NPR 2009-06-04

President Obama is spending the night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after a day of meeting there with King Abdullah. Tomorrow, the president heads to Cairo for the most important speech of his trip. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

The speech will be delivered before an invited audience at Cairo University, but the real audience is the one and a half billion Muslims around the world. It’s a recognition of how the US image among Muslims has suffered since the Iraq war. White House adviser¹ David Axelrod. "There's been a breach², an undeniable breach between the American and Islamic world, and that breach has been years in the making. It is not gonna be reversed with one speech." White House aides said the goal is to bring a positive, constructive³ tone to the dialogue. The Cairo speech will be translated into 13 languages and posted on the internet in both video and text forms and on social networking sites. Don Gonyea with the president in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The White House is responding to the release of a new audio recording⁴ attributed to Al-Qaeda leader Usama Bin⁵ Laden⁶, saying the timing⁷ appears to be designed to shift attention away from the president's trip to the Middle East. Bin Laden accuses the president of planting the seeds of "revenge and hatred⁸ toward the US in the Muslim world,” and he warned Americans to prepare for consequences. Bin Laden's remarks were aired today by Al Jazeera television.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke warned members of the House Budget Committee today Congress and the White House need to formulate⁹ a plan to rein¹⁰ in huge budget deficits¹¹ once the recession is over. More from NPR's John Ydstie.

With budget deficits predicted to average well over a trillion dollars for the next three years, Bernanke pointed¹² out that the government debt will jump from 40% of the economy's annual output to more than 70% by 2011. He warned that a continued rise is unsustainable.

"At some point, you’ll hit a point where you’ll have to have both very draconian¹³ cuts and very large tax increases which is not something we want. So in order to avoid that outcome down the road, we need to begin now to plan how we are gonna get the fiscal¹⁴ situation into a better balance.”

Bernanke repeated the Fed's view that the economy is stabilizing¹⁵ and should turn up later this year. He cautioned that growth would likely be slow so that unemployment is likely to rise well into next year. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

Orders to the nation's factories picked up a bit in April. The Commerce Department says factory orders rose 0.7%, however the government sharply revised down the March number, indicating a 1.9% drop in orders. It shows the nation's manufacturing sector¹⁶ remains¹⁷ under intense pressure. US manufacture has been suffering through the longest recession since World War Two.

 On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 65 points to close at 8,675. The NASDAQ lost 10 points. The S&P 500 fell 12 points today.

This is NPR.

A federal judge today tossed out dozens of lawsuits¹⁸ filed against the nation's telecommunications companies in connection with so-called warrantless wiretapping. It allegedly carried out on behalf of the US government. NPR's Martin Kaste says the dismissal was widely anticipated.

The decision was based on the fact that Congress gave the telecom companies retroactive immunity¹⁹ for whatever they may have done illegally in their cooperation with the Bush administration's wiretapping program. So that was pretty expected because Congress had accredited²⁰ them that immunity. NPR's Martin Kaste.

Former President Bush signed the measure into law that would include immunity from lawsuits for telecom companies. They received presidential orders telling them wiretaps are needed to help to detect or prevent a terror attack. The warrantless surveillance program was put into effect after September 11th.

Small particles in the air increase the risk of death from heart attack more than previously²¹ thought. That's according to a new study. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

Several studies of the years have found that people who live in places with more soot²² in the air are more likely to die of heart attacks. The findings have been used to create new federal limits for pollution like diesel²³ exhaust and particles from coal plants. But they've also been controversial. The effect is small, so it's hard to measure. But because so many people are exposed, even a small risk can mean a lot of excess deaths. A non-profit called the Health Effects Institute in Boston has now reanalyzed the biggest of those controversial studies. The institute concludes that those previous results are valid²⁴ and in fact the health effects of soot appear to be bigger than previously measured. Richard Harris, NPR News.

Crude Oil futures²⁵ took a breather today. The price of crude for July dropped $2.43 a barrel today to end the session at 66.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

I'm Jack²⁶ Speer, NPR News in Washington.

1 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

2 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

3 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

4 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

7 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

8 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

9 formulate   

v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述

参考例句：

• He took care to formulate his reply very clearly.他字斟句酌，清楚地做了回答。
• I was impressed by the way he could formulate his ideas.他陈述观点的方式让我印象深刻。

10 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

11 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

12 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。

13 draconian   

adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的

参考例句：

• You can't expect the people to obey such draconian regulations.你不能指望人民服从如此严苛的规定。
• The city needs a draconian way of dealing with robbers.这个城市需要一个严苛的办法来对付强盗。

14 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。

15 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

16 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

17 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。

18 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

19 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

20 accredited   

adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于

参考例句：

• The discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs of the 11th century. 通常认为，蒸馏法是阿拉伯人在11世纪发明的。
• Only accredited journalists were allowed entry. 只有正式认可的记者才获准入内。

21 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

22 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

23 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

24 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

25 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

26 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。