NPR美国国家公共电台 2013-01-04

　　From NPR news in Washington, I am Winter Johnston. “To our newest members of congress, it is a special privilege and honor to welcome you and your families, and a stand congratulations to the newest members of the congress. Welcome.”

 

　　Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi addressing the 113th congress, Republican John Boehner has been reelected as speaker of the house by a vote of 220 versus¹ Pelosi’s 192. Boehner, who’s been recently criticized over his negotiations² with the white house on the fiscal³ cliff, says lawmakers have a lot a work to do to lower the debt ceiling. “Our government has built too much debt; our economy is not producing enough jobs; and these are not separate problems. A 16 trillion dollars and rising international debt is draining for enterprise and weakening the ship of stage. The American dream is in parallel, so long as its namesake is waved down by this anchor of debt.” Shortly before the session, Senator Mark Kirk ? Illinois, who was returning to work after recovering from a stroke last year, slowly walked up the 45 steps to the Senate while his colleagues cheer him on. Tansocean has agreed to pay 1.4 billion dollars to resolve the Justice Department charges over the 2010 Gull⁴ oil spill. NPR’s Kerry Jonathan reports the money will cover civil and criminal penalties in the incident that killed 11 workers on board the oil rig. Transocean owned that oil rig called the “deep water horizon”. The company had already set aside nearly 2 billion $ to cover legal claims over the disaster. And the deal in the works would resolve Transocean’s liability with a Justice Department. The law enforcement source says including about 1 billion $ in civil penalties and 400 million $ in criminal penalties. The source also says Transocean is expected to pled guilty to a criminal charge violating the clean water act. The deal requires the approval of a federal judge. Kerry Jonathan, NPR news Washington.

 

　　More Americans sought the unemployment benefit last weeks. The labor⁵ department says weekly applications rose by 10,000 to a seasonally⁶ adjusted 372,000 in the week of December 24th. Scott Brown, Chief economist⁷ said Raymond James and associates says the outlook is positive but there are still some hurdles⁸ that need to be cleared. “We still on relatively⁹ good shape, definitely still on recovering mode, we’ve got some uncertainties¹⁰ due to the many cliff coming up, raising of the debt ceiling, the spending cuts is goanna kick in in two months. And we still really need a long-term plan the deficit¹¹.” Many state unemployment offices were closed last week for the New Year’s holiday. As a result, the department relied on estimates for 9 states. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 8 points. This is NPR news.

 

　　Secretary of the State, Hillary Clinton has been released from a New York hospital after undergoing treatment for a blood clot¹² near her brain. The clot stemed from the concussion¹³ Clinton suffered in December after she fainted at home while recovering from the flu. She is being treated with blood thinners.

 

　　Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered a change in the way members of the country’s parliament are elected. NPR’s xxx reports that the plan is drawing criticism from people who say it is designed to benefit Putin’s political party. The Russian leader ordered the country to be returned to a system of mixed elections. Right now, voters of in Russian vote for political parties which then decide who will fill their allied¹⁴ seats in parliament. The new system will require that half of the 450 seats in the lower house parliament be filled by direct elections of individual candidates, the way members of congress are elected in the United States. The supporters of the plan say it opens up the political system to win independent politicians. But critics say the plan can be manipulated to win bigger majorities for Putin’s Ruling United Russian Party, which has been losing support. Xxx, NPR news, Moscow.

 

　　Five men accused in the gang-rape¹⁵ of a woman on a New Delhi bus, are facing rape and murder charges. Another suspected is believed to be a juvenile¹⁶ and he is expected to be trialed in a juvenile court. The men were charged with raping¹⁷ a 23 years old woman for hours and beating her companion as the bus drove through the capital. The woman later died at a Singapore hospital from massive internal injuries. Police say they are planning to push for the death penalty in the case. I am Winter Johnston, NPR news, in Washington.

1 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

3 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

4 gull   

n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈

参考例句：

• The ivory gull often follows polar bears to feed on the remains of seal kills.象牙海鸥经常跟在北极熊的后面吃剩下的海豹尸体。
• You are not supposed to gull your friends.你不应该欺骗你的朋友。

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 seasonally   

参考例句：

• The price of vegetables fluctuates seasonally. 蔬菜的价格随季节变动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They moved seasonally among various vegetation types to feed on plants that were flourishing. 它们还随着季节的变化而在各种类型植物之间迁移，以便吃那些茂盛的植物。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 uncertainties   

无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物

参考例句：

• One of the uncertainties of military duty is that you never know when you might suddenly get posted away. 任军职不稳定的因素之一是你永远不知道什么时候会突然被派往它处。
• Uncertainties affecting peace and development are on the rise. 影响和平与发展的不确定因素在增加。 来自汉英非文学 - 十六大报告

11 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。

12 clot   

n.凝块；v.使凝成块

参考例句：

• Platelets are one of the components required to make blood clot.血小板是血液凝固的必须成分之一。
• The patient's blood refused to clot.病人的血液无法凝结。

13 concussion   

n.脑震荡；震动

参考例句：

• He was carried off the field with slight concussion.他因轻微脑震荡给抬离了现场。
• She suffers from brain concussion.她得了脑震荡。

14 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

15 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

16 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

17 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网