NPR 2012-03-29

 The US Supreme¹ Court is expected to rule by June on the fate of the nation's sweeping² health care law after hearing three days of arguments. It's really anyone's guess how the court will lean. Paul Clement³, the lawyer for the 26 states seeking to have the entire Patient Protection and Affordable⁴ Care Act tossed out, gave this overview⁵ of the last few days.

 

“Today the issues were what the issue of severability, which is really just lawyers speak for whether or not if the individual mandate⁶ is unconstitutional, the entirety of the statue must fall. And then the third issue, the last of these issues that was discussed this afternoon with the question of Medicaid expansion, and whether or not that which really has a huge economic impact on the states was something that violates basic principles of federalism.”

 

Of course at the center of the argument is the mandate. For health care coverage⁷, some justices question whether parts of the law could still be salvaged⁸, even if the mandate were invalidated. 

 

Protests continue in various forms for Trayvon Martin's shooter to be arrested. Martin was the unarmed teenager killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman last month in central Florida. Well, today the boy's father, Tracy Martin, spoke⁹ with host Michel Martin of NPR's “Tell Me More” about his ordeal¹⁰.

 

“...losing a child in general because we, as parents, feel as though we’re guardians¹¹ of our kids, and we don't plan to bury our kids unexpectedly like this.

 

The shooter, George Zimmerman, maintains the shooting was self-defense.

 

Amateur recording¹² purportedly¹³ captures punishing bombardment in Homs, Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad toured heavily shelled neighborhoods just one day earlier. Members of the uprising say it's further proof Assad's not serious about following through with a peace plan proposed by UN envoy¹⁴ Kofi Annan, but the Syrian government is still pledging to commit. And in, perhaps, another incentive¹⁵ for Syria to commit to negotiated peace, the Iranian government says it supports Annan's plan and may host the former UN chief next week. We have the latest from NPR's Peter Kenyon.

 

The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying Tehran endorses¹⁶ Annan's proposal, calling for the Syrian army to withdraw from cities and a halt to violence without demanding that President Bashar al-Assad necessarily cede¹⁷ power. Salehi said the Syrian situation requires patience, warning against any swift action that might, in his words, create a power vacuum that could have very damaging consequences for the region. Separately, Damascus preemptively rejected any initiative regarding Syria that might emerge from the Arab League meeting in Baghdad. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Beirut.

 

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 86 points at 13,112; NASDAQ off 16 at 3,104; and the S&P500 down nine at 1,404.

 

This is NPR News.

 

The JetBlue captain whose erratic¹⁸ behavior prompted an emergence¹⁹ landing yesterday is now suspended. The airline characterized the incident as (a) “medical situation,” offering few other details about what prompted Clayton Osbon's rants²⁰ about threats in a post-9/11 world. This came just two weeks after a similar outburst by an American Airlines flight attendant. 

 

The US airline industry has dropped a lawsuit²¹ against the European Union. NPR's Brian Naylor reports the airlines are urging the Obama administration to block a carbon trading program the EU implemented²² this year.

 

The airline trade group, Airlines for America, says the lawsuit has served its purpose by bringing to light what the group calls an exorbitant²³ money grab. The airlines contend the EU does not have the right to unilaterally impose the carbon trading program, which is aimed at reducing emissions²⁴ of greenhouse gases by jetliners flying to Europe. The EU program requires airlines to buy permits on a carbon trading market. The airlines want the Obama administration, which has expressed its oppositions²⁵ to the program, to challenge the EU through the International Civil Aviation Organization. China and India are also on record against the EU's carbon market. Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington.

 

Pope Benedict XVI’s widely anticipated visit to Cuba is now winding²⁶ down. Today he presided over open-air Mass attended by hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics in the shrine²⁷ of the Cuban revolution just as John Paul II had done 14 years earlier for Cubans, including then leader Fidel Castro. Benedict met with Castro today with whom he was expected to raise a number of issues, such as human rights and religious freedom on the communist island nation.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

3 clement   

adj.仁慈的；温和的

参考例句：

• A clement judge reduced his sentence.一位仁慈的法官为他减了刑。
• The planet's history contains many less stable and clement eras than the holocene.地球的历史包含着许多不如全新世稳定与温和的地质时期。

4 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

5 overview   

n.概观，概述

参考例句：

• The opening chapter gives a brief historical overview of transport.第一章是运输史的简要回顾。
• The seminar aims to provide an overview on new media publishing.研讨会旨在综览新兴的媒体出版。

6 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

7 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

8 salvaged   

（从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物）

参考例句：

• The investigators studied flight recorders salvaged from the wreckage. 调查者研究了从飞机残骸中找到的黑匣子。
• The team's first task was to decide what equipment could be salvaged. 该队的首要任务是决定可以抢救哪些设备。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

11 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

12 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

13 purportedly   

adv.据称

参考例句：

• This is purportedly the oldest tree in the world. 据称这是世界上最古老的一棵树。 来自互联网
• Mayor Oh Se-Hoon launched the campaign last year, purportedly to improve efficiency. 据悉，首尔市市长吴世勋于去年提出了这项旨在提高工作效率的计划。 来自互联网

14 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

15 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

16 endorses   

v.赞同( endorse的第三人称单数 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• There isn't one country in the Middle East that now endorses the Eisenhower Doctrine. 但至今没有一个中东国家认可它。 来自辞典例句
• Whether any of this truly endorses Dr Patel's hypothesis is moot. 这些视频能否真正证明帕特的假设成立还是个未知数。 来自互联网

17 cede   

v.割让，放弃

参考例句：

• The debater refused to cede the point to her opponent.辩论者拒绝向她的对手放弃其主张。
• Not because I'm proud.In fact,in front of you I cede all my pride.这不是因为骄傲，事实上我在你面前毫无骄傲可言。

18 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

19 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

20 rants   

n.夸夸其谈( rant的名词复数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨v.夸夸其谈( rant的第三人称单数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• This actor rants his lines. 这演员背台词拿腔拿调。 来自辞典例句
• Parents might also profit from eliminating the rants. 改掉大声叫骂的习惯，家长们也会受益。 来自互联网

21 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

22 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

23 exorbitant   

adj.过分的；过度的

参考例句：

• More competition should help to drive down exorbitant phone charges.更多的竞争有助于降低目前畸高的电话收费。
• The price of food here is exorbitant. 这儿的食物价格太高。

24 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

25 oppositions   

（强烈的）反对( opposition的名词复数 )； 反对党； （事业、竞赛、游戏等的）对手； 对比

参考例句：

• That's fine because all perihelic oppositions of Mars are spectacular. 但它和最近的几次区别不大，因为火星所有的近日对冲都很壮观。
• He tried his best to bear down all of his oppositions. 他尽全力击败一切反对意见。

26 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

27 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。