NPR 2008-11-11

President George Bush and the man who will replace him, President-elect Barack Obama met today at the White House. The two men were joined by their wives who also got a chance to chat. NPR's Don Gonyea says by all indications the meeting went well, with the two men able to put aside whatever differences they may have had during the campaign.

By all accounts, the Bush White House has really reached out to make this as smooth and as effective of a transition as possible. That coming despite the fact that it's a Republican handing off to a Democrat¹, that coming despite the fact that Senator Obama said some very strong things, very critical things about President Bush over the course of the campaign. Press Secretary Dana Perino said President Bush knows that's all politics and the water just rolls off his back. NPR's Don Gonyea in Washington.

After the meeting, Senator Obama flew back to Chicago to begin work on setting up his administration. Michelle Obama, for her part, visited two of Washington's best known private schools. The couple have two daughters aged² seven and ten.

Mortgage financier Fannie Mae has posted its largest quarterly loss ever, 29 billion dollars. NPR's Jeff Brady has more.

In SEC documents, Fannie Mae says it may have to tap by a 100-billion-dollar pot of money set aside by the Federal Treasury³. If that happens, the government will receive an ownership stake in Fannie in exchange. The bulk of the company's losses last quarter came from tax breaks it won't be able to take advantage of now, because it doesn't anticipate returning to profitability any time soon. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Washington.

Credit card giant American Express will now be able to do what a number of big banks have already been able to do: go to the US government for low-cost financing. That's a resolved decision by the Federal Reserve board to allow AMX to become a bank holding company. The approval from the Fed represents an ongoing⁴ reshaping of the financial services industry. The Fed's move is similar to a decision in September: to transform the nation's two largest investment firms Golden Sachs and Morgan Stanley into bank holding companies.

Every airport in the nation will have a special security lane set up for traveling families starting November 20th. The Transportation Security Administration says it wants to help ease travel, especially during the busy holiday season. NPR s Pam Fessler has more.

The family lanes which are already in place at 48 airports are designed for those who might need more time at security check points. In announcing the expansion, TSA administrator⁵ Kip Hawley said the move should increase passenger convenience and security. He said families have indicated that they prefer moving into check points at their own pace and the program so far has been popular. The lanes will also be required for passengers traveling with medically necessary liquids that exceed the current three ounce limit. Those travelers will be subjected to an additional screening which Hawley said should take less than two minutes. Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.

On Wall Street, the Dow Johns Industrial Average fell 73 points today. The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 11 points. This is NPR.

Search crews in Haiti now say they expect to find no additional survivors⁶ from last week's school collapse⁷ that has claimed the lives of at least 94 students and teachers. A Virginia firefighter in charge of the US rescue team helping⁸ out there said it's unlikely the death toll⁹ will go much higher. Captain Michael Itsfan from Fairfax, Virginia says three days after the school collapsed¹⁰, sonar and search dogs have located a few more bodies, though, he says it's unlikely anyone else remains¹¹ alive. Four children were pulled alive from the rubble¹² on Saturday.

A space probe called Phoenix¹³ which landed on Mars last May is no longer sending signals back to earth and NASA managers say the mission is over. NPR's Joe Palca has more.

Phoenix was sent to the northern polar region of Mars. It went there because satellites around Mars had detected the presence of ice at or near the surface near the Polar Regions. When Phoenix first landed, the pictures only showed red dirt stretching off to a flat horizon. But when the cameras looked underneath¹⁴ the probe where the dust had been disturbed by landing rockets there was a white patch that looked just like ice. Instruments leader confirmed that there was ice just a few inches below the dusty surface. Mission managers knew the space craft would be dying around now. It's solar-powered and there just wasn't enough sunlight as the Martian winter approached to keep the probe's batteries charged. A dust storm also helped hasten the mission's end. Joe Palca, NPR News, Washington.

Officials in Illinois say a man being questioned in connection with the killings¹⁵ of actress Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew will remain in jail. Authorities say William Balfour is being held for violating various parole violations¹⁶. Balfour's hearing ended with the decision that there's probable cause to continue to hold him. He has been questioned about but not charged in the killings.

1 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。

2 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 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。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

6 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

10 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

11 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。

12 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

13 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。

14 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

15 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

16 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。