美国国家电台 NPR 2012-11-16

 Oil giant BP will shell out 4.5 billion dollars to resolve charges related to the 2010 Gulf¹ oil spill. The company has agreed to plead guilty to 14 charges, including obstruction² of Congress. NPR’s Carrie Johnson reports individual executives will face prosecution³ as well.

 

石油业巨头英国石油公司将花费45亿美元以了结美国联邦政府因2010年墨西哥湾漏油事件所发起的指控。该公司已经向十四项指控认罪，其中包括妨碍国会罪。据NPR新闻卡丽·约翰逊报道,个别公司高管也将面临指控。

 

 

 

At least two BP managers will face manslaughter charges for the disaster that killed 11 people onboard the Deepwater Horizon rig in April, 2010. The company has agreed to accept responsibility for 14 criminal charges, including misconduct for each of the deaths, violating environmental laws and obstructing⁴ an investigation⁵ by Congress. BP has also agreed to submit to independent monitoring and serve a kind of corporate⁶ probation⁷. But there’s no sign the company will be barred from accepting lucrative⁸ US government contracts. Law enforcement sources say the criminal penalty is the largest in history. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

 

2010年4月，“深水地平线”钻井事故造成11名工作人员丧生，英国石油公司的至少两名经理将因此面临过失杀人罪的指控。该公司已向十四项指控认罪，其中包括不当处理死难者，违反环保法和阻碍国会调查，同时也愿意服从独立的监督和执行合作缓行。但目前并没有迹象表明该公司将被禁止与美国政府签订高利润的合同。美国执法部门透露这是历史上最重的刑事处罚。NPR新闻卡丽·约翰逊华盛顿报道。

 

 

 

President Obama has traveled to New York City to get a firsthand look at hurricane recovery efforts there. The president was to meet with first responders and families hit hardest when Sandy slammed to the East Coast last month, killing⁹ more than 100 people and leaving millions of people without electricity.

 

奥巴马总统已抵达纽约市视察飓风灾后恢复工作。飓风桑迪上个月席卷了美国东海岸，造成100多人死亡，数百万人断电；上个月，总统原本计划到纽约市慰问首批救灾人员和受灾最严重的家庭，却遭到纽约市长布隆伯格婉言拒绝。

 

 

 

Reports of more violence between Israel and the Palestinians. A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in Israel, killing at least three people, as the death toll¹⁰ among Palestinians rises to at least 13. For a second day, Israeli warplanes bombed targets in and around Gaza City. Many Palestinians have turned out for the funeral of a Hamas military leader who was assassinated¹¹ yesterday by Israel. It is uncertain if other senior Hamas figures were in attendance after they were warned by Israel that they were also targets. 

 

以下是更多关于以色列和巴勒斯坦暴力冲突的报道。一枚从加沙地带发射的火箭落入以色列境内，造成至少3名以色列人死亡，另有至少13名巴勒斯坦人丧生。第二天，以色列战机轰炸了加沙城内及周边的多处目标。一位哈马斯军事领导人昨日遭以方暗杀，很多巴勒斯坦人出席了他的葬礼。遭到以方警告后，是否有其他哈马斯高官出席了这次葬礼，目前尚未能确定。

 

 

 

In the US, there was a sharp rise in new claims for unemployment benefits last week. NPR’s Dave Mattingly reports much of the spike¹² is blamed on Superstorm Sandy. 

 

上周，美国申请失业救济金的人迅速增多。据NPR新闻戴夫·马丁利报道，造成这种糟糕状况的很大一部分原因在于超级飓风桑迪的破坏。

 

 

 

Weekly jobless claims went up 78,000. The Labor¹³ Department says many were filed in the Northeast, where Hurricane Sandy destroyed homes and businesses. Economist¹⁴ Hugh Johnson says the seasonally-adjusted total of 439,000, the highest in a year and a half, will be temporary.

 

一周失业人口增加了78000人。美国劳工部透露很多失业者来自东北部，因为飓风桑迪摧毁了他们的家园和工作场所。经济学家休·约翰逊表示目前季节性调整失业总人口为439000人，为近一年半以来最高，不过这种情况是暂时的。

 

 

 

“This is probably a one, maybe a two-week event. You’re likely to see these numbers smooth out over the course of the remaining month.”

 

“未来一两周内可能还会是这种情况。但接下来的一个月内你会看到失业人口数量逐渐减少。”

 

 

 

Sandy is also blamed for a drop in retail¹⁵ sales in October as many stores were without power in the final days of the month. Dave Mattingly, NPR News, Washington.

