NPR 2008-11-24

Federal regulators are reportedly conferring with executives from Citigroup about a possible rescue plan. The New York Times says under the proposal, if Citigroup's losses on shaky mortgage-related assets reach a certain level, the government would assume the excess losses in exchange for an ownership stake in the banking¹ giant. No comment yet from Citigroup.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it's up to the Big Three automakers to come up with a convincing case for the 25 billion dollars in federal loans that they are seeking. "To lose billions of dollars a year and make millions of dollars of a year, while you do that, it's hard to explain to the American people when we are asking them to put taxpayer² dollars into these companies.” Pelosi was on CBS's Face the Nation. The automakers have been given until next week to come up with a financial plan demanded by lawmakers, but the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee Richard Shelby says the companies need more than federal loans to survive. "We would like these companies to survive, but they are not gonna survive. There are basically failures now unless they have new management, new innovation, new products. " Shelby was on ABC's This Week.

Shots were fired in the former Soviet³ Republic of Georgia today at a motorcade carrying the Presidents of Georgia and Poland. According to those two leaders, no one was hurt in the incident which took place near the breakaway region of South Ossetia. NPR's Gregory Feifer reports.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili blamed Russian troops inside the pro-Moscow separatist province for firing at his motorcade. Speaking at a joint⁴ news conference following the incident, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said the shots were fired from 100 feet from the motorcade. Although details remain unclear, Georgian officials say the shots came from a Russian military checkpoint. Russian and South Ossetian officials have denied the accusations⁵. Georgia today marked the fifth anniversary of the Rose Revolution that brought Saakashvili to power. The president appealed for unity⁶ following Russian's invasion last summer, and denounced Russia's continued occupation of Georgian territory. Gregory Feifer, NPR News, Moscow.

President Bush and the 20 other leaders at the Asian-Pacific Economic Summit have wrapped up their sessions in Peru with a final declaration that had a more positive tone than a preliminary statement issued yesterday. The BBC's Dan Collyns has more on the story.

They're predicting that they will be able to overcome the economic crisis by 2010, which I think a lot of economists⁷ would say is particularly confident. And they were also resolved to reform global lending institutions like International Monetary⁸ Fund in the financial industry. And one concrete measure which has been taken is that the ministers of all these 21 economies and finance ministers have been directed to go to Geneva to try and conclude the Doha round of trade talks next month. The BBC's Dan Collyns in Lima. President Bush is en route back to the US. He is set to arrive in Washington within the hour. This is NPR News from Washington.

US Military says American troops have killed 17 insurgents⁹ during a raid in southern Afghanistan. The troops were airlifted in by helicopter. The area where the raid occurred is the center of the resurgent Taliban insurgency¹⁰. Thousands of people, mostly militants¹¹, have been killed there this year.

Some lawmakers in London are calling for an investigation¹² into yesterday's suspected US missile attack in Pakistan which killed the alleged¹³ mastermind of a plot to blow up transatlantic jetliners. Larry Miller¹⁴ has the story.

Rashid Rauf was on the run when he was killed in a US missile strike on a Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold in northwestern Pakistan. The British-born Rauf was believed to have helped organize a 2006 plot to bring down ten US and Canada-bound transatlantic flights using explosive liquids that were to be mixed on board. Some British lawmakers are now asking if Rauf's killing¹⁵ was lawful¹⁶. Conservative Patrick Mercer says it raises the question of how much cooperation British Intelligence provided in what he termed”was the execution of a British subject.” Labour's Andrew Dismore, is head of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, which he says will investigate whether UK Security Services are providing Intelligence on British Nationals in Pakistan. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.

Gasoline prices plunged¹⁷ further over the past two weeks down nearly 33 cents a gallon. The average price nationally now for self-service regular is $1.97 a gallon. It's the first time gas prices have been below two dollars a gallon in more than three and a half years. Gas prices have now plummeted¹⁸ more than 2 dollars a gallon since their peak in July.

1 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

2 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

7 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

9 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

10 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

11 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

12 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

13 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

14 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

15 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

16 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。

17 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

18 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》