NPR 2009-06-19

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

Lawmakers are digging into details of President Obama's plan to overhaul² financial regulation today. Treasury³ Secretary Timothy Geithner was on Capitol Hill answering questions about the plan. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

Geithner told the Senate Banking⁴ Committee the administration's plan doesn't try to fix every shortcoming in the financial rule book, but only those core issues that contributed to the economic meltdown. New York Democrat⁵ Charles Schumer says he likes much of what the administration is proposing, but he complains the plan would still leave too many different agencies regulating banks. Schumer would prefer to see that job combined under a single roof.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts when it comes to the symphony orchestra or the New York Giants. But with our patchwork⁶ system of banking regulation, the whole is less."

Geithner concedes the regulatory proposal is neither elegant nor neat. But he said it’s more important to have smart financial rules than a simple organizational chart. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The senate on a 91 to five vote has approved the bill that provides $106 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Emergency spending bill contains $80 billion to fund ongoing⁷ operations in the two countries, while with funds for a variety of other purposes including foreign aid, pandemic flu preparation and a billion dollars to fund a 'cash for clunkers' program, the government wants to institute to promote the purchase of more fuel-efficient vehicles. The measure now goes to President Obama for his signature.

Attorney General Eric Holder⁸ says he wants to expand convicts' access to DNA⁹ evidence. That statement came the same day the Supreme¹⁰ Court issued a ruling limiting access to such material. More from NPR's Ari Shapiro.

The court ruled five to four against an Alaskan man who is in prison for sexual assault. He wanted to run DNA tests on some of the evidence used to convict him. He offered to pay and said such tests would prove his innocence¹¹. The justices said the constitution does not give the man the right to such evidence. Attorney General Eric Holder responded "Simply because a course of action is constitutional does not make it wise". He noted¹² that in 2004, the federal government expanded DNA access and set aside money for states to do the same. Many states took advantage of that offer, but not all of them. In a statement, Holder said: "I hope that in light of today's decision, all levels of government will follow the federal government's lead by working to expand access to DNA evidence." Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

Some good news in terms of the weekly jobless numbers while initial jobless claims rose slightly, the government says the overall number of people on the unemployment rolls actually came down for the first time since January. Labor¹³ Department reports the number of people collecting unemployment benefits fell by 148,000 to 6.69 million.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 58 points to close at 8,555. The NASDAQ was down a fraction. The S&P 500 closed up seven points today.

This is NPR.

The pilot of a Continental¹⁴ Airline's flight from Brussels to Newark who died over the Atlantic Ocean today appears to have suffered a heart attack. That is according to a doctor who examined him. Dr. Julien Struyven says he tried to revive the pilot, but was unable to. The 60-year-old Newark-based pilot had more than 30 years with the airline.  The jet landed without incident with two co-pilots at the controls. The 247 passengers aboard the plane were not told of the pilot's death.

NASA is making its first moon shot in more than a decade. Two unmanned probes are now headed to the moon after blasting off from Cape¹⁶ Canaveral, Florida today. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce has more.

“3.2.1. Main engine ignition and lift-off of the Atlas¹⁷ V rocket with LRO/LCROSS, America's first step of a lasting¹⁵ return to the moon.”

Two different lunar probes blasted off on a single rocket. If all goes well, one of the probes, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, will get to the moon in about four days. Its mission is to circle the moon for at least a year. It has instruments to let NASA make better maps of the lunar surface and scout¹⁸ out potential landing sites for future manned missions. The other probe is designed to fly by the moon and then loop around to the earth. The plan is that in about four months, it will head back towards the moon on a collision course. It will crash into a dark, cold crater¹⁹ that might be hiding frozen water. The impact will kick up a big plume²⁰ of debris²¹ that scientists can then analyze²² to see if water is really there. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

Crude oil futures²³ up 34 cents a barrel today to close at 71.37 a barrel in New York.

I'm Jack Speer, NPR News in Washington

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 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

3 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

4 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

5 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。

6 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

7 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

8 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

9 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

10 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。

11 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 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。

15 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。

16 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

17 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

18 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

19 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

20 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

21 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

22 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

23 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。