NPR 2008-11-06

Some of the results from Tuesday's elections are still being deciphered and analyzed¹, but there are four Senate races that have yet to be decided². NPR's Ken³ Rudin has more.

In Minnesota with nearly 3 million votes cast, Republican incumbent⁴ Norm Coleman clings to about a 700-vote lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken. A third party candidate got nearly a half million votes. The tiny margin⁶ will result in an automatic recount that could drag into next month. In Georgia GOP incumbent Saxby Chambliss leads Democratic Jim Martin but not enough to escape a December run-off. State law says a candidate needs 50% plus one to be elected. Chambliss has 49. 8%. In Alaska with thousands of absentee ballots⁹ yet to be counted, Republican Ted⁸ Stevens convicted last month on seven felony counts leads his Democratic challenger Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by more than 3, 000 votes. And in Oregon a slow vote count has kept the race between Republican incumbent Gordon Smith and Democrat⁵ Jeff Merkley too close to call. Smith has a slight lead. Ken Rudin, NPR News, Washington.

A Democrat has never been elected to the White House without taking the state of Missouri and one day after yesterday's historic presidential contest, it's not known today if that is still the case. At last word the state of Missouri was still too close to call with John McCain leading Barack Obama in that state by less than 6, 000 votes out of a total of more than 2. 9 million votes counted. That's a difference of 0. 2%. Officials there say it could be two weeks till results in the state are official because of the more than 7, 000 outstanding provisional ballots there.

Federal officials are investigating possible arson¹⁰ at a black church in Springfield, Massachusetts last night. Bianca Vazquez Toness from member station WBUR in Boston has more.

The Macedonia Church of God in Christ was almost finished with a two million dollar construction project before it burned to the ground early in the morning. Church bishop¹¹ Bryant Robinson calls the 3 a. m. fire suspicious coming immediately after the election of Barack Obama. "It's rather peculiar¹², rather suspicious since everybody ever done it was not celebrating, at least not from a positive perspective. " Federal officials are sending a special national response team to investigate the site. For NPR News, I'm Bianca Vazquez Toness in Boston.

Private equity¹³ firm that owns most of troubled automaker Chrysler is calling for another economic stimulus¹⁴ package on the part of the federal government. It also says officials need to make sure the U. S. auto⁷ industry does not fail. The head of Cerberus Capital Management says president-elect Barack Obama and his choice of Treasury¹⁵ Secretary should work quickly to come up with a bipartisan initiative to deal with the current economic downturn. John Snow himself once a one time Secretary of the Treasury made the remarks in an interview on the business news channel CNBC today.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 486 points to close at 9, 139. The NASDAQ lost 98 points today. This is NPR.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appears to be throwing down a bit of a challenge to the newly elected president Barack Obama. One day after the U.S. election the Russian leader in his first state-of-the-nation speech blamed the U.S. for the war in Georgia and the world financial crisis. He said it would be up to Washington to amend¹⁶ badly damaged relations. Medvedev also said Russia would deploy¹⁷ short-range missiles near Poland to counter U.S. plans to establish an anti-missile battery in Eastern Europe and he indicated that Moscow would not give in to western calls to pull its troops from Georgia's breakaway republics. A move by Georgia on those republics earlier this year prompted a crackdown by Russian forces.

Americans can't read enough about Barack Obama's decisive victory in Tuesday's presidential elections, literally¹⁸. NPR's David Folkenflik reports on what newspaper publishers are doing in response.

In cities across the country, the news was the same: the daily paper had sold out. People lined up at the gates of the Sun Times printing plant to buy copies in Chicago. The original press run had been snapped up, even though the paper sold 50% more copies than usual. It was a similar story in Birmingham, Detroit, Dallas and Newport News, Virginia. The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune fired up the presses again Wednesday to print additional papers. The Washington Post printed a quarter million copies of a commemorative edition. Some newsstands in New York City sold out of all dailies within hours. There was a big appetite for the rough draft of history in all its forms. TV rating's estimates found that about 12 million more Americans watched the election covered on Tuesday evening than did on the election night four years ago. David Folkenflik, NPR News.

1 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》

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

4 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

7 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

8 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

9 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 arson   

n.纵火，放火

参考例句：

• He was serving a ten spot for arson.他因纵火罪在服十年徒刑。
• He was arraigned on a charge of arson.他因被指控犯纵火罪而被传讯。

11 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

12 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

13 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

14 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

15 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

16 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

17 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

18 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。