 

飓风桑迪的来袭造成了十月份最后几天商店的停电，致使十月份零售额迅速下降。NPR新闻戴夫·马丁利华盛顿报道。

 

 

 

At last check on Wall Street, Dow was down 53 points at 12,517, NASDAQ off 16, more than 0.5%, at 2,831, S&P 500 down five points at 1,350. 

 

华尔街股市最新播报，道指下跌53个点至12，517点，纳指下跌下跌16个点至2,813，跌幅高于0.5%，标普下跌5个点至1，350点。

 

 

 

This is NPR News.

 

这里是NPR新闻。

 

 

 

The International Monetary¹⁶ Fund says it’s done all it can to help Greece reach a sustainable level of debt. And now it’s up to Greece's European lenders to do more. But IMF spokesman William Murray declined to elaborate on what further actions should be taken. The IMF has been in a dispute with Greece's other lenders over the best ways to address Greece's debt which held up the release of Greece's next bailout installment¹⁷.

 

国际货币基金组织表明已歇尽全力帮助希腊维持可持续的债务水平。现在是希腊的欧洲债主承担更多义务的时候了。IMF发言人威廉·莫里没有透露未来将采取行动的详细信息。在如何处理希腊债务问题上，IMF与希腊的欧洲债主一直存在分歧，这种分歧阻碍了对希腊新一轮救助资金的按时发放。

 

 

 

Diplomats¹⁸ from North Korea and Japan are holding talks in Mongolia today. Matthew Algeo reports the two sides are discussing the repatriation¹⁹ of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea.

 

今日朝日两国外交官在蒙古举行会晤。据马修·阿吉欧报道，双方正在讨论释放遭朝鲜绑架的日本公民问题。

 

 

 

Nobody outside North Korea knows exactly how many people the North Koreans kidnapped from Japan in the 1970s and 1980s. It’s believed the victims were taken back to North Korea and forced to teach North Korean spies Japanese language and culture. North Korea claims that all the Japanese it kidnapped have either been repatriated²⁰ already or died in captivity²¹. But the Japanese government believes some of its citizens are still being held against their will in North Korea. North Korea and Japan have no formal diplomatic relations. The bilateral²² talks in the Mongolian capital could determine once and for all the fate of those Japanese citizens abducted²³ by North Korea. For NPR News, I’m Matthew Algeo in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

 

除朝鲜之外没人清楚到底有多少日本人在20世纪七八十年代遭其绑架。据说，朝鲜将这些日本人押解回国，强迫他们教授朝鲜间谍日本的语言和文化。朝鲜表示，遭绑架的日本人已被遣返回日本或在关押期间死亡。但日本政府相信仍有部分日本公民被关押在朝鲜。朝日两国没有建立正式外交关系。在蒙古首都举行的双边会谈将最终决定遭绑架的日本人的命运。NPR新闻马修·阿吉欧乌兰巴托报道。

 

 

 

There’s been a contraction²⁴ in factory activity in the US mid-Atlantic region in the past month, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank. Today, it said its business activity index fell from 5.7 in October to a much-steeper-than-expected minus 10.7 in November. The survey covers factories in Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey²⁵ and Delaware. 

 

宾夕法尼亚联邦储备银行透露，上个月美国大西洋沿岸中部地区制造业活动缩水。今日这家银行表示该地区十一月份的商业活动指数已经由十月份的5.7降至比预期更低的负10.7。 此次调查范围覆盖了宾夕法尼亚州，新泽西州南部地区和特拉华州的所有工厂。

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 obstruction   

n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物

参考例句：

• She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
• The road was cleared from obstruction.那条路已被清除了障碍。

3 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

4 obstructing   

阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止

参考例句：

• You can't park here, you're obstructing my driveway. 你不能在这里停车，你挡住了我家的车道。
• He was charged for obstructing the highway. 他因阻碍交通而受控告。

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

7 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

8 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

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 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

12 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

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 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。

15 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。

16 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。

17 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

18 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 repatriation   

n.遣送回国，归国

参考例句：

• The Volrep programme is the preferred means of repatriation. 政府认为自愿遣返计划的遣返方法较为可取。 来自互联网
• Arrange the cargo claiming and maritime affairs,crews repatriation,medical treatment,traveling so on. （六）洽办货物理赔，船舶海事处理，办理船员遣返，就医，旅游等。 来自互联网

20 repatriated   

v.把（某人）遣送回国，遣返( repatriate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The refugees were forcibly repatriated. 难民被强制遣送回国。
• Ancient artworks were repatriated from the US to Greece. 古代艺术品从美国遣送回希腊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

22 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

23 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

24 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

25 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。