NPR 2012-03-10

 The US is seeing its strongest three months of hiring since the start of the recession. The Labor¹ Department reports an increase of 227,000 jobs in February. The numbers from the previous two months have also been revised upward. But the unemployment rate is still 8.3% because it accounts for a greater number of people who started looking for work again. Still, President Obama says the report is proof the economy is improving.

 

“More companies are bringing jobs back and investing in America, and Manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.”

 

The president speaking at a Rolls-Royce Virginia plant to drum up support for greater insourcing and made-in-America products.

 

Republican Rick Santorum campaigns in Kansas today ahead of the weekend's caucuses² which he says he’s hoping will help propel him toward a GOP nomination³. Santorum has said that winning the state was important to surpass [slip] Mitt⁴ Romney. 

 

Ohio plans to more closely regulate how companies get rid of wastewater from hydronic fracturing or fracking. NPR's Jeff Brady reports the rules come after a series of earthquakes linked to wastewater injected deep underground.

 

Fracking a natural gas well requires huge amount of water, chemicals and other things that have to be disposed of. The drilling boom in and around western Pennsylvania has led to much of these waste being disposed in Ohio. About a year ago near Youngstown, earthquakes started occurring. The strongest was a 4.0 magnitude. Ohio's Department of Natural Resources won’t say there’s a direct link between the earthquakes and a nearby well that brine was injected into. Still, the state now will require better geologic⁵ data before it approves wells. Also, companies will have to electronically track the wastewater and what's in it. Jeff Brady, NPR News.

 

The number of African-American women who are getting infected with the AIDS virus may be much higher in some big cities than was previous thought. That's according to a new study released at a scientific meeting in Seattle. We have details from NPR's Rob Stein.

 

For the study, researchers analyzed⁶ data collected from more than 2,000 women in six urban areas in the Northeast and Southeast hit hardest by the AIDS epidemic⁷. These so-called HIV hot spots are Baltimore, Atlanta, Washington DC, New York City, Newark, New Jersey⁸ and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. The researchers found that the rate at which women were getting infected with HIV was about five times higher than would have been expected based on previous estimates. Nearly 90% of the women in the study were African-American. The researchers say the findings indicate efforts need to be intensified⁹ to stop the spread of AIDS virus, especially among African-Americans living in urban areas in the United States. Rob Stein, NPR News.

 

Dow’s up 41 points. 

 

This is NPR.

 

Federal housing authorities are spearheading the first-ever national study on housing discrimination against lesbian, gay and bi-sexual individuals. Today the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan also announced a new rule had taken effect this week that definitively¹⁰ bars anyone operating HUD housing from asking about an applicant's sexual orientation¹¹ or gender¹² identity.

 

The Italian president is demanding clarification from Britain about the failure of a rescue operation in Nigeria which left one Italian and one British hostage dead. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports Italy was not informed about that mission until after it had begun.

 

Giorgio Napolitano says it's inexplicable¹³ that Britain failed to tell Rome about the attempt to rescue an Italian and a Briton who were kidnapped in Nigeria last May. Engineers Franco Lamolinara and Chris McManus died in the rescue bid by British and Nigerian special forces. Italy's president says he wants a political and diplomatic explanation why they were not informed about the military operation which could have had such consequences. Britain is defending its action, saying it was a fast-moving situation in Nigeria, and that Italy had been contacted as the failed operation began. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Dakar.

 

As Japan prepares to observe the anniversary of its earthquake and tsunami¹⁴, the country was shaken today by a moderate quake with a magnitude of 5.4. It struck the northeastern part of the country near the zone that was hardest hit by last year's disaster. However, there were no immediate¹⁵ reports of injuries or damage.

 

At last check, the Dow was up more than 40 points at 12,949.

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 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

3 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。

4 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

5 geologic   

adj.地质的

参考例句：

• The Red Sea is a geologic continuation of the valley.红海就是一个峡谷在地质上的继续发展。
• Delineation of channels is the first step of geologic evaluation.勾划河道的轮廓是地质解译的第一步。

6 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》

7 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

8 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。

9 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

11 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

12 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。

13 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

14 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

15 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。