NPR 2008-11-08

President-elect Barack Obama held his first news conference today after meeting with a group of economic advisors¹. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

President-elect Obama held the meeting with the advisors ranging from Warren Buffett to former Treasury² Secretaries. Earlier in the day the Labor³ Department reported the tenth straight month of job losses for the economy.

"In total, we've lost nearly 1. 2 million jobs this year, and more than 10 million Americans are now unemployed⁴. Tens of millions of families are struggling to figure out how to pay the bills and stay in their homes. Their stories are an urgent reminder⁵ that we are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime, and we are gonna act swiftly to resolve them. “That said, President-elect Barack Obama said he is moving with "deliberate haste" with the emphasis on "deliberate". He said he didn't want rush key cabinet appointments, he did though called for the swift passage of another fiscal⁶ stimulus⁷ package. Chris Arnold NPR News.

For General Motors, time is becoming a precious commodity. That's because with a weak economy that has driven down car sales, the automaker has been burning through cash just to stay afloat. The world's biggest automaker announced today for its just completed third quarter, it posted adjusted losses of 4.2 billion dollars. Csaba Csere is editor of Car and Driver, he says there are some in Detroit wondering whether GM will survive. "They are facing bankruptcy⁸. GM has been losing market share more or less continuously for 30 years. And they've shrunk to a level where they really cannot afford to shrink any more. " Struggling automaker said today it could run out of cash next year if U. S. economic slump¹⁰ continues. No. 2 Ford⁹ also reported large losses for the three months ending in September.

West Virginia Democrat¹¹ Robert Byrd is stepping down as chairman of the Senate Appropriations¹² Committee. The longest-serving senator ever made the announcement today under growing pressure from colleagues worried about his frail¹³ health. More from NPR's David Welna.

It's no secret that Senator Byrd's Democratic colleagues had been hoping he relinquishes¹⁴ his chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee. Byrd who turns 91 this month has been hospitalized several times in the past year. And he has to rely on fellow committee members to manage four debates on spending bills. With nearly all the current years’ appropriations yet to be passed, and with the added task trying to pass another economic stimulus bill, Byrd finally dropped his resistance to giving up the gavel. But he still plans to serve on the spending panel as he has for the past half century. During that time he steered¹⁵ billions of Federal dollars to projects in his state of West Virginia. Majority Leader Harry¹⁶ Reid says the new Appropriations Chairman in January will be 84-year-old Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 248 points to settle at 8943. But for the week, the Dow was down more than 4%. The NASDAQ gained 39 points today.

This is NPR.

Syria's president has now joined his counterpart in Iran and sent a congratulatory note to U. S. President-elect Barack Obama. President Bashar al-Assad's telegram to Obama comes just weeks after the Bush administration ordered the U. S. helicopter raid in the Syria near the Iraq boarder that has strained relations between the two countries. U. S. officials have maintained the raid targeted the Militant¹⁷ leader, while Damascus has claimed 8 civilians¹⁸ died in that attack. U. S. has recently accused Syria of not doing enough to halt the flow of  militant fighters from Syria into Iraq.

Russia says it is studying U. S. proposals on a US missile defense¹⁹ system and on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty. That announcement comes two days after Moscow threatened to station new missiles on its western boarder. NPR's Moscow Correspondent Gregory Feifer has more.

Russian News Agency's reported a Foreign Ministry²⁰ official as saying Moscow has received new proposals from Washington over plans for a U. S. missile shield in Europe. Russia is furious over the plans, saying it would be forced to react by setting up new missiles sites and electronic equipments to jam the American system. Moscow and Washington also have said they want talks on a new nuclear arms reduction agreement to replace the START treaty that expires at the end of this year. And an aide to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said preparations are underway for Medvedev's first talks with President-elect Obama on the sidelines of a financial summit meeting in Washington later this month. Gregory Feifer, NPR News, Moscow.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell says he has no plans to accept the job of the Obama administration at least until his term as governor ends in January of 2011. Rendell's concerned that if he would step down that he might lose that position to a Republican.

1 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

5 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

6 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。

7 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

8 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。

9 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。

10 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

11 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

12 appropriations   

n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• More commonly, funding controls are imposed in the annual appropriations process. 更普遍的作法是，拨款控制被规定在年度拨款手续中。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Should the president veto the appropriations bill, it goes back to Congress. 假如总统否决了这项拨款提案，就把它退还给国会。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

13 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

14 relinquishes   

交出，让给( relinquish的第三人称单数 )； 放弃

参考例句：

• She relinquishes him to a partner more appropriate. 结果是，她抛弃了他，找了个年龄相当的伴侣。

15 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 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。

17 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

18 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

19 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。

20 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。