NPR 2009-09-18

The Obama Administration announced today a major change in its missile defense¹ plans for Europe and cancelled the deployment² of a controversial system in two countries there. NPR’s JJ Sutherland reports.

In 2006, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proposed a missile defense system with missiles based in Poland and a radar³ based in the Czech Republic. Both plans were heatedly opposed by Russia, which saw them as a threat. The US maintained they were important to defend against missiles from Iran. Now says Gates the situation has changed.

"Our intelligence now assesses that the threat of potential Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities⁴ has been slower to develop than was estimated in 2006."

Instead, the threat is from shorter-range Iranian missiles and now Gates says the US can rely on smaller sea- and land-based missiles instead of the original plan. JJ Sutherland, NPR News.

Following the suicide car bombing in Kabul that killed six Italian soldiers as well as a number of civilians⁵, Italy’s Premier⁶ is saying that international forces should leave Afghanistan. Premier Silvio Berlusconi said today that while no firm timetables being talked about, it would, in his words, be best for everybody to get out soon. Meantime an explosion of a car bomb blew an Italian armored vehicle across two lanes of traffic. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast, the deadliest attack on Italian forces in the country to date. The powerful bomb blast shattered windows and buildings half a mile away and shook offices and homes.

The nation’s housing market is continuing to show some improvement. The Commerce Department reports the number of housing units getting built rose 1.5% in August. More from NPR’s Chris Arnold.

Apartments and condo buildings saw a pretty big monthly increase while single family home starts saw a slight decrease. But overall, the number of housing units getting built is continuing to rise up slowly off the bottom.

"The housing market has hit bottoms. I mean we are still in the basement, but maybe we've moved out of the subbasement."

Stuart Hoffman is chief economist⁷ of PNC Financial Services Group. He says that people are buying more homes again.

"They spend money to move into home. Far from a boom, anything but that, but that's gonna turn housing from a big drag on the economy to a small plus for recovery in the coming year."

Hoffman expects prices nationally will keep inching lower until the spring of next year, but he says that prices have already stabilized⁸ in some markets. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

Federal Trade Commission is considering a crackdown on companies in exchange for an upfront fee promised to help modify a troubled homeowner’s mortgage. According to officials with the government agencies, scammers who want to take advantage of borrowers in danger of losing their homes often charge such fees. In some cases, thousands of dollars are rarely helping⁹ those in need. The FTC says such fees already prohibited in 20 states are "a real red flag".

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell seven points today. The Dow closed at 9,783. The NASDAQ lost six points.

This is NPR.

European Union is out with new calls for the US, China and other major economic powers to work toward reducing emissions¹⁰. The call came today at the Summit of EU government leaders meeting in Brussels. The Sweden’s Prime Minister saying it’s time for the world to start moving on action when it comes to making deep reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. Sweden currently holds the EU presidency¹¹ and said today that international negotiations¹² on the new global climate change pact¹³ are "going too slowly".

Nominees¹⁴ for the 10th annual Latin Grammies were announced today in Los Angeles. This year, a Caribbean hip-pop group pulled in the most nominations¹⁵ with five. NPR’s Felix Contreras has more.

The Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 earned five nominations including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Urban Album and Best Alternative Song.

Calle 13 won five awards at last year’s Latin Grammies and they are becoming a crossover success with fans and critics. In a further reflection of Latin music’s crossover appeal, hip-pop duo Wisiny Yandel also from Puerto Rica, was nominated for Best Urban Song for their collaboration¹⁶ with rapper 50Cent. This year’s Album of the Year category boasts nominees from Puerto Rico, Columbia, Nicaragua, Brazil and Argentina. Latin Grammy winners will be announced on November 5th. Felix Contreras, NPR News.

The number of people signing up for first time jobless benefits shrank last week. The Labor¹⁷ Department says first time claims for unemployment insurance fell by 12,000. However, the overall number of people claiming jobless benefits continues to rise up 129,000 to a seasonally¹⁸ adjusted 6.2 million.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

3 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

4 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

5 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。

6 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

7 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

8 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

11 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

12 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

13 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

14 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

15 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

16 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

17 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。

18 seasonally   

参考例句：

• The price of vegetables fluctuates seasonally. 蔬菜的价格随季节变动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They moved seasonally among various vegetation types to feed on plants that were flourishing. 它们还随着季节的变化而在各种类型植物之间迁移，以便吃那些茂盛的植物。 来自辞典例句