NPR 2008-10-11

Treasury¹ Secretary Henry Paulson announced today the administration will move ahead with a plan to buy up stock in financial institutions. The treasury secretary, who met today with finance ministers from the group of seven industrialized nations and central bankers, said the plan to purchase shares in financial firms will be open to what he termed "a broad array of institutions". "Consistent with the legislation, any equity² the government purchases through a broadly available equity program would be on a non-voting basis except with respect to market standard terms to protect our rights as investors⁴." The administration last week received the authority to make direct purchases of stock in banks as part of the government's 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package. Finance officials with the G7 who were meeting this week in Washington also issued a five-point plan, which would include protecting banks, preventing their failures and getting credit flowing freely again.

Wall Street, irrespective of what actions have been taken by government officials, remains⁵ in an extremely volatile⁶ place these days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended its worst week ever on a day in which there was a thousand-point swing in the market. Alan Skrainka is a financial analyst⁷ of Edward Jones in St. Louis. He says with investor³ sentiment as negative as it has been in anytime in recent memory, some people simply had enough. "This was one of the worst weeks ever for the stock market. And most folks were selling indiscriminately. They are concerned about the economy and the credit freeze. And they just want out."

Still despite the wild swings, there were some signs of investor optimism. The Russell 2000 Index that tracks smaller companies ended the day with a 4.6% gain. Still the Dow fell 128 points today. For the week, the Dow was down 18%. Standard & Poor's 500 lost 10 points. The NASDAQ gained 4 points today.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed a bill with India that gives the green light to use energy companies to enter into India's multi-billion-dollar nuclear industry. NPR's Michele Kelemen has more.

After signing a civilian⁸ nuclear cooperation agreement with her Indian counterpart, Secretary Rice said she thinks this deal will end decades of mistrust between the US and India. "The world's largest democracy and the world's oldest democracy, drawn⁹ together by our shared values and increasingly by our many shared interests, now stand as equals, closer together than ever before." Under the deal already approved by Congress, US companies will be able to sell nuclear technology and fuel to India for the first time since India tested a nuclear weapon in 1974. In return, India will allow United Nations inspectors¹⁰ at its civilian reactors¹¹, though not at its military facilities. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

Despite recent comments from rating agencies, the nation's domestic car companies could face the threat of bankruptcy¹². Both GM and Ford¹³ are moving to reassure¹⁴ the financial markets. General Motors today said bankruptcy protection is not an option at the moment. Similar comments were made by Ford CEO Alan Mulally.

This is NPR News in Washington.

Pirates who hijacked¹⁵ a Ukrainian tanker¹⁶ off the coast of Somalia have now issued an ultimatum¹⁷ threatening to destroy the vessel¹⁸ if they do not receive ransom¹⁹ for the ship. Currently the tanker which was carrying weapons and Soviet-era tanks is surrounded by US warships²⁰. So far this year, pirates operating the waters off Somali have seized more than two dozen vessels²¹. Today's threat is unusual in that generally these pirates have tried to hold out for ransom money.

Major League Baseball play-offs continue today. The Philadelphia Phillies are trying to build on their one game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers²². And tonight the defending champion Boston Red Sox start their series against the Tampa Bay Rays. From member station WBUR in Boston, Curt²³ Nickisch has more.

You think the world champion Boston Red Sox would be the favorites. They have few injuries and they beat the regular season's most successful team to advance to the American League Championship for the fourth time in six years. But the Tampa Bay Rays are at their best ever. They went from the worst record in baseball last year to winning their division this year over the Red Sox. That means the Rays have home field advantage and the Tropicana Field crowd should be fired up for its upstart team. The eventual²⁴ winner of the best of seven series will advance to the World Series later this month to face the National League Champion, either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Los Angeles Dodgers. For NPR News, I'm Curt Nickisch in Boston.

Even in the current vicious market downturn, it seems at least one guy is making money. After falling behind Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, investor Warren Buffet²⁵ again tops Forbes' list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. Forbes says it found 17 billionaires on the list have lost more than a billion dollars in the past month, but Buffet actually managed to boost his wealth by eight billion dollars.

1 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

2 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

3 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

4 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

5 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。

6 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

7 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

8 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。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

12 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。

13 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

14 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

15 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

16 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

17 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

18 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

19 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

20 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

21 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

22 dodgers   

n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a crackdown on fare dodgers on trains 对火车逃票者的严厉打击
• But Twain, Howells, and James were jeeringly described by Mencken as "draft-dodgers". 不过吐温、豪威尔斯和詹姆斯都是被门肯讥诮地叫做“逃避兵役的人。” 来自辞典例句

23 curt   

adj.简短的，草率的

参考例句：

• He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
• He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。

24 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

25 buffet   

n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台

参考例句：

• Are you having a sit-down meal or a buffet at the wedding?你想在婚礼中摆桌宴还是搞自助餐？
• Could you tell me what specialties you have for the buffet?你能告诉我你们的自助餐有什么特色菜吗？