NPR 2012-02-01

 All eyes are on the Florida primary which could be a game-changer in the race for the GOP's presidential nomination¹. Polls show the field afore is led by Mitt² Romney and Newt Gingrich, both of whom have spent recent weeks unleashing³ a barrage⁴ of attack ads on each other. NPR's Susannah George is at a polling site outside Orlando where she says many voters are happy it'll all be over in just a few hours.

 

Everyone seems very excited to no longer hear ads on the radio and see them on television. Everyone that I've talked to today is fed up with the negative advertising⁵ and is looking forward to casting their votes and being done with all of the political bombardment.

 

That's NPR's Susannah George.

 

Well, the stakes are high and the money is certainly big, evident in the first disclosure documents out today. NPR's Peter Overby says according to the report, donors⁶ gave up long before Rick Perry dropped out of the race two weeks ago.

 

Texas Governor Perry launched his campaign back in August with a gusher⁷ of cash from conservative allies, especially in his home state. Nearly seven million dollars in the first three weeks, which turned out to be more than double what he got over the past three months. Perry's year-end report to the Federal Election Commission shows fourth quarter fundraising came to just 2.9 million dollars. He burned through 14 million dollars before giving up his White House bid and endorsing⁸ former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Reports from Gingrich and the other GOP candidates are due to be filed by midnight tonight. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

 

Despite some recent signs of recovery in housing, a report out today shows another drop in home prices in the United States. NPR's Dave Mattingly reports prices dropped in 19 of 20 major cities surveyed in November.

 

Only Phoenix⁹, all home prices go up in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Index. Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta saw the steepest declines. Chief economist¹⁰ David Crowe with the National Association of Home Builders says it's a different story in many smaller cities and towns.

 

"There is[are] recoveries going on, and they’re scattered¹¹, so they don't show up in national numbers, but they do show up in local economies, and so we're seeing some bounce back in home prices and in home purchases."

 

Home prices on average are off a third nationwide since the housing boom ended. Dave Mattingly, NPR News, Washington.

 

The Greek finance minister is calling it a pretty much done deal. He says the country is just a step away from being able to write off half of its privately¹² held debt, and he’s now working on new austerity measures.

 

At last check on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average down 61 points at 12,593; NASDAQ off six at 2,806.

 

This is NPR News.

 

More than 20 Chinese workers are being held in Egypt, according to state-run China Central Television. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Shanghai this is the second abduction of Chinese in North Africa in recent days.

 

Local tribes, many in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, seized the workers who were employed at a cement plant, according to China Central Television. Reuters said the tribes there were demanding Egypt free some of their fellow members who were jailed after a 2004 bombing of a Red Sea resort that left 31 people dead. The abductions came as another kidnapping of Chinese enters its fourth day in Sudan. And over the weekend, Sudanese rebels abducted¹³ 29 Chinese workers who were doing road building in Sudan's South Kordofan State. The two abductions, while apparently¹⁴ unrelated, underscore how far China's business interests have spread around the globe. In much of Africa, Chinese companies are known and to some degree admired for their willingness to work in tough and often dangerous conditions. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Shanghai.

 

A judge in Washington says the federal government has to notify one of the last major Occupy encampments if it intends to close a downtown park to protesters. According to the Associated Press, US District Judge James Boasberg also ruled today that the Occupy DC activists¹⁵ will have a chance to contest any eviction¹⁶ plans.

 

The US is suspected of a drone strike in southern Yemen that killed at least four people today. Officials say the strikes targeted leaders from Yemen's al-Qaeda branch. They say those killed include a man suspected of playing a role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.

1 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

2 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

3 unleashing   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Company logos: making people's life better by unleashing Cummins power. 公司理念：以康明斯动力建设更美好的生活！ 来自互联网
• Sooner or later the dam will burst, unleashing catastrophic destruction. 否则堤坝将崩溃，酿成灾难。 来自互联网

4 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

6 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 gusher   

n.喷油井

参考例句：

• We endeavour to avoid the old,romantic idea of a gusher.我们力图避免那种有关喷油井的陈旧的、不切实际的计划。
• The oil rushes up the tube and spouts up as a gusher.石油会沿着钢管上涌，如同自喷井那样喷射出来。

8 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

9 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

10 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。

11 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

12 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

13 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。

14 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

15 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。