NPR 2011-07-21

President Obama is holding separate meetings today with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders, as NPR's Mara Liasson reports, to see if there can be a solution to the impasse¹ over the debt ceiling.

The two meetings at the White House will discuss two different vehicles for resolving the standoff over the debt ceiling and the deficit². A fallback measure that would give the president authority to raise the debt ceiling without a majority vote in Congress and a bigger deficit-reduction plan unveiled yesterday by a bipartisan group in the Senate. The president has embraced the broad outlines of that plan from the so-called Gang of Six because it includes tax hikes and cuts in domestic spending and entitlements. Many in Congress are enthusiastic about the approach, but conservatives don't want to agree the tax hikes, and liberals don't want to cut entitlements. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House.

The Associated Press is reporting a Republican-backed bill to keep the Federal Aviation Administration running through at least mid³-September has the backing of the GOP-majority House. It'll eliminate subsidies⁴ for airline service to 13 world communities. But in the Senate, Democrats⁵ say they won't allow the bill to pass with the subsidies provision. The FAA's operating authority expires midnight Friday. If there's no deal, the FAA could be forced to shut down. But its more than 15,000 air traffic controllers would be required to keep working.

Taxi drivers in Greece scuffle with police as they protest planned licensing⁶ reform. It's the latest challenge to a government that's implementing⁷ unpopular cutbacks in response to its debt crisis. European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels tomorrow to contain the fallout from Greece's growing financial troubles. As John Psaropoulos reports from Athens, markets are already lending to Spain and Italy at rising rates.

Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou tells Bloomberg that this summit will be a "make or break" moment for Greece. European leaders will discuss a second bailout package worth 170 billion dollars that Greece solely⁸ needs to stay solvent⁹ through 2014, but "serious disagreements" remain. Germany wants investors¹⁰ to participate by keeping their money in Greek bonds for several more years rather than cashing out now on taxpayers¹¹' bags. Others suggest that taxpayers buy up the bonds at the 50% discount they now trade for. And Greece wants the European Central Bank to issue a bond for the whole eurozone like the Federal Reserve. From NPR News, I'm John Psaropoulos in Athens.

The army psychiatrist¹² accused in the 2009 Fort Hood¹³ shootings in Texas has been arraigned¹⁴. Major Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The Associated Press reports that just before the lead attorney on Hasan's defense¹⁵ team is taking [a] leave of absence, he didn't say why.

This is NPR News.

The high heat and humidity in the Midwest is heading to southern New England. Bradley Campbell with member station WRNI in Providence¹⁶ reports the region's residents are bracing¹⁷ for their first major heat wave of the summer.

New Englanders are busting¹⁸ out their Bermuda shorts and Topsiders in preparation for the heat. Temperatures are expected in the mid 90s tomorrow Friday, but forecasters predict the heat index could make it feel more like 105 degrees. Meteorologist Alan Dunham from the National Weather Service says this would make life uncomfortable for most every New Englander.

"This is it. This will be the hottest that's been in the summer. But with those heat indexes getting up over 100, so, yea, this will be the worst we've had this summer."

Dunham says a frontal system will drop down over the weekend. And while it won't reduce the heat, it will lower the dew point level, making it easier to breathe. For NPR News, I'm Bradley Campbell in Providence.

Ford¹⁹ Motor Company is recalling more than 20,000 pickup²⁰ trucks and SUVs because of its defective²¹ switch that can cause brake lights, taillights and a turn signal to fail. The automaker's also recalling more than 6,000 of the switches that were shipped to dealers²² as replacement²³ parts.

This year's on pace to becoming the worst for home sales since the housing meltdown in the US. The National Association of Realtors says sales fell last month 0.8% to an annual rate of 4.77 million homes. That is still far below the six million homes that need to be sold in order to sustain a healthy housing market in this country.

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 15 points at 12,572; NASDAQ off 12 points at 2,814.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.

1 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

2 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

4 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

7 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

8 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

9 solvent   

n.溶剂；adj.有偿付能力的

参考例句：

• Gasoline is a solvent liquid which removes grease spots.汽油是一种能去掉油污的有溶解力的液体。
• A bankrupt company is not solvent.一个破产的公司是没有偿还债务的能力的。

10 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

11 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

12 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

13 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

14 arraigned   

v.告发( arraign的过去式和过去分词 )；控告；传讯；指责

参考例句：

• He was arraigned for murder. 他因谋杀罪而被提讯。
• She was arraigned for high treason. 她被控叛国罪。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 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。

16 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

17 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

18 busting   

打破，打碎( bust的现在分词 )； 突击搜查（或搜捕）； （使）降级，降低军阶

参考例句：

• Jim and his wife were busting up again yesterday. 吉姆和他的妻子昨天又吵架了。
• He figured she was busting his chops, but it was all true. 他以为她在捉弄他，其实完全是真的。

19 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

20 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

21 defective   

adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的

参考例句：

• The firm had received bad publicity over a defective product. 该公司因为一件次品而受到媒体攻击。
• If the goods prove defective, the customer has the right to compensation. 如果货品证明有缺陷， 顾客有权索赔。

22 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

23 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。