NPR 2009-04-08

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Jack¹ Speer.

President Barack Obama made a brief visit to Iraq today where he met with the Iraqi leaders and US troops. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from the Iraqi capital.

"Bad weather stopped the president from traveling by helicopter outside of a US military base at Baghdad’s airport. Instead, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani came to him by car. President Obama and Maliki met for about 30 minutes. They discussed Iraq's political progress and the continuing security challenges here. The two leaders made statements after the meeting. Mr. Obama called for all Iraqis to be integrated into the government and security forces, a reference to the slow assimilation of Sunni paramilitaries into Iraq's police and army. Maliki said Iraq was now a stable enough country for international investment. Earlier President Obama spoke² to US troops, he lauded³ the troops’ work here in Iraq adding to cheers. It is time for us to transition to the Iraqis. They need to take responsibility for their country and for their sovereignty. Next year, approximately 100,000 US troops will leave Iraq. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Baghdad.

Even as rescuers continued to push aside rubble⁴, looking for more victims of the strong earthquake that hit central Italy this week, the region was rocked by an aftershock today. The latest tremor⁵ sent emergency personnel and residents fleeing. 6.3 magnitude quake that struck the pre-dawn hours Monday is being blamed for 228 deaths and more than a 1000 injuries. Today’s aftershock, according to Italy's news agency ANSA, claimed at least one more life. The epicenter of the aftershock was in the same area as the main quake, a mountainous region some 70 miles to the northeast of Rome.

As the US economy remains⁶ weak and unemployment rate rises, the number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgage payments also continues to go up. That's the assessment⁷ from the executive with the credit monitoring firm Equifax who says in February around 7% of homeowners with mortgages were at least 30 days behind on their loans. That's an increase of 50% from a year ago.

Investors⁸ sent stocks lower today. The Dow along with the other major stock market indexes fell more than 2%. Investors are worried about weak corporate⁹ earnings¹⁰. More from NPR's Wendy Kaufman.

After a big four-week rally in March, the market has pulled back, off a bit yesterday and substantially more today. Investors are bracing¹¹ themselves for grim corporate earnings reports that are being released over the next couple of weeks. Earnings at S&P 500 firms are likely to fall 37% according to Thompson Reuters. That would mark the eighth straight decline in quarterly profits. Earnings at the big banks will be keenly watched. Several analysts¹² have warned that the banks will reveal large potential loan losses. And they suggest that the performance of the banks is key to the entire market. Investors are likely to be frustrated¹³ by the lack of forward looking guidance from many big companies. Those companies are simply unwilling¹⁴ to make any financial predictions. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.

On Wall Street the Dow shed 186 points today; the NASDAQ was down 45 points; the S&P fell 19 points.

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South African leader Jacob Zuma said he has been vindicated¹⁵ after prosecutors¹⁶ moved to drop corruption¹⁷ charges against him today. The head of South Africa's ANC party at a news conference in Durbin said the 8-year-battle by prosecutors to convict him was "political and manipulative". And he said the suggestion of a cloud hanging over him despite the dismissal was a media fiction. Zuma's ANC party is widely expected to win an April 22nd election. The decision to drop charges came after prosecutors said they uncovered abuses of the legal process by ally's former President Thabo Mbeki.

Israeli police today shot and killed a Palestinian driver in east Jerusalem after police said he tried to run over several officers. The policemen were guarding the sloughed¹⁸ off home of a gunman who killed three Israelis with a construction vehicle in July. Linda Gradstein reports.

"Police came in force to the east Jerusalem villages of Sur Baher to partially¹⁹ demolish²⁰ the home of Hussam Dwayat. Police said they could not demolish the entire home fearing that nearby houses would collapse²¹ and so sealed off the rest. In July, Dwayat had taken a huge yellow Caterpillar²² front-loader that he worked with on a construction site and killed three Israelis in Jerusalem. A police spokesman said as they sealed the house, a Palestinian man attempted to run over several policemen who opened fire and shot and killed the driver. Several policemen were slightly wounded in the legs. Clashes broke out after the shooting as angry residents threw stones at police who responded with teargas. For NPR News, I'm Linda Gradstein, in Jerusalem.

Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy who’s currently undergoing treatment for a malignant²³ brain tumor²⁴ tossed out the first ball at Boston’s Fenway Park today. With fans cheering, Kennedy threw out the ceremonial pitch in the Red Sox home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays. The game was to be played yesterday but delayed by weather.

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 lauded   

v.称赞，赞美( laud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They lauded the former president as a hero. 他们颂扬前总统为英雄。 来自辞典例句
• The nervy feats of the mountaineers were lauded. 登山者有勇气的壮举受到赞美。 来自辞典例句

4 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

5 tremor   

n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震

参考例句：

• There was a slight tremor in his voice.他的声音有点颤抖。
• A slight earth tremor was felt in California.加利福尼亚发生了轻微的地震。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

8 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

9 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

10 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

11 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

12 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

13 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

15 vindicated   

v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• I have every confidence that this decision will be fully vindicated. 我完全相信这一决定的正确性将得到充分证明。
• Subsequent events vindicated the policy. 后来的事实证明那政策是对的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

18 sloughed   

v.使蜕下或脱落( slough的过去式和过去分词 )；舍弃；除掉；摒弃

参考例句：

• Responsibilities are not sloughed off so easily. 责任不是那么容易推卸的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The scab has sloughed off. 痂脱落了。 来自辞典例句

19 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

20 demolish   

v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等)

参考例句：

• They're going to demolish that old building.他们将拆毁那座旧建筑物。
• He was helping to demolish an underground garage when part of the roof collapsed.他当时正在帮忙拆除一个地下汽车库，屋顶的一部份突然倒塌。

21 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

22 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

23 malignant   

adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Alexander got a malignant slander.亚历山大受到恶意的诽谤。
• He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston.他爬了起来，不高兴地看了温斯顿一眼。

24 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。