美国国家电台 NPR 2012-09-07

 Anticipation is building in Charlotte, North Carolina, where President Obama delivers his acceptance speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention. But it won't be happening in a 74,000-seat outdoor stadium, because of chance of thunderstorms. Organizers decided¹ to stick with this smaller venue², meaning thousands of people who hoped to see the president's speech firsthand won't. In a conference call today, the president tried to cheer up his supporters.

 

"My main message is, we can't let a little thunder and lightning get us down. We are going to have to roll with it."

 

NPR's Ron Elving is in Charlotte, where he says the president will try to energise the crowd and still undecided voters to get behind him for another four years.

 

 

 

The president himself will try to rekindle³ some of that fire from 2008 and make people believe again, that the payoff for some of the sacrifices of the past four years, that the payoff for some of his policies that have been put in place painstakingly⁴ over the last four years, will come in the next four years.

 

Ron, I'm guessing though that the Obama campaign must be buoyed⁵ by the latest economic reports out. I mean they have been rather encouraging on the jobs front, and encouraging on hiring, as well as what's been happening in Europe, where we hear that the European Central Bank has taken some, what some are calling concrete measures to help struggling economies in Europe. And so we are seeing this play out on Wall Street in the US stocks. So what are you hearing if anything at all from the Obama campaign about today's reports?

 

The Obama campaign is pleased to hear good economic news on Thursday before his speech Thursday night. But they are concerned about some of the bad economic news we got earlier this week when the manufacturing sector⁶ reported its third straight month of contraction⁷, not huge contraction, but it's going in the wrong direction and that could have a bad impact on the big news that everyone's waiting for, which is the jobs report that comes out on Friday. That's NPR's Ron Elving.

 

Meanwhile, Republican rival Mitt⁸ Romney says the president's been more talk than action on the economy, he spoke⁹ to reporters today in Manchester, New Hampshire.

 

Some encouraging data on the jobs market out today, details from NPR's John Ydstie.

 

The survey done by the payroll¹⁰ company ADP found that private employers added 201,000 jobs in August. That creates the hope that the government's employment numbers out tomorrow, will be better than the 135,000, analysts¹¹ had been expecting. In another hopeful sign, the number of people signing up for unemployment benefits for the first time fell last week by 12,000. The positive jobs news helped drive the stock market sharply higher. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

 

Speaking of, Dow Jones Industrial Average up 244 points, at 13,292; NASDAQ gaining 67, it's at 3,136; and S&P 500 up 29 at 1,432.

 

This is NPR.

 

Three prominent US lawmakers were in Iraq raising tough questions about whether Iran has been using Iraqi airspace to fly weapons to Syria. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports the State Department is also raising concerns about this.

 

A State Department spokesman says the Iranians will stop but nothing to support the Syrian regime. And Patrick Ventrel adds the US has been encouraging Iraq to require Iranian airplanes to land and be inspected if they want to use Iraqi airspace. 

 

"It's something we've raised in the past, it's something that they took steps to address in the past, and their responsibility to continue to do so." 

 

Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham told reporters in Baghdad, that they raised concerns with the Iraqi leaders about the overflight. Iraqi officials say they haven't seen any evidence that Iranian flights are carrying weapons or military hardware. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

 

Syrian troops may be back in control of a border town near Jordan. Activists¹² saying hundreds of soldiers bombarded Tel Chehab this morning, outgunning rebels and forcing them to pull back. Meanwhile, the fight for Syria's largest city Aleppo continues with neither side appearing any closer to claiming control.

 

People across Bermuda stocking up on emergency supplies ahead of Hurricane Leslie. The storm is expected to sweep past Bermuda's eastern shore early Sunday.

 

Now we know about the excitement building ahead of President Obama's speech tonight. Another appearance is expected to rouse a crowd at the Charlotte event. Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, she'll lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Giffords survived a gunshot wound to the head during a shooting rampage in Tucson last year. 

1 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。

2 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

3 rekindle   

v.使再振作；再点火

参考例句：

• Nothing could rekindle her extinct passion.她激情已逝,无从心回意转。
• Is there anything could rekindle his extinct passion?有什么事情可重燃他逝去的热情呢？

4 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

5 buoyed   

v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• Buoyed by their win yesterday the team feel confident of further success. 在昨天胜利的鼓舞下，该队有信心再次获胜。
• His encouragement buoyed her up during that difficult period. 他的鼓励使她在那段困难时期恢复了乐观的情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 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。

8 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。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 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》