NPR 2010-04-28

The Goldman Sachs executives are more than five hours into testimony¹ before the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations². The investment firm is taking hits for not disclosing. Its interests were at times at odds³ with those of its clients. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.

From the outset, the senators posed their questions like accusations⁴. Didn't the bank have a duty to tell its own clients that Goldman Sachs itself was shorting the mortgage market, betting on its decline? Arkansas Democrat⁵ Mark Pryor grilled⁶ Daniel Sparks, former head of the bank's mortgage division.

"Do you have responsibility to tell them what your positions are?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Market makers⁸ are going to have positions all the time and that's not something that is a responsibility of a market maker⁷ to tell your counterparties at all times how you're positioned."

"But why not? Shouldn't there be more transparency there?"

The executives denied wrongdoing but expressed regret that many of the mortgage-related investments soured. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

President Obama is in Iowa on a tour focused on the rural American economy. Today, he stopped at an organic farm that supplies food for Iowa schools and businesses. Earlier in the day, he visited an Iowa plant that builds wind turbines. It was closed a few years ago, but recently it reopened. The president claimed credit, saying money from the stimulus⁹ law passed last year helped the plant open again. Meanwhile, he also set up a commission to work on cutting the national debt. He announced the 18-member bipartisan group and its work to lay out ways to cut excessive spending and the growing national debt.

Emergency officials along the Gulf¹⁰ Coast are preparing for an environmental disaster if the massive oil spill reaches the shore. An oil rig exploded off Louisiana and sank last week. And NPR's Debbie Elliott reports workers are trying to contain the spill that is 600 miles in circumference¹¹.

The oil slick is growing despite ongoing¹² clean-up efforts. Underwater, robotic submarines are trying to shut off the oil at its source. Northwest winds have helped to keep the spilled oil offshore¹³, but forecasters say the wind will shift out of the south later this week. That could push the slick closer to the northern Gulf Coast. Emergency officials from Venice, Louisiana to Pensacola, Florida are putting in place response plans for shoreline impacts which could threaten wildlife, tourism and fisheries. Republican Governor Charlie Crist of Florida says the offshore accident has him rethinking his position on oil and gas development off his state's coast. He says "if this doesn't give somebody pause, there's something wrong". Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Orange Beach, Alabama.

The stock market has plummeted¹⁴ today. On news, a major credit agency downgraded the Greece's debt. Standard & Poor's says the Greek debt is junk. The Greek finance minister says his country will make its next debt payment in May.

On Wall Street, the Dow closed more than 200 points lower.

You're listening to NPR News.

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is facing money laundering¹⁶ charges in France. He was moved there today from a US federal prison in Florida. He served 17 years on drug smuggling¹⁷ convictions. France alleges¹⁸ he used French banks to launder¹⁵ drug proceeds.

A test that measures calcium¹⁹ buildup in the arteries²⁰ can help doctors better predict who's at risk for heart disease. NPR's Patti Neighmond reports on the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers already knew that screening for calcification²¹ in arteries of the heart could predict who might get heart disease and suffer a heart attack and who wouldn't, but they didn't know how much the calcium score increased the accuracy of that prediction. In the study, researchers from Northwestern University analyzed²² the risk for over 5,800 men and women of various ethnic²³ backgrounds. They looked at traditional risk factors like age, gender²⁴, smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol²⁵ and their ethnicity. For one group, they added a coronary calcium score which is determined²⁶ by a cardiac CT scan. They found the score added significantly to prediction of heart disease. Even so, they suggest more research and an editorial urges caution based on cost and radiation exposure. Patti Neighmond, NPR News.

The Charlie Brown and Snoopy characters from Peanuts are now moving to licensing²⁷ company Iconix. The sale is worth $175 million. E.W. Scripps sold the brand after holding it for 50 years. Peanuts was the comic strip of cartoonist Charles Schulz who retired²⁸ in 1999. At that point, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers around the world.
 

1 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

2 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

3 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

4 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

7 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。

8 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

10 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

11 circumference   

n.圆周，周长，圆周线

参考例句：

• It's a mile round the circumference of the field.运动场周长一英里。
• The diameter and the circumference of a circle correlate.圆的直径与圆周有相互关系。

12 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

13 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

14 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 launder   

v.洗涤；洗黑钱（把来路可疑的钱弄得似乎合法）

参考例句：

• She wore a freshly laundered and starched white shirt.她穿一件刚刚浆洗熨烫过的白色衬衣。
• The gang launders the steal money through their chain of restaurants.这帮匪徒通过他们的连锁饭店洗赃款。

16 laundering   

n.洗涤（衣等），洗烫（衣等）；洗（钱）v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的现在分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入）

参考例句：

• Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering. 洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was charged with laundering money. 他被指控洗钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

18 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

19 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

20 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 calcification   

n.钙化

参考例句：

• This may be associated with intraabdominal calcification. 与此同时，腹腔内可能发现钙化。 来自辞典例句
• Peritoneal calcification and pseudocyst are described when perforation occurs. 在发生穿孔的时候可有腹膜的钙化和假囊肿形成。 来自互联网

22 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

24 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

25 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

26 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

27 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

28 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。