NPR 2009-11-15

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Barbara Klein.

President Obama is in Singapore for a series of meetings with leaders from Asia, including the military government of Myanmar, which the US has long tried to isolate¹. NPR’s Scott Horsley reports.

President Obama won’t take part in formal diplomatic talks with Myanmar’s Prime Minister Thein Sein, but they’ll both be attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Administration officials say they didn’t want to boycott² the meeting just because Myanmar or Burma would be represented there. And, anyway, President Obama says US efforts to ignore the Burmese ruler have not worked.

”Despite years of good intentions, neither sanctions by the United States nor engagement by others succeeded in improving the lives of the Burmese people. So we are now communicating directly with the leadership to make it clear that existing sanctions will remain until there are concrete steps toward democratic reform.”

Mr. Obama will also be holding private talks with the leaders in Singapore, Russia and Indonesia, the country where he spent part of his youth. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Singapore.

In his weekly pre-recorded address today, President Obama called on Congress to postpone³ investigations⁴ into the shootings at Fort Hood⁵ in Texas in order to allow federal law enforcement and military authorities to complete their probes first.

The Pakistani city of Peshawar was hit again today by a suspected suicide bomber⁶. At least ten people were killed. Yesterday a massive truck bomb killed at least ten.

Google’s controversial plans to establish a digital book library have been revised because of concerns that it would create a monopoly. NPR’s Wendy Kaufman has details.

In 2005, authors and publishers sued Google for scanning their books and making them searchable online. Three years later, Google, the authors and publishers proposed a settlement. Google could include the scanned books in its search engine and sell access to them; in exchange, the company would pay 125 million dollars and share some of the revenue with authors and publishers. That deal was sharply criticized by many countries along with Amazon and Microsoft and other members of the Open Book Alliance, who said it was overly broad and anti-competitive. Late Friday night, Google, authors and publishers submitted a scaled-back plan to the court overseeing the matter. The Open Book Alliance immediately blasted it as a mere⁷ sleight⁸ of hand. Whether the revised plan will be approved by the court remains⁹ unclear. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.

The European Union reports the recession in the 16-nation Euro zone is officially over with 0.4% growth in the third quarter of the year. That’s up from a 0.2% decline in the previous quarter. Analysts¹⁰ attribute the growth to French and German exports and billions of euros spent in government stimulus¹¹ money. But the weak dollar could cut exports in the final three months of the year.

This is NPR News.

The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization is on a hunger strike for 24 hours to show solidarity¹² with the world’s one billion hungry people. Meanwhile, the World Food Program launched a campaign today to raise money for the hungry from individuals rather than just governments.

Some of financial conman Bernard Madoff’s belongings¹³ are being auctioned¹⁴ off today in Manhattan as the disgraced financier sits in a North Carolina prison, serving a 150-year prison sentence. His sentence also forced Madoff to forfeit¹⁵ many of his belongings. Some 200 items are on the block today including dishes, pens and furs. Authorities hoped to get at least a half million dollars for Madoff’s defrauded¹⁶ investors¹⁷ who lost tens of billions of dollars in his huge Ponzi scheme.

With the country’s newspaper industry facing a combination of recessionary pressures and declining subscriptions¹⁸ and also advertising¹⁹ revenue, the state of New Hampshire is stepping in to help a struggling local newspaper secure financing. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Josh Rogers has the story.

The state’s guarantee of a 250,000-dollar line of credit for the Eagle Times of Claremont is still in controversy²⁰ in New Hampshire. Critics say the deal compromises the paper’s independence. But Devert Pigment²¹ Tali is state official who sat on the panel that okayed the transaction says the only goal was to save jobs.

”Over 90 people have been laid off and the state has not given the newspaper any money.”

The Eagle Times, which has a circulation of 7,000 closed abruptly²² in July. Two months later the 175-year-old paper was bought out of bankruptcy²³ by the Pennsylvania-based Sample News Group. For NPR News, I’m Josh Rogers in Concord²⁴, New Hampshire.

And I’m Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.

1 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

2 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

3 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

4 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

5 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

6 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

7 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

8 sleight   

n.技巧，花招

参考例句：

• With a little statistical sleight of hand they could make things look all right.只要在统计上耍些小小的花招，他们就能瞒天过海。
• In the theater of the media there is an economic sleight of hand.传播媒介在经济上耍了一个大花招。

9 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。

10 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

11 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。

12 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

13 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

14 auctioned   

v.拍卖( auction的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was sad to see all grandmother's lovely things being auctioned off. 眼看着祖母那些可爱的东西全都被拍卖掉，心里真不好受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 forfeit   

vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物

参考例句：

• If you continue to tell lies,you will forfeit the good opinion of everyone.你如果继续撒谎，就会失掉大家对你的好感。
• Please pay for the forfeit before you borrow book.在你借书之前请先付清罚款。

16 defrauded   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He defrauded his employers of thousands of dollars. 他诈取了他的雇主一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He defrauded them of their money. 他骗走了他们的钱。 来自辞典例句

17 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

18 subscriptions   

n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助

参考例句：

• Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

20 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

21 pigment   

n.天然色素，干粉颜料

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls.古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。
• Who thought he might know what the skin pigment phenomenon meant.他自认为可能知道皮肤色素出现这种现象到底是怎么回事。

22 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

23 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。

24 concord   

n.和谐；协调

参考例句：

• These states had lived in concord for centuries.这些国家几个世纪以来一直和睦相处。
• His speech did nothing for racial concord.他的讲话对种族和谐没有作用。