NPR 2009-03-21

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack¹ Speer.

The White House is trying to downplay congressional estimates that President Obama's budget will create 9.3 trillion dollars in deficits³ over the next decade, saying that it will not keep the president from achieving his goals. NPR's Allison Keyes has more.

The Congressional Budget Office says for fiscal⁴ 2009 the deficit² will be 1.84 trillion dollars. But the president's Budget Director and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Mr. Obama will still be able to focus on health care reform, reduce dependence⁵ on foreign oil, target clean energy and education and cut the deficit in half in four years. "The president remains⁶ confident that he has put forward a budget that meets the critical investments that he think, he thinks America must be making in order to move past the bubble and bust⁷ economic era into some sustained economic growth. But there are concerns that the deficit figures could make it harder to get president's budget passed. Maryland's Democratic Senator Ben Cardin calls the CBO's figures disturbing. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.

Federal Appeals Court today ruled the disgraced financier Bernard Madoff will remain behind bars until his sentencing in one of the largest financial frauds in U. S. history. Madoff last week pleaded guilty to 11 counts of securities fraud and perjury⁸ in connection with what prosecutors⁹ maintain was a more than 60-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. He is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson is concerned about computer hackers¹⁰ sometimes from foreign countries penetrating¹¹ government computer networks and for good reason. Nelson says unknown people have hacked¹² in computer network in his Capitol Hill office three times in the past month. From Miami, NPR's Greg Allen reports.

Senator Nelson says the attacks targeted at workstations used by three of his staffers, a foreign policy aide, his deputy legislative¹³ director and a former adviser¹⁴ on NASA. Nelson says the attacks are believed to have originated in China. And one of the incursions he says was serious. The hackers didn't retrieve¹⁵ any classified material he says, which in any case isn't held on office computers. Nelson is a member of the Senate's Intelligence, Armed Services and Finance Committees. And he is not the only member of Congress who's been hacked. Last year Virginia Republican Congressman¹⁶ Frank Wolf revealed his computer had been penetrated¹⁷ by hackers from China. In 2006 a virus that originated in China infected computers in several congressional offices. Senator Nelson says incursions on congressional computer networks are up in the past a few months. He is working with other senators on a bill that will establish a national cyber-security czar. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.

Postal¹⁸ Service said today it will close six of its 80 district offices and offer early retirement¹⁹ to as many as 150, 000 workers. The administrative²⁰ offices being closed will be Spokane, Washington, Manchester, New Hampshire, Edison, New Jersey²¹, Erie, Pennsylvania, North Reading, Massachusetts and Lake Mary, Florida. Combined, the post office is expected to reach savings²² of 100 million dollars a year.

On Wall Street today, the Dow fell a 122 points. The NASDAQ dropped 26 points today.

This is NPR.

The sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq was marked with demonstrations²³ in Baghdad and a number of other Iraqi cities today. Followers²⁴ of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took to the streets following prayer services demanding the release of their allies currently being held at Iraqi and U. S. -run prisons. In Baghdad, marchers chanted "No, no for occupation and yes, yes for liberation." The Protest came a day after a U. S. airstrike at the military hideout north of Baghdad. The US says at least 11 insurgents²⁵ were killed. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber²⁶ struck today in Fallujah killing²⁷ six people, including an Iraqi police officer.

A small army plane on a training flight crashed into the site of apartment building in Ecuadorian capital Quito last night, killing all five people aboard and two on the ground. Sean Bowditch has more.

Rescue personnel are still coming to the wreckage²⁸ in search of additional victims. The twin-engine Beechcraft plane was preparing to land at Mariscal Sucre International Airport. It went down a few miles short of the runway in the upscale neighborhood of Guapollo in northeast Quito. Though a heavy fog reportedly blanketed the city at the time of the crash, the exact cause is not yet known. Eyewitnesses²⁹ told the Associated Press that the plane clipped a house before slamming into the six-story apartment complex. The crash set off a blaze that took firefighters more than an hour to bring it under control. Among the casualties on the plane were the pilot's wife and son. For NPR News, I'm Sean Bowditch in Cuenca, Ecuador.

State Senate Committee in Vermont has unanimously approved a gay marriage bill that takes the state close to having a law that would allow the marriage of same-sex couples. If the measure is approved, Vermont would join Massachusetts and Connecticut as the only U. S. states that allow gays and lesbians to marry. Legislature is expected to approve the bill, though Vermont governor said he opposes it.

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

6 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。

7 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

8 perjury   

n.伪证；伪证罪

参考例句：

• You'll be punished if you procure the witness to commit perjury.如果你诱使证人作伪证，你要受罚的。
• She appeared in court on a perjury charge.她因被指控做了伪证而出庭受审。

9 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

10 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

11 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

12 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

13 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

14 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

15 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

16 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

17 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

18 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

19 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

20 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

21 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

22 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

23 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

24 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

25 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

26 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。

27 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。

28 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

29 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。