NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-08-07

 Against the backdrop of a construction company in Phenix, President Obama is outlining a plan to overhaul¹ the way mortgages are guaranteed in the United States. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports this would involve winding² down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In the speech, President Obama is effectively throwing his way behind a bipartisan senate proposal to partially³ but not entirely⁴ pull the government out of the mortgage business. Right now most 30-year fixed⁵ rate mortgages are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This plan would put private companies on the front lines. Michael Calhoun is President of Center for Responsible Lending. 

He is endorsing⁶ the basic concept that the government should require private capital to be at risk, but the government should make an explicit⁷ backup guarantee and charge fee to the lenders for that guarantee. 

House Republicans prefer a plan that gets the government entirely out of the mortgage insurance business. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

This comes as the Justice Department announces it's suing Bank of America and certain affiliates⁸ including Merrill Lynch and Pierce for alleged⁹ mortgage-backed securities fraud amounting to $850 million.

The long awaited trial surrounding the 2009 mass shooting at an army base in Texas has begun. The prosecution¹⁰ told the jury Major Nidal Hasan wanted to kill as many soldiers as possible at Fort Hood¹¹. NPR's Martin Kaste says Hasan who is representing himself, also gave a brief statement in which did not deny being the shooter who killed 13 people and wounded more than 30. 

Major Hasan is going to make this trial about his motives¹², his religious motives, his ideological¹³ motives to attack his fellow soldiers. NPR's Martin Kaste reporting.

The State Department is urging all U.S. citizens in Yemen to leave immediately because of high risk of attack by al-Qaeda. This comes as Yemeni media report a suspected U.S. drone killed several militants¹⁴ today. The U.S. has been warning of a security threat for days prompting the continued closure of many embassies and consulates¹⁵ in the Middle East and Africa. 

In Egypt, Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are trying to help negotiate an end to the political unrest that resulted from last month military coup¹⁶ against President Mohamed Morsi. Today, McCain said the U.S. has shared Egyptians' expectations and criticism of Morsi's oversight¹⁷ of democratic change. 

We've also said that the circumstances of the former government's president's removal were a coup. We've said that we cannot expect Egypt or any other country to abide¹⁸ by its laws if we do not abide by ours in the United States. 

After talks with Egypt's interim¹⁹ leadership, the senators said it would be wrong though to cut off U.S. military assistance, which amounts to about $1.5 billion a year. 

Before the closing bell, Dow was off 93 at 15,519.

This is NPR.

Former President George W. Bush is said to be in high spirits at a Dallas hospital after a successful heart procedure today to address a blocked artery²⁰, a stent was used to open the blockage²¹. 

Keyboardist and composer George Duke died last night at the age of 67 after a long battle with leukemia. NPR's Neda  Ulaby reports Duke collaborated²² with some of the biggest names in jazz, pop and rock. 

George Duke on keyboards. 

Frank Zappa introducing his band, the Mothers of Invention in 1973. Duke front top of Zappa's experimental rock. Duke collaborated with Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Jill scott, even Michael Jackson. He played keyboards on Jackson's breakthrough album Off the Wall. Fans cherished Duke's silky fusion²³ albums and he was a behind-the-scenes impresario²⁴ who produced the Soul Train Award shows and a legendary²⁵ benefit for Nelson Mandela in 1988.  Last year, George Duke's wife passed away and he dedicated²⁶ what would be his final album to her. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

The U.S. trade gap has hit a 3.5 year low, the Commerce Department says the gap fell more than 22% to $34.2 billion in June. The deficit²⁷ was smaller than the government had estimated in its advance gross domestic product report last week.

Before the close, Dow was down 93 points, more than 0.5% at 15,519; NASDAQ off 27 points at 3,666 and the S&P 500 down slightly, it's 1,697.

1 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

2 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。

3 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

6 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；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：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

7 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

8 affiliates   

附属企业( affiliate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She affiliates with an academic society. 她是某学术团体的成员。
• For example, these security affiliates participated in the floating of 19,000,000,000 of issues in 1927. 例如，这些证券发行机构在1927年的流通证券中，就提供了一百九十亿美元的证券。

9 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

10 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

11 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

12 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

13 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

14 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。

15 consulates   

n.领事馆( consulate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Consulates General of The People's Republic at Los Angeles. 中华人民共和国驻洛杉矶总领事馆。 来自互联网
• The country's embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions stationed in other countries. （七）家驻外使馆、馆和其他外交代表机构。 来自互联网

16 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

17 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

18 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

19 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

20 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

21 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。

22 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

23 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

24 impresario   

n.歌剧团的经理人；乐团指挥

参考例句：

• The impresario will present an expanded series of concerts next season.下个季节将举办一次大型的系列音乐会。
• The impresario had buttoned his astrakhan coat.乐团经理扣好了羔皮外套。

25 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

26 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

27 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。