NPR 2008-06-19

Scores of communities along the Upper Mississippi River continue to fight the rising waters even as levees around the area begin to fail. The governors of both Illinois and Missouri were on site today to assess the situation. From member station KWMU in St. Louis, Adam Allington reports.

At 4:00 a.m. this morning, floodwaters began overtopping levees between the towns of Hannibal, Missouri and Quincy, Illinois. The levees protect two city wells used by the town of Palmyra, four thousand acres of farmland and Burlington Northern Railroad Tracks. In the town of  Clarksville, Missouri, tractors are piling sand for sandbaggers. Jo Anne Smiley is the town's mayor. "You're heartsick for the people who are in business here, who having to move everything out. Second of all, you're heartsick for the people who have lived here for a long time and seen the town go through it before and hoped it would not happen again." Officials in Hannibal say the city is in pretty good shape. In Lincoln County, floodwaters are overtopping levees along Highway 79, threatening the towns of Elsberry,  Winfield, Old Monroe and Foley. For NPR News, I'm Adam Allington in St. Louis.

Congressional Democrats¹ are rejecting President Bush's call today for more domestic oil production. NPR's Debbie Elliott has more.

President Bush wants lawmakers to lift a ban on drilling off parts of America's shores. "We should expand American oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental² Shelf, or OCS." His proposal didn't get a warm reception from House Democrats. Massachusetts Congressman³ Ed Markey is chairman of the Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. "If this was a good plan, then they would have adopted it over the six years they controlled the House, the Senate and the presidency⁴ when they had a monopoly on political power. One of the biggest reasons they are not gonna be successful is the governors of Florida, the governors of California, Republicans, are going to scream." Florida Governor Charlie Crist says Congress should let states decide whether to allow drilling off their coasts. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, the Capitol.

The president is sending his US energy secretary to Saudi Arabia for a one-day meeting of major oil producers and consumers. The White House announced today Samuel Bodman will lead the US delegation⁵ heading to the meeting, which is being hosted by the world's largest oil producer. Saudis called the meeting of oil-producing and consuming nations to discuss ways of dealing⁶ with soaring energy prices and to work to try and prevent further increases.

Congress, for a second time, has enacted⁸ a massive 290-billion-dollar farm bill. The Senate voting 80-14 to override⁹ President Bush's veto of the bill, more than the two-thirds majority needed to enact⁷ the measure. Most of the farm bill was put in place in May when House and Senate lawmakers overrode¹⁰ a presidential veto at that time over a clerical error resulted(resulting) in 34 missing pages of the legislation.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 131 points to close at 12,029 today. The NASDAQ lost 28 points. The S&P fell 13 points.

This is NPR.

According to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, North Korea is expected to soon present China with a long-overdue declaration of the country's nuclear programs. Rice made the statement during a speech at The Heritage  Foundation,  a Washington-based think tank, as she was presenting a broad defense¹¹ of current  administration policy toward North Korea. North Korea was supposed to produce the declaration at the end of last year under a multilateral agreement, in which the country committed to abandoning its nuclear program in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives¹². Such move would clear the way for the lifting of US sanctions.

Chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, Royce Lamberth, met today with government and Guantanamo detainees' lawyers on how to handle the cases of some 200 detainees who are challenging their detentions¹³. Last week, the Supreme¹⁴ Court ordered the cases to go forward. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

Lamberth and former chief judge Thomas Hogan met with some two dozen lawyers representing the government and the detainees. The array of decisions they face is daunting¹⁵: from the logistical--where to hold hearings and how to provide for and finance security measures, to critical legal questions. There are about a dozen judges who have been assigned these cases, and  there is concern about contradictory¹⁶ rulings on what information the government must produce and how fast, what the standard of proof is to justify¹⁷ holding a detainee in prison and what to do with the many detainees who have been cleared for release but whose home countries have refused to take them back. Judge Lamberth assigned Judge Hogan the unenviable task of trying to resolve some of these questions in advance. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

Mortgage rates have been moving higher. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose above 6.5% last week. That's the highest rates they've been since July of last year.

1 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》

2 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

3 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

8 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

9 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

10 overrode   

越控( override的过去式 )； （以权力）否决； 优先于； 比…更重要

参考例句：

• The chairman overrode the committee's objections and signed the agreement. 主席不顾委员会的反对，径行签署了协议。
• The Congress overrode the President's objection and passed the law. 国会不顾总统的反对，通过了那项法令。

11 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。

12 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

13 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

14 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

15 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

16 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

17 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？