and more evidence's pointed¹³ to contamination at a single plant in Georgia owned by Peanut Corporation of America. The plant made the contaminated peanut butter found in Connecticut. PCA has recalled its products, which were sold to institutions, schools, hospitals and food manufacturers but not retail¹⁴ stores. Manufacturers have recalled more than 125 products that contain peanut butter or paste from PCA, crackers¹⁵, cakes, ice-cream and even dog biscuits. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that most of 57 people with salmonellosis had eaten peanut butter crackers. Joanne Silberner, NPR News.

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Two of the nation's big airlines are reporting fourth quarter losses. American Airlines parent company AMR says it lost 340 million dollars in the fourth quarter. That was as a result of fewer people flying and higher fuel prices. AMR says when taking the number of one-time charges into account, it lost $1.22 a share. If without the charges and write-offs, the world's largest airline says it lost 214 million dollars in the fourth quarter. United Airlines parent UAL reported even bigger quarterly losses of 1.3 billion dollars.

Swedish cell phone maker¹ Ericsson says it's cutting thousands of jobs amid weaker demand for its products. Larry Miller¹⁶ has more from London.

Ericsson says sales grew last year by 11%, but that profits dropped 48% and 5,000 jobs will go. The Swedish cell phone maker and provider of infrastructure¹⁷ equipment to the telecommunications market said it has suffered due to high restructuring costs and a dramatic drop in cell phone sales. Ericsson says it's financially sound and it's making the efficiencies because of the uncertainty¹⁸ in the market. The job losses represent nearly 6% of its global workforce¹⁹. While Ericsson said its infrastructure business is strong, last week, one of its biggest competitors, the Canadian Nortel Networks, filed for bankruptcy²⁰ protection. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.

Harvard University says a record 29, 000 people have applied²¹ for 1, 700 openings in next fall's freshman²² class. Harvard Admission Dean William Fitzsimmons says part of the reason for the rise may be a specially²³ generous financial aid program. Families with annual incomes below 60, 000 dollars a year pay no tuition.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 279 points.

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

3 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

4 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

5 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。

6 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》

7 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

8 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

9 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

10 crunching   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 这些马在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

12 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

15 crackers   

adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘

参考例句：

• That noise is driving me crackers. 那噪声闹得我简直要疯了。
• We served some crackers and cheese as an appetiser. 我们上了些饼干和奶酪作为开胃品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 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。

17 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。

18 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

19 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。

20 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

21 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

22 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

23 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。