NPR 2010-02-06

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Lakshmi Singh.

 

The US economy shed 20,000 jobs last month, but the unemployment rate dropped to 9.7%. One reason: more people have stopped looking for work, so they’re no longer figured into the Labor¹ Department’s unemployment numbers. Mark Zandi, chief economist² at Moody’s Economy. com, says the report’s encouraging though, it could have been better. “It’s still not really good, and we’re still, uh, looking for some job growth and the unemployment’s still near double-digit, but, uh, we’re heading to a right direction.” The White House says job creation is its No.1 priority. To that end, President Obama is urging banks to provide more credit for small businesses. In a speech to small business owners in Maryland today, Mr. Obama also called for a 5,000-dollar tax break for each additional worker companies hire this year. “Today, we learned the job losses for this January were 20,000; the unemployment rate dropped below 10% for the first time since the summer.” The president plans to meet with lawmakers from both parties on Tuesday to talk jobs.

 

A powerful snowstorm is bearing down on the mid-Atlantic. The National Weather Service is expecting near-blizzard conditions by tomorrow morning. Winter storm advisories³ are in effect from Georgia to New Jersey⁴. Daniel Carson has details.

 

The Washington region will take a beating. It’s bracing⁵ for up to two feet of snow again. That’s how much mother nature dumped on the D.C. area on December 20th, sending retailers⁶ into a frenzy⁷ over holiday sales. Airlines have canceled flights scheduled for this evening and Saturday. Food is flying off grocery shelves as residents load up with staples⁸. Local transportation officials are deploying⁹ thousands of trucks carrying tons of salt to spread over roads. Maryland has spent about 50 million dollars in snow removal so far this winter, almost twice what was budgeted. Virginia has spent almost 80 million and it’s dipping into emergency maintenance funds. But the snowstorm apparently¹⁰ does have a silver lining¹¹ for some, ski operators in Virginia and Pennsylvania are cheering. For NPR News, I’m Daniel Carson in Washington.

 

In Portugal, lawmakers have rejected the government’s austerity plan, raising questions about the country’s ability to shrink its deficit¹². Concern over Portugal and other European countries’ ability to control their public finances are sending stocks worldwide falling. The FTSE dropped nearly 2% today; Germany’s DAX fell 1.4%; Asia’s stocks closed sharply lower, including Japan’s Nikkei; it fell nearly 3% to 10,057. Certainly feeling effects, on Wall Street at last check, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 100 points below to 10,000 mark now at 9,900, NASDAQ Composite Index dropping seven points at 2,119, and we see that the S&P 500 is down nine points at 1,054.

 

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A gun battle in Chechnya is blamed in at least 11 deaths. Details from Jessica Gallaher in Moscow.

 

Russian officials say that insurgents¹³ and Russian troops are among the dead after a gun battle in war-ravaged Chechnya. Authorities say the fighting began on Thursday and continued into Friday in the mountains southwest of the capital Grozny. Violence in Russia’s North Caucasus region has escalated¹⁴ in recent months. There’re nearly daily attacks in the region in which law enforcement and government officials are targeted. Officials blame Islamist insurgents. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev calls the violence the country’s biggest domestic problem. For NPR News, I’m Jessica Gallaher in Moscow.

 

Shiite pilgrims are again the target of the third deadly strike in Iraq this week. Authorities are reporting a double attack on worshipers today in Karbala where people were headed for a religious event. Either car bomb blasts or mortar¹⁵ fires sent panic crowd running down the highway and into the path of a suicide bomber¹⁶. The double attack killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 140. Shiite pilgrims are also coming under attack in Pakistan. Today in Karachi, authorities say, suspected Sunni militants¹⁷ bombed a bus carrying Shiite worshipers. Hours later, militants attacked a hospital treating the victims. At least 13 people were killed and dozens more were wounded.

 

Two American aid workers in Haiti reportedly are dead. According to wire reports in local media in Santo Domingo, the men’s helicopter crashed last night in the Dominican Republican near the Haitian border. The victims’ identities have yet to be independently verified. The number of US aid and charity groups has grown, since an earthquake struck Haiti last month and left much of the impoverished¹⁸ nation in ruin.

 

This is NPR.

 

1 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。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 advisories   

n.（有关进展、动向、建议等的）报告( advisory的名词复数 )；公告；通告；通报

参考例句：

• Compliance with Practice Advisories is optional. 是否遵守实务公告由审计师自行选择决定。 来自互联网
• Hardened-PHP: not as such a PHP security information website, but it does have security advisories. 增强PHP:不仅仅是一个PHP安全新的网站，它还提供安全建议。 来自互联网

4 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

5 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

6 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

7 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

8 staples   

n.（某国的）主要产品( staple的名词复数 )；钉书钉；U 形钉；主要部份v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
• I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句

9 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

10 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

11 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

12 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

13 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

14 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

15 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

16 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。

17 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

18 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》