NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-10-03

 With the government now in partial shutdown as a budget battle wages in Washington, at least for the moment the respective sides seem dug in.  Republicans have put forth¹ proposals to reopen small slices of the government and create a negotiating committee, both of which House Speaker John Boehner says the White House is rejecting. 

 

“My goodness, they won't even sit down and have a discussion about this.” 

 

At the White House, President Obama accused a small faction² of the Republican Party of carrying out an ideological³ crusade to wipe out his health care initiative. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for a quick end to the shutdown. 

 

“This shutdown, while it might be a joy to all of you who’re opposed to government, is a luxury our country cannot afford.” 

 

Around 800,000 government workers were sent home today. Monuments, national parks and the Smithsonian museums in Washington are all closed. 

 

About 400,000 civilian⁴ defense⁵ workers are being furloughed as part of the government shutdown. As NPR's Larry Abramson reports, Congress did pass legislation to ensure uniform members of the military will be paid on time. 

 

Uniform service members will report for duty as usual, but the Pentagon says the shutdown will erode⁶ readiness, which they say is already a problem due to previous budget cuts. In an address to the defense workforce⁷, President Obama blamed Congress for the fact that about half the civilian workforce will not work and will not be paid. 

 

“And I know this comes on top of the furloughs that many of you already endured this summer. You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we’re seeing in Congress.”

 

Civilian defense workers were furloughed for six days over the summer as a result of an automatic budget cuts. Larry Abramson, NPR News. 

 

A technical glitch⁸ caused by heavy traffic caused some problems for today's launch of the federal insurance exchange. As Jim Burress from WABE in Atlanta reports, Georgia is one of the states affected⁹. 

 

Licensed¹⁰ navigator Dan Tzros sits down in his Atlanta office to access Georgia's exchange. But he gets an error. 

 

“We have a lot of visitors on our site right now, and we're working to make your experience here better.”

 

The screen prompts consumers to call a customer service number, which is also overwhelmed. But Tzros doesn't see the hiccup¹¹ as a problem. 

 

“This is a good thing. This is not a mistake. They’re shopping. They’re looking.” 

 

At least 24 of 36 states with federal exchanges experienced similar problems. For NPR News, I'm Jim Burress in Atlanta. 

 

The nation's factories were expanding last month at their fastest pace in more than two years. Institute for Supply Management, a key purchasing managers group, says its manufacturing index was up 0.5 to 56.2. That's the highest reading since April, 2007. Any reading over 50 shows growth in manufacturing or reading below that level indicates contraction¹². 

 

On Wall Street, investors¹³ seem to have largely shrugged¹⁴ off the partial government shutdown in Washington. All three of the major US market indices were up. The Dow gains 62 points; the NASDAQ rose 46 points; the S&P was up 13 points today. This is NPR. 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today vowed¹⁵ to do everything he can (to) prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, even if it means acting¹⁶ on his own. The Israeli leader commented during an address to United Nations, where he also dismissed what he labeled a charm offensive of Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani. Netanyahu accused the recently elected Iranian leader of simply looking for a way to obtain relief from international sanctions. 

 

The New York City Opera has announced it's filing for bankruptcy¹⁷, canceling the rest of its season and winding¹⁸ down its operations. NPR's Margot Adler reports the opera did not make its fundraising goal of seven million dollars. 

 

The New York City Opera was founded in 1943 by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who dubbed¹⁹ “the people's opera.” It helped launch the careers of Beverly Sills, Renee Fleming and Placido Domingo. Over the past two seasons, the opera, which used to stage 12 to 16 productions a year, has only had four in each of last two seasons. The company's endowment has shrunk to less than an eighth of its original size. Its staff has been cut, and it has struggled to raise money ever since it moved out of Lincoln Center in 2011. A Kickstarter campaign failed to meet its goal. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the opera's business model was faulty, and neither he nor the city would ride to its rescue. Margot Adler, NPR News, New York. 

 

A Senate panel has signed off on Caroline Kennedy's nomination²⁰ to be the next US ambassador to Japan. By a voice vote, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed²¹ President Obama's choice for the post. If confirmed, Kennedy will replace John Roos, a former Silicon²² Valley lawyer and top Obama campaign fundraiser. At her confirmation²³ hearing, the former first daughter noted²⁴ the significance of her nomination 50 years after her father's presidency²⁵. 

 

1 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

2 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

3 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

4 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。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

7 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

8 glitch   

n.干扰；误操作，小故障

参考例句：

• There is a glitch in the computer program somewhere.这个计算机程序中的某个部分有点小问题。
• It could just be a random glitch that can be solved by restarting the machine.可能只是一个小故障，重新启动主机就能解决了。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

11 hiccup   

n.打嗝

参考例句：

• When you have to hiccup,drink a glass of cold water.当你不得不打嗝时，喝一杯冷水就好了。
• How long did he hiccup?他打嗝打了多久？

12 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。

13 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

14 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

16 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

17 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

18 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

19 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 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。

21 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；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：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

23 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

24 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。

25 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。