NPR 2011-08-10

 Wall Street's reacting to news from the Federal Reserve today that interest rates would stay low to help economic growth pick up. At last check, we see the Dow up more than 400 points or 3.8% at 11,229; NASDAQ is up more than 5% or 125 points at 2,483; and the S&P 500 is up 4.75%; it's at 1,173. This after we saw this seesaw¹ effect this afternoon. Stocks again, as we said, back up near the high point they hit this morning, as NPR's Margot Adler explains.

 

All indexes rose in the first half of the day, the Dow climbing past 11,000. Investors² were looking for bargains, but many were waiting for the announcement by the Federal Reserve this afternoon. The Fed said it would keep interest rates at record lows for the next two years. Previously³, the Fed had only said it would keep interest rates low for an extended period. Today's statement said that economic growth has been considerably⁴ slower than the committee expected, and it anticipated a slower pace of recovery over the coming quarters. Reacting to the statement by the Fed, stock indexes lost much of their earlier gains. Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.

 

President Obama is at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to mark the return of 30 American troops killed in Afghanistan. NPR's Ari Shapiro traveled with the president on the unannounced trip.

 

President Obama joined other top military and civilian⁵ leaders to witness the "dignified⁶ transfer ceremony." All 30 of the Americans who died over the weekend were aboard a Chinook helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan. Military officials believe the Chinook was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. The incident was the worst casualty for Americans since the Afghan war began a decade ago. This is the second time President Obama has come to Dover for the return of Americans killed in battle. The first time was two years ago as he debated whether to send more troops into the war. Now that surge is over, and the withdrawal⁷ has begun. Mr. Obama said at the White House on Monday our responsibility is to ensure that the troops' legacy⁸ is an America that reflects their courage, their commitment and their sense of common purpose. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Dover Air Force Base.

 

The sound of cheers and clapping, volunteers doing away with their brooms as they clean up the Clapham area of London that was among many neighborhoods hit hard by several days of rioting. A huge shift from the night before. There were crowds torching buildings and looting, anger sparked by the recent deadly police shooting of a man in Tottenham. Prime Minister David Cameron says hundreds of people have been arrested.

 

"People should expect to see more, many more arrests in the days to come."

 

Cameron called parliament back from recess⁹ to address the unrest.

 

At last check on Wall Street before the close, the Dow was up 430 points, nearly 4%, at 11,240. 

 

This is NPR News.

 

Tens of thousands children have died in a drought in the last few months in the Horn of Africa, and US officials fear that death toll¹⁰ will continue to rise without a major humanitarian¹¹ response. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on what the US is doing.

 

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican, joined Obama administration officials on a trip to the region to call for a bipartisan response to the worst drought in decades.

 

"Everybody can make a difference, not just the government per se. And we saw first-hand, first-hand over the last 36 hours, just how effective these donations can be to improving health and literally¹², literally saving lives."

 

The US is giving another 105 million dollars in emergency aid. A White House official warns the international response is not as large as it needs to be to keep up with the spread of famine in Somalia and manage refugee flows to Kenya and Ethiopia. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

 

Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is sentenced to life in prison for the sexual assault of two underage girls he married in what his church calls "spiritual marriages." The Texas jury decided¹³ after spending less than half an hour deliberating today. The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints maintains his religious rights are being violated.

 

Before the close on Wall Street, we saw the Dow up 430 points or nearly 4% at 11,240; NASDAQ up more than 5% at 2,483; S&P 500 up 4.75% at 1,173. This despite a Labor¹⁴ Department report that showed worker productivity had dropped for the second quarter in a row.

1 seesaw   

n.跷跷板

参考例句：

• Prices have gone up and down like a seesaw this year.今年的价格像跷跷板一样时涨时跌。
• The children are playing at seesaw.孩子们在玩跷跷板。

2 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

3 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。

4 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

5 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

6 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

7 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

8 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

9 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

10 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

11 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 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。