NPR 2012-12-28

　　From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jeanine Herbst.

 

　　Senior House Republican aides tell NBC News that the House will return to session on Sunday at 6:30 in the evening to work on avoiding the fiscal¹ cliff, that after a day of partisan² bickering³ on Capitol Hill. Earlier this morning after the Senate was gaveled back into session. Majority Leader Harry⁴ Reid slammed House Republican Speaker John Boehner for not calling the House back into session earlier.

 

　　Democrats⁵ can't put together a plan on their own because without participation⁶ of Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner nothing can happen on the fiscal cliff. And so far, they are radio silent.

 

　　President Obama is also back in Washington to work on avoiding the fiscal cliff.

 

　　The Conference Board says its monthly index of consumer confidence in the United States fell sharply this month. NPR's James Rolly reports concerns about the fiscal cliff are making people more nervous about the future.

 

　　The Conference Board says its index of consumer confidence fell from 71.3 to 65.1. That's lower than it's been at any time since August. The outlook for the next six months fell to its lowest level since 2011. But the present situation index which measures how consumers feel about their current economic conditions actually rose. Conference Board officials say consumers appear to be worried about what happens if Washington fails to resolve the current impacts of the budget, causing big tax increases and government spending cuts. Officials noted⁷ that consumer confidence also fell in August, 2010, during the last standoff over whether to raise the debt ceiling. James Rolly, NPR News, New York.

 

　　Former President George H. W. Bush remains⁸ in guarded condition in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Houston, battling a fever. The 88-year-old has been at the hospital since November 23rd, but was just recently moved to ICU. His spokesman says the oldest living former president was alert and talking to medical staff.

 

　　Toyota is agreeing to pay out more than $1 billion to end part of a four-year legal saga⁹. Steve Julian with member station KPCC explains what car owners can expect.

 

　　The judge in the case split the class-action lawsuit¹⁰ into two categories, economic loss and wrongful death. This settlement does not address people who were hurt or killed in accidents caused by stuck accelerators. Instead, it redresses¹¹ Toyota owners whose car values plummeted¹² when recall notices were issued. Toyota will pay eligible¹³ customers who sold vehicles or turned in leased ones between September 2009 and December 2010. It also provides supplemental warranty¹⁴ coverage¹⁵ and retrofit more than 3 million cars with the brake override¹⁶ system. For NPR News, I'm Steve Julian in Los Angeles.

 

　　Wall Street is pulling off earlier lows on word of the House being called back into session. According to NBC News, the Dow 77 points, but now at 13,037; the NASDAQ down 17; the S&P 500 is down nine.

 

　　This is NPR News from Washington.

 

　　The 23-year-old woman who was gang-raped and beaten on a moving bus in India sparking days of protests, has been moved to a hospital in Singapore, where she is listed in extremely critical condition. Before arriving in that country, she had already undergone three abdominal¹⁷ surgeries. The six men accused of attacking her are in custody¹⁸. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says his government will do more to protect women.

 

　　Russia's President Vladimir Putin says he will sign a bill to ban Americans from adopting Russian children. Jessica Gallaher reports from Moscow that the news comes after Russia's Upper House overwhelmingly passed the measure. Putin says that the controversial law banning Americans from adopting Russian children is an adequate response to the US Congress's passing of the so-called Magnitsky Act, which bars Russians accused of human rights violations¹⁹ from entering the US. At least 60,000 Russian children  have been adopted by Americans since the collapse²⁰ of the Soviet²¹ Union of those 20 have died at the hands of their adoptive parents. As a result, Putin says that Americans have been violating the rights of Russian children for years. And Russia's government was forced to take action. According to UNICEF some 740,000 children in Russia don't have parents. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is against the ban as are Russia n activist²² s . For NPR news, I am Jessica Gallaher, in Moscow.

 

　　The number of the Americans turning to e-readers instead of paper books is growing . A new Pew internet research center survey found 23% of Americans over the age of 16 now read books on a tablet or other e-reader. The study found the number of people reading traditional paper books fell to 67%.

 

　　Sales of the new house s in the US rose at the fastest pace in 2.5 years in November.

 

　　This is NPR news.

1 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

2 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

3 bickering   

v.争吵( bicker的现在分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The children are always bickering about something or other. 孩子们有事没事总是在争吵。
• The two children were always bickering with each other over small matters. 这两个孩子总是为些小事斗嘴。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

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 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

10 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

11 redresses   

n.补偿，赔偿，矫正( redress的名词复数 )v.改正( redress的第三人称单数 )；重加权衡；恢复平衡

参考例句：

12 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

14 warranty   

n.担保书，证书，保单

参考例句：

• This warranty is good for one year after the date of the purchase of the product.本保证书自购置此产品之日起有效期为一年。
• As your guarantor,we have signed a warranty to the bank.作为你们的担保人，我们已经向银行开出了担保书。

15 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

16 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

17 abdominal   

adj.腹（部）的，下腹的；n.腹肌

参考例句：

• The abdominal aorta is normally smaller than the thoracic aorta.腹主动脉一般比胸主动脉小。
• Abdominal tissues sometimes adhere after an operation.手术之后腹部有时会出现粘连。

18 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

19 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

20 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

21 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

22 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。