NPR 2009-02-22

The proposed budget that President Obama will deliver to Congress this coming week will reportedly seek to cut the federal deficit¹ in half over the next four years. Mr. Obama says it's a goal that is crucial to the nation's financial future. "It will require doing all we can to get exploding deficits² under control as our economy begins to recover. That work begins on Monday, when I will convene³ a fiscal⁴ summit of independent experts and unions, advocacy groups and members of Congress, to discuss how we can cut the trillion-dollar deficit that we've inherited." Mr. Obama speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address today.

Even before the stimulus⁵ plan was enacted⁶, this year's deficit was projected to be the largest since World War II, nearly 1.2 trillion dollars. Officials say the administration proposes to cut away that number mainly by raising taxes on the wealthy and on businesses and by winding⁷ down spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some Republican governors are expressing their dissatisfaction with the president's stimulus plan by refusing to accept part of the money. One of them declared his stance today at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington as NPR's Kate Davison reports.

Republican Haley Barbour of Mississippi said he refused a portion of the stimulus money meant to extend the state unemployment insurance. Barbour said that to take the money he'd have to change Mississippi state requirements about who qualifies for unemployment. He said that he'd rather give up 50 million stimulus dollars than tax job creation. "Once the federal money is gone, we would have to replace it with state money, which means we would have to raise the unemployment insurance tax on employers, which is a direct simple tax on employment."

Republican Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said he'd also declined the money, but the chair of the Governors Association said the controversy⁸ is overblown. Democrat⁹ Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said that state legislatures have the power to step in if their governors refuse the money. Kate Davison, NPR News, Washington.

A green house, a gymnasium and a barber shop are part of the new Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad that reopened today more than two years after the US handed it back to the Iraqis. Abu Ghraib was a place of torture under Saddam Hussein and later 11 US soldiers were convicted of breaking military laws in a scandal involving abuse of inmates¹⁰. The BBC's Jim Muir has this report from the prison.

This is the rehabilitation¹¹ area where the prisoners are given activities. In the north of the garden it was a fountain. It's all a far cry from the days of the Abu Ghraib as the Americans knew it from the early years. It's now being pitched by the Iraqi authorities as a kind of model institution under the way that people are being treated here or will be treated here. There're only 300 to 400 inmates so far and will be going up to about 12, 000 eventually. The way they are being treated is very different from the battle days and hence of course the change of name from Abu Ghraib to Baghdad Central Prison. The BBC's Jim Muir.

This is NPR News from Washington.

The US military is now acknowledging that 13 civilians¹³ and three militants¹⁴ were killed in an air strike by US-led forces in Afghanistan this week. The victims included a half-dozen women and two children. Earlier, the military had said 15 militants were killed before investigating reports of civilian¹² casualties. The inadvertent killing¹⁵ of civilians has become a source of growing tension between the Afghan government and the US and other NATO countries.

On the eve of the Academy Awards ceremony, producers of the telecast of the event are hoping that changes in the format¹⁶ will draw more viewers this year. Ratings for the Oscars have been declining for years now. NPR's Carrie Kahn has more.

The hyper around the slimmed down and hipper¹⁷ show have been getting a lot of press. But just what it will look like has been a closely guarded secret. Hugh Jackman, as the X-Men and People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive, is the host and will undoubtedly¹⁸ dazzle audiences with his Broadway talents. But a list of the presenters¹⁹, which is usually public by now, is as secret as the actual winners. Many of the surprise presenters have been asked to enter Hollywood's Kodak Theater from a side entrance instead of down the red carpet. But if producers of the show are hoping to build suspense²⁰ to drive up rating, the actual race for the Oscars is not. Slumdog Millionaire, the story of a poor kid winning a big on an Indian game show, is said to be all but showing for the best picture win. Carrie Kahn, NPR News.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been holding talks with China's leaders in Beijing, last stop on her weeklong trip to Asia. She is announcing plans to expand regular talks on economic issues to include security matters as well. Clinton has also been encouraging China to keep investing in US government securities.

1 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。

2 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

3 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

4 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

5 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。

6 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

7 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。

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 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。

10 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

12 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

13 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。

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 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

16 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

17 hipper   

hip（（衣服、音乐等方面）时髦的，赶时髦的）的比较级形式

参考例句：

• So were the two pocket battleships and the big cruisers Admiral Hipper, Seydlitz and Derfflinger. 和这两艘袖珍战列舰一样的还有重巡洋舰希佩海军上将号，赛德利兹号以及德尔福林格号。 来自互联网

18 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

19 presenters   

n.节目主持人，演播员( presenter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Each week presenters would put the case for their favourite candidate. 每个星期主持人推出他们最喜欢的候选人。 来自互联网
• Karaoke was set up to allowed presenters to sing on the stage. 宴会设有歌唱舞台，可让出席者大演唱功。 来自互联网

20 suspense   

n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑

参考例句：

• The suspense was unbearable.这样提心吊胆的状况实在叫人受不了。
• The director used ingenious devices to keep the audience in suspense.导演用巧妙手法引起观众的悬念。