NPR 2009-4-18

The cargo¹ ship captain rescued from Somali pirates Easter Sunday is back home in Vermont. Captain Richard Phillips' plane landed in Burlington late this afternoon. After a brief reunion with his family, Phillips spoke² to the media for the first time and downplayed his hero status.

"They are out there. They are, they are everyday people we will not recognize, and I will not divulge³, but they did an excellent job and they saved me. They're at the point of the sword everyday, doing an impossible job where which we can not comprehend."
Phillips was freed after Navy Seal snipers shot the pirates holding him hostage on a lifeboat.

US is welcoming Cuban President Raul Castro's comment said he is open to talks with the United States about everything. NPR’s Michele Kelemen reports.
During her visit to the Dominican Republic, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton fielded questions from around Latin America in a virtual town hall. When Cuba was brought up, she made clear she is pleased with Raul Castro’s readiness to talk about everything, including human rights and political prisoners. “We welcome his comments, the overture⁴ that they represent and we are taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond.” She also pointed⁵ out that the Obama administration made a serious gesture this week, as well, by giving Cuban-Americans the right once again to travel to Cuba as often as they like and lifting caps on the remittances⁶ they sent home, restrictions⁷ that the Bush administration had put in place. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

It's another sign of just how hard the job market has been hit by the economic downturn. The unemployment rate in California has climbed to a new record. From member station KCRW Chery Glaser has more.

Unemployment in California jumped to 11.2 percent last month. That's the fourth highest rate in the country, behind Michigan, Oregon and South Carolina. California lost more than 62,000 non-farm jobs in March and the declines hit a wide range of industries from construction to international trade, to financial services. All in all, more than two million people in California who want work don't have it. But Jack⁸ Kyser with the L.A. County Economic Development Corporation says the state may get some relief thanks to public works projects being funded by the economic stimulus⁹ package.

"Those are good quality jobs and of course you building something that we desperately¹⁰ need like improved transportation projects." Even so, Kyser says California's job market may not rebound¹¹ until some time in 2011. For NPR News, I'm Chery Glaser in Los Angeles.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the recession has done lasting¹² harm to household finances. He says regulators must protect consumers from confusing forms of credit.
"When complexity¹³ reaches the point of reducing transparency, it impedes¹⁴ competition and leads consumers to make poor choices. And in some cases, complexity simply searches to disguise practices that are unfair and deceptive¹⁵." Bernanke was speaking in Washington today.

The Wall Street had a sixth straight week of gains. The Dow closed up five points.

This is NPR.

In Colorado, a powerful spring snow storm is forcing the closure of schools and businesses and causing problems for travellers. Up to three feet of snows predicted for parts of the state. Kirk Siegler of member station KUNC reports from Denver.

The heavy and wet snow made for hazardous¹⁶ travel condition throughout the state. Several roads were closed, including the stretch of Interstate 25 north of Denver to Wyoming state line. In downtown Denver, snow flakes¹⁷ at the size of the golf balls could be seen at times. Kyle Fredin is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He says a late spring storm isn't unusual for this part of the country.

"It's pretty normal. April is real close to November for second. They got kind of go back and forth¹⁸ for second and third for the most snowiest month, eh, March is the snowiest."

The winter storm warning is in effect for most of Colorado through Saturday morning. But Coloradoans probably won't need their snow shovels¹⁹ for long. Temperatures are expected to quickly rebound into the 70s by Monday. For NPR News, I'm Kirk Siegler in Denver.

Spring flooding is causing more trouble for North Dakota. In Valley City along the swelling²⁰ Sheyenne River, the mayor is urging people to leave the city after the city sewage system backed up flooding businesses and offices.

Officials in Oakland Park of Florida say the pilot of a small plane that crashed toward a house is dead. The plane went down shortly after take off, slicing through a house about two miles from an airport near Fort Lauderdale. Rick Cunningham witnessed the crash.

"I heard the spitting and sputtering²¹, and when I turned around, I've seen this small engine plane coming in sideway."

Investigators²² are waiting for the wreckage²³ to cool before beginning a search. An airport spokesman says the tower got a distress²⁴ call before the plane went down. There's no word on whether anyone was in the house.

I'm Giles Snyder, this is NPR News from Washington.

1 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

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 divulge   

v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布

参考例句：

• They refused to divulge where they had hidden the money.他们拒绝说出他们把钱藏在什么地方。
• He swore never to divulge the secret.他立誓决不泄露秘密。

4 overture   

n.前奏曲、序曲，提议，提案，初步交涉

参考例句：

• The opera was preceded by a short overture.这部歌剧开始前有一段简短的序曲。
• His overture led to nothing.他的提议没有得到什么结果。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 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。

9 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。

10 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

11 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

12 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

13 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

14 impedes   

阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• High packing density greatly impedes the cooling of the array. 高存贮密度很不利于阵列的散热。
• The inflexibility of the country's labor market seriously impedes its economic recovery. 该国劳工市场缺乏灵活性，这严重阻碍了它的经济恢复。

15 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

16 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

17 flakes   

小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人

参考例句：

• It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
• It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。

18 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

19 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

20 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

21 sputtering   

n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• A wick was sputtering feebly in a dish of oil. 瓦油灯上结了一个大灯花，使微弱的灯光变得更加阴暗。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• Jack ran up to the referee, sputtering protest. 贾克跑到裁判跟前，唾沫飞溅地提出抗议。 来自辞典例句

22 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

24 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。