NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2014-03-21

 The U.S. is warning Russia that it is on what officials are calling “a dark path” to isolation¹ because of the country’s involvement in the annexation² of Crimea. However, President Obama during a local TV interview also says the U.S. has no intention of intervening militarily, while the president told KNSD, the NBC affiliate³ in Santiago, the U.S. intends to continue to signal its opposition⁴.

 

“Russia right now is violating international law and the sovereignty of another country. Might doesn’t make right. And we are going to continue to ratchet up the pressure on Russia as it continues down its current course.”

 

U.N. President Ban Ki-moon meets in Moscow this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He’s expected to echo international concerns. The Obama administration has already imposed sanctions on 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials. 

 

The Justice Department says Toyota has agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle a criminal probe involving a problem with its vehicles that prompted recalls starting five years ago. Michigan Radio’s Tracy Samilton reports it’s the largest criminal penalty for an automaker in U.S. history. 

 

Toyota was investigated for concealing⁵ a risk of unintended acceleration⁶ in millions of cars. The company finally recalled the cars in 2009. Independent auto-analyst Michelle Krebs says the penalty will sting.

 

“Ah, $1.2 billion even for Toyota with its deep pocket is a substantial amount of change.”

 

The Justice Department has also begun a criminal investigation⁷ of General Motors. The company is accused of delaying a recall of cars with the faulty ignition switch that could stall the cars at high speed. That problem is linked to at least 12 deaths. For NPR News, I’m Tracy Samilton. 

 

The investment bank JPMorgan Chase announced a major deal today to sell its commodities business to trader Mercuria Energy Group. NPR’s Zoe Chace reports JPMorgan is the latest in a string of big investment banks investing themselves in metals and oil holdings. 

 

Remember when big banks spent a lot of money investing in financial products that went under during the financial crisis? When those went away, lots of these banks invested big in commodities -- Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley; JPMorgan alone spent more than $2 billion on metals, oil, natural gas. In fact, it once owned so much aluminum⁸ that it even bought out an aluminum storage unit by the railroad tracks in Baltimore. But now new rules are coming in that might prohibit some of that activity and also require banks to hold on to more cash as a safety net. Managing all that aluminum stuff was expensive. The bank sold off its commodities for $3.5 billion. Zoe Chace, NPR News. 

 

Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee wrapped up its two-day meeting in Washington today, saying it’ll keep interest rates low for an unspecified period of time, but it apparently⁹ did not give Wall Street much to be confident about. The Dow was down 114 points.         

 

This is NPR.

 

Airplane builder Boeing says the design and manufacture of its new 787 jetliner is safe despite a number of problems the planes have experienced since being rolled out. A new report by the FAA says the plane is soundly designed and safe. The review did find room for improvement in the manufacturing process though and government oversight¹⁰ of contracts. The FAA initiated¹¹ the review after several of next-generation jets experienced problems including fires due to leaks of lithium-ion batteries. 

 

Osama bin¹² Laden¹³’s son-in-law has taken the witness stand in a federal court in New York to defend himself against charges of providing support to al-Qaeda and conspiring¹⁴ with the terrorist group to kill Americans. NPR’s Joel Rose reports the testimony¹⁵ by Sulaiman Abu Ghaith came as a surprise.

 

Testifying through an Arabic interpreter, Abu Ghaith said he knew that Osama bin Laden was a suspected terrorist in June of 2001 when he traveled to Afghanistan, but Abu Ghaith said he still wanted to “get to know that person”. Prosecutors¹⁶ say Abu Ghaith became a spokesman for al-Qaeda in the days after September 11th, 2001, warning that there would be more attacks on Americans and trying to inspire others to join al-Qaeda’s cause. Abu Ghaith has pleaded not guilty and denies helping¹⁷ to plan later attacks as prosecutors allege¹⁸. The Kuwaiti-born cleric was captured a year ago in Jordan and flown to the U.S. to face trial. Abu Ghaith is married to bin Laden’s eldest¹⁹ daughter. Joel Rose, NPR News, New York.

 

You failed to file a tax return in 2010, the IRS may have a refund²⁰ waiting for you. April 15th is the deadline to file a return for the 2010 tax year to obtain a refund. Some people were not required to file returns because they made too little money, but in some cases they still had income taxes withheld²¹ from their pay, which is why the government says it has $760 million in unclaimed refund money. 

 

1 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

2 annexation   

n.吞并，合并

参考例句：

• He mentioned the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 .他提及1910年日本对朝鲜的吞并。
• I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States and Texas.我认为合并的问题，完全属于德克萨斯和美国之间的事。

3 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 concealing   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Despite his outward display of friendliness, I sensed he was concealing something. 尽管他表现得友善，我还是感觉到他有所隐瞒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• SHE WAS BREAKING THE COMPACT, AND CONCEALING IT FROM HIM. 她违反了他们之间的约定，还把他蒙在鼓里。 来自英汉文学 - 三万元遗产

6 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

9 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

10 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。

11 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

12 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

13 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

14 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

15 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。

16 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

19 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

20 refund   

v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款

参考例句：

• They demand a refund on unsatisfactory goods.他们对不满意的货品要求退款。
• We'll refund your money if you aren't satisfied.你若不满意，我们愿意退款给你。

21 withheld   

withhold过去式及过去分词

参考例句：

• I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract. 他们履行合同后，我才付款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was no school play because the principal withheld his consent. 由于校长没同意，学校里没有举行比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》