NPR 2008-11-13

Democratic leaders want Congress to focus on a bailout for the U.S. auto¹ industry during next week's lame-duck session of Congress. But Treasury² Secretary Henry Paulson says it should not be tied to the 700-billion-dollar rescue package for troubled financial firms. NPR’s Giles Snyder reports.

Paulson says the auto industry is critical to the economy, but that the financial industry bailout plan was not designed for it.” I've said it very clearly. I think that the administration said that, you know, we need a solution but the solution has got to be one that leads to viability³. You know, and again, the intent of the TARP was to deal with the financial industry.” Democrats⁴ are pushing for an emergency measure to help the auto industry. Paulson says Democrats could make more money available to auto makers⁵ as part of a 25-billion-dollar loan program approved in September aimed at developing more fuel-efficient vehicles. But supporters of the industry say it will not be sufficient. Giles Snyder NPR News, Washington.

Iran says it has test-fired a new generation of its longest range surface-to-surface missile. The country's defense⁶ minister says it's for defense and deterrence⁷, Roxana Saberi reports from Teheran.

Iran state television showed the missile being fired from a launching pad in a desert region. Iran says the Sajjil is a high speed missile with a range of about 1,200 miles. At that range it could easily strike Iran's arch foe⁸ Israel and go as far as southeastern Europe. Iran's defense minister said the missile has what he called an extraordinarily⁹ high capability¹⁰. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar did not say whether it was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. In recent years Iran has stepped up its domestic missile development, raising concerns of the U.S. and its allies at a time when they accused Teheran of trying to produce nuclear weapons. Teheran says its nuclear program is purely¹¹ peaceful. For NPR News, I'm Roxana Saberi in Teheran.

News of the Iranian missile firing comes as the officials of the military are expressing concerns about whether the new administration might decide to halt plans to put a U.S. anti-missile battery in Poland. Air force General Henry Obering, director of the nation's Missile Defense Agency told reporters today he's awaiting word whether officials of President-elect Obama’s transition team are interested in a briefing.

A group of electronics makers including LG and Sharp have agreed to pay 585 million dollars in fines to settle charges that they conspired¹² to fix the price of liquid crystal displays. The plea agreement was a part of the Justice Department probe, Thomas Barnett as the assistant Attorney General says the case has had a major effect on prices paid by consumers and companies.” The crimes committed by LG Display, Sharp and Chunghwa and their coconspirators are among the largest and most far-reaching price-fixing conspiracies¹³ the Antitrust Division has ever detected.” These liquid crystal displays are popular because they weigh less and use less power than older TV and computer screens.

On Wall Street, the Dow fell 411 points today. The NASDAQ lost 81 points.

This is NPR.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has authorized¹⁴ former Republican Representative Jim Leach¹⁵ and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to represent him at a gathering¹⁶ of world leaders in Washington this weekend. The President-elect has already indicated he will not attend the meeting which will involve delegations¹⁷ from 20 countries and focus on the global economic crisis. Members of Senator Obama’s transition team say he does not want to appear to be trying to represent the US prior to his official sworn-in in January. He expected both Leach and Albright will have more of a listening role.

U.S. military officials are confirming that two American soldiers were killed today and six were wounded in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. While the military was holding initial details, Iraqi police sources say the Americans were shot by an Iraqi army soldier. NPR’s Corey Flintoff reports from Baghdad.

The U.S. military says the Americans were killed in a firefight. But officials didn't specify¹⁸ what the action was or how it started. They say the incident and the identity of the shooter are under investigation¹⁹. Iraqi police in Mosul say there was some sort of dispute at an Iraqi army compound and an Iraqi soldier opened fire on the Americans. They say a morgue in the area received the dead body of one Iraqi soldier. The shooting comes amid a spate²⁰ of attacks against security forces and civilians²¹ in Mosul and Baghdad in which Iraqi police reports of casualties tend to be far higher than those reported by American forces. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Baghdad.

Oil prices fell to their lowest level since January of last year. The near-month contract for benchmark crude was down $3. 50 a barrel to settle at $56. 16 a barrel in New York.

1 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。

2 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。

3 viability   

n.存活(能力)

参考例句：

• What is required to achieve or maintain such viability? 要达到或维持这种生存能力需要什么？
• Scientists are experimenting to find ways to ensure the viability of seeds for even longer periods of time. 正如我们所说，科学家正在试验努力寻找让种子的生命力更加延长的方法。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 deterrence   

威慑，制止； 制止物，制止因素； 挽留的事物； 核威慑

参考例句：

• An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称，稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。

8 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。

9 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

10 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

11 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

12 conspired   

密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They conspired to bring about the meeting of the two people. 他们共同促成了两人的会面。
• Bad weather and car trouble conspired to ruin our vacation. 恶劣的气候连同汽车故障断送了我们的假日。

13 conspiracies   

n.阴谋，密谋( conspiracy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was still alive and hatching his conspiracies. 他还活着，策划着阴谋诡计。 来自辞典例句
• It appeared that they had engaged in fresh conspiracies from the very moment of their release. 看上去他们刚给释放，立刻开始新一轮的阴谋活动。 来自英汉文学

14 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

15 leach   

v.分离，过滤掉；n.过滤；过滤器

参考例句：

• Liquid water can leach soluble materials from the interface.液态水能够从界面溶解出可溶性物质。
• They believe that the humic materials are leached from decaying plant materials.他们认为腐植物料是从腐烂的植物体浸沥而来。

16 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

17 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

18 specify   

vt.指定，详细说明

参考例句：

• We should specify a time and a place for the meeting.我们应指定会议的时间和地点。
• Please specify what you will do.请你详述一下你将做什么。

19 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。

20 spate   

n.泛滥，洪水，突然的一阵

参考例句：

• Police are investigating a spate of burglaries in the area.警察正在调查这一地区发生的大量盗窃案。
• Refugees crossed the border in full spate.难民大量地越过了边境。

21 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。