NPR 2009-01-24

President Obama met this morning with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to discuss the economic stimulus¹ package. Afterward², leaders of both parties said they expected to have a proposal ready for the president by mid-February. NPR's Scott Horsley has more.

President Obama said he knows the stimulus package is a heavy lift for lawmakers, weighing in at more than 800 billion dollars and he thanked them for moving quickly. Mr. Obama acknowledged disagreement about some details of the plan, but added there is no disagreement that fast action on the economy is needed.

"What I think unifies³ this group is recognition that we are experiencing an unprecedented⁴, perhaps, economic crisis that has to be dealt with, and dealt with rapidly."

Republican lawmakers say they are concerned about some of the government's spending in the stimulus proposal and they wanna see more tax cuts. But those disagreements are not likely to keep the bill from reaching Mr. Obama's desk before the President's Day weekend. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

Abortion⁵ rights opponents are criticizing a decision by President Barack Obama to sign an executive order that would end a ban on federal funds for groups that perform abortion services or provide abortion information abroad. Officials say the signing of the executive order this afternoon comes one day after the 36th anniversary of Roe⁶ Versus⁷ Wade⁸, the 1973 Supreme⁹ Court ruling legalizing abortion. The policy has been reinstated and reversed repeatedly by presidents since Ronald Reagan. President Bill Clinton similarly ended the ban in 1993 which was subsequently reinstated by George Bush in 2001.

Federal judges in Washington are asking whether the Obama administration wants to redefine enemy combatants for trials that are in progress. The administration's answer could provide an early sign of what President Obama would do with terrorist detainees. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.

President Obama has ordered that the Guantanamo Bay prison camp be closed within a year, but he'll have to start making tough decisions about detainees much sooner than that. There are more than 200 detainee court cases now in progress here in Washington. These are habeas corpus challenges from people who say they are being wrongly held, and those cases won't wait for Guantanamo to close. Many detainees' lawyers argue that their clients are not enemy combatants. The Bush administration defined enemy combatants very broadly. President Obama is likely to take a narrower view. Now two separate judges have asked the Obama administration to explain how it will define enemy combatants. Judge Gladys Kessler gave the administration until next Thursday; Judge John Bates set a deadline of February 9th. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

Giant General Electric announced fourth-quarter earnings¹⁰ fell by 46 percent. GE's considered by many to be a bellwether¹¹ for the broad economy because of its diversification¹². GE makes everything from locomotives to jet engines to refrigerators.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45 points to end the week at 8, 077. The NASDAQ gained 11 points today. The S&P 500 was up 4 points.

This is NPR.

Officials in Pakistan say at least 14 people were killed today by two suspected US missile strikes. They say the strikes occurred near the Afghan border and are the first such attacks since President Barack Obama was inaugurated. The officials say, in the first attack, missiles fired from an unmanned drone hit a village near where al-Qaida militants¹³ hide out. The strike reportedly destroyed two buildings and killed at least nine people. Hours later a second missile reportedly hit a home in the same area, killing¹⁴ at least five more people. In 2008 the US carried out around 30 attacks on suspected al-Qaida militants using missiles fired from pilotless drones.

The Food and Drug Administration has given its approval to begin studies of a new therapy based on human embryonic¹⁵ stem cells. NPR's Joe Palca has more.

Since they were first successfully grown in the laboratory in 1998, researchers have been excited by the potential of human embryonic stem cells to treat diseases. The reason is these cells can turn into any cell type of the body and they can grow indefinitely in the laboratory. That means in theory it could be an inexhaustible supply of replacements¹⁶ for cells damaged or destroyed by disease. The biotech company Geron was one of the first to embrace research on human embryonic stem cells, now they are the first to receive approval to test spinal¹⁷ cord cells derived¹⁸ from embryonic stem cells in patients with spinal cord injuries. The initial studies will be primarily intended to address safety, but researchers will be watching closely for any indication that the cells are restoring some movement in paralyzed patients. Joe Palca, NPR News, Washington.

With weak demand for air travel due to the current recession, Dallas-based Southwest announced today it will begin selling seats to almost everywhere it flies starting at $49 to $99 each way. The fares were matched by a number of other airlines

1 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。

2 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

3 unifies   

使联合( unify的第三人称单数 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• Team-Based Concurrent Engineering Unifies your design team and aids complex debug efforts. 以团队为基础的并行工程使你的设计团队融为一体并协助复杂的调试。
• He saw God's complete moral excellence that unifies His attributes. 他看见上帝完美的道德贯穿着祂所有的属性。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

6 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

7 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

8 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

9 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

10 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

11 bellwether   

n.系铃的公羊，前导，领导者，群众的首领

参考例句：

• University campuses are often the bellwether of change.大学校园往往引领变革的新潮。
• For decades the company was the bellwether of the British economy.几十年来，这家公司一直是英国经济的晴雨表。

12 diversification   

n.变化，多样化；多种经营

参考例句：

• The seminar was to discuss diversification of agriculture. 该研讨会讨论的是农业多种经营。 来自辞典例句
• Firm diversification is increasingly achieved by the means of takeover and merger. 通过接管和兼并，厂商经营范围日益多样化。 来自辞典例句

13 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。

14 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。

15 embryonic   

adj.胚胎的

参考例句：

• It is still in an embryonic stage.它还处于萌芽阶段。
• The plan,as yet,only exists in embryonic form.这个计划迄今为止还只是在酝酿之中。

16 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网

17 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

18 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》