NPR 2009-09-10

A hijacked¹ AeroMexico plane carrying 112 people including crew landed in Mexico City today and up to eight people have been arrested. Americans, Mexicans and French were reported among the people on the flight from Cancun. TV images reportedly showed security forces leading people from the plane in handcuffs. The Associated Press quotes the Mexican Transportation and Communication Secretary saying all passengers and crew are safe.

President Obama heads to Capitol Hill tonight to give a speech to lawmakers on what he wants to see in the health care overhaul² bill. NPR's Audie Cornish reports.

There are areas of agreement between Republicans and Democrats³ that President Obama is expected to emphasize. For instance, there's support among lawmakers for policies banning insurance companies from dropping people with pre-existing medical conditions, but there is wide disagreement on whether or not there should be a government-backed public insurance option to compete with insurers in the private market. Republicans have said they won't support it and liberal Democrats insist they won't support a bill without one. Lawmakers will be listening for whether the President requires that a public option be in the bill to get his signature or if he cites it only as one of many tools in an overhaul program. The speech is aimed at jump-starting Congressional efforts to move the bill forward after a month of loud opposition⁴ has threatened the Democrats' effort. Audie Cornish, NPR News, the Capitol.

Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa will become a major player in the debate over health care as he takes over the Health, Education, Labor⁵ and Pensions Committee chaired by the late Senator Edward Kennedy.

In Afghanistan, a British Special Forces operation freed a kidnapped New York Times reporter from the Taliban. The operation led to the deaths of another hostage and one rescuer. NPR's Saria Sarhaddi Nelson has more from Kabul.

Times reporter Stephen Farrell was freed during the rescue operation in the northern province of Kunduz. But his Afghan colleague Sultan Munadi was killed, as was a British commando. Farrell told the Times that Munadi who was 34, stepped forward shouting "Journalist! Journalist! ", but was felled by gunfire. It was unclear who fired the fatal shots. The Times team was kidnapped in Kunduz on Saturday, the second from the newspaper to be kidnapped in Afghanistan in the past ten months. Farrell and Munadi had gone to the village of Omar Khel to report on the aftermath of a US air strike on two hijacked NATO tankers⁶ that killed about 70 people. Officials said the reporters were warned of the danger of going to the village, which is sympathetic to the Taliban. Word of the kidnapping was kept quiet after the New York Times and Farrell's wife had asked the media not to report it for fear he'd be harmed if it were publicized. Saria Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Kabul.

Wall Street today, the Down Jones Industrial Average closed up 49 points at 9, 547. The NASDAQ was up 22.

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A new poll suggests that many Americans believe Islam encourages violence. The poll by the Pew Forum⁷ on Religion & Public Life comes just before the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty has more.

The nationwide survey found that 38% of Americans say Islam promotes violence among believers, down from 45% two years ago. Conservative Republicans and white evangelical Christians⁸ take the dimmest view of the religion, with more than half of them saying the religion fosters violence. Only 25% of self-described liberal Democrats think so. Most Americans believe Muslims are discriminated⁹ against more than any other group, and that only gay men and lesbians face more discrimination. As to the religion itself, Americans appear fairly ignorant, just over half knew that Allah is the name Muslims use to refer to God, or that the Koran is their sacred text. Only 41% could identify both Allah and the Koran. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News.

The Chicago City Council has unanimously approved a contract that would make taxpayers¹⁰ financially responsible for the 2016 Summer Olympics if Chicago was chosen to host them. Mayor Richard Daley needed approval to sign the bill. Organizers of Chicago's Olympic bid say that they don't attempt to turn to taxpayers. They expect to put together financing that would include private donations, contingency¹¹ funds and insurance. But the International Olympic Committee requires that host cities be responsible for the costs. Competing cities are Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

1 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

2 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

3 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》

4 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。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 tankers   

运送大量液体或气体的轮船[卡车]( tanker的名词复数 )； 油轮； 罐车； 油槽车

参考例句：

• They should stop offloading waste from oil tankers into the sea. 他们应当停止从油轮上往海里倾倒废弃物。
• The harbour admits large tankers and freighters. 这个港口容得下巨型油船和货轮。

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

8 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

9 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

10 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。

11 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。