NPR 2010-12-15

An appeal from Swedish prosecutors¹ is keeping Julian Assange in a British jail for at least another two days. Sweden is fighting a British judge's decision today to free the Wikileaks founder² on bail³ while he fights extradition⁴ to Sweden, where he faces sex crimes charges. Wikileaks has generated global support and condemnation⁵ for publishing large amounts of classified documents without US authorization⁶.

Retailers⁸ have more of a reason to celebrate this holiday season if the latest government report sending indication. NPR's Tamara Keith reports the Commerce Department found sales rose 8/10 in November.

That marked the fifth straight month of gains with sales at clothing and clothing accessories stores doing some of the heavy lifting. Sales at those stores were up nearly 3%. Compare retail⁷ spending this November to last, and the difference is even more dramatic, up 7.7%. The numbers exceeded analysts⁹' expectations and point to a strong holiday shopping season. In fact, the National Retail Federation¹⁰ says early returns are looking so good. It's revising its holiday spending forecast upwards¹¹. The Retail Trade Association now projects holiday sales will be up 3.3% this year, one percentage point more than it was expecting earlier in the season. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Washington.

And as the year draws to a close, Steve Beckner of Market News International tells us the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are maintaining ultra-easy monetary¹² policy.

The Fed's Policy-making Federal Open Market Committee is not planning on hiking interest rates any time soon. Quite the contrary, when the year began, the FOMC was keeping short-term rates near zero. Now, after its final meeting of the year, the committee is not only vowing¹³ to keep short-term rates down for an extended period, it is continuing massive Treasury¹⁴ bond purchases to hold down long-term rates and reaffirming its plan to buy 600 billion dollars in longer-term Treasury securities by the middle of next year. The Fed is leaving the door open to doing even more so-called quantitative¹⁵ easing, saying it will regularly review the program and adjust it as needed. In doing so, the Fed says, the economy's growing too slowly to reduce unemployment and inflation is trending downward. For NPR News, I'm Steve Beckner in Washington.

Condolences are pouring in from all over the world for those closest to Richard Holbrooke, a prominent veteran diplomat¹⁶ who passed away yesterday following surgery in Washington D.C. Holbrooke, who served under every Democratic presidents since John F. Kennedy, is credited with engineering the end of the Bosnian War. President Obama and other world leaders are also praising the late diplomat for his work bringing stability to Afghanistan and strengthening ties with Pakistan. Richard Holbrooke was 69 years old.

You are listening to NPR News.

US Middle East Envoy¹⁷ George Mitchell has completed his first round of talks today, meeting with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah. We have more on this from Sheera Frenkel.

Senator George Mitchell said he would persevere¹⁸ in negotiations¹⁹ despite recent setbacks, following his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas today. Mitchell said that there had been a great deal of obstacles in the negotiations, but that he would persevere until an independent Palestinian state was established. US mediators are currently attempting to hold indirect talks on core issues. But Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat said that no real process or direct talks would happen until Israel agreed to curb²⁰ its settlement building. For NPR News, I'm Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem.

A YouTube video purportedly²¹ of Sudanese police publicly whipping a woman has authorities there pledging out to investigate. As NPR's Frank Langfitt reports, Sudan's Islamic legal code calls for flogging in cases of adultery and indecent behavior.

The two-minute video appears to have been shot with a cellphone camera. Two officers in blue uniforms whip a woman who's covered from head to foot. She screams, yelling on a stone courtyard as a crowd watches. Sudan's judiciary says it's looking into the whipping and suggested the punishment may not have been appropriate under Sharia law. Southern Sudan's expected to vote to secede²² from the country next month. One of the many issues that has divided Sudan is the North's inherence to Islamic law. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Nairobi.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 60 points at 11,492.

1 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。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

4 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。

5 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

6 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

7 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

8 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

9 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。

10 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

11 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

12 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

13 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

14 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。

15 quantitative   

adj.数量的，定量的

参考例句：

• He said it was only a quantitative difference.他说这仅仅是数量上的差别。
• We need to do some quantitative analysis of the drugs.我们对药物要进行定量分析。

16 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

17 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

18 persevere   

v.坚持，坚忍，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• They are determined to persevere in the fight.他们决心坚持战斗。
• It is strength of character enabled him to persevere.他那坚强的性格使他能够坚持不懈。

19 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。

20 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

21 purportedly   

adv.据称

参考例句：

• This is purportedly the oldest tree in the world. 据称这是世界上最古老的一棵树。 来自互联网
• Mayor Oh Se-Hoon launched the campaign last year, purportedly to improve efficiency. 据悉，首尔市市长吴世勋于去年提出了这项旨在提高工作效率的计划。 来自互联网

22 secede   

v.退出，脱离

参考例句：

• They plotted to make the whole Mississippi Valley secede from the United States.他们阴谋策划使整个密西西比流域脱离美国。
• We won't allow Tibet to secede from China and become an independent nation.我们决不允许西藏脱离中国独立。