NPR 2009-09-17

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus today unveiled a ten-year 856-billion-dollar healthcare overhaul¹ bill though the Congressional Budget Office had a lower number. In the news conference on Capitol Hill today, the Montana Senator said with healthcare cost continuing to climb, it’s imperative² for lawmakers to take action on healthcare legislation now.

“In the past day, another 17,000 people lost coverage³.”

However, it also appears the measure has little Republican support, something White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the President remains⁴ hopeful it will change once committee does act.

There will be a continued legislative⁵ process that will tweak and change legislation as there always is. I don't look it. I don't think the President would say today is the end.

Still House minority leader Mitch McConnell was critical of the initiative, calling it a partisan⁶ proposal. It would cut Medicare by nearly half a trillion dollars and hurt small businesses and families.

The Federal Reserve says industrial production was up in August for the second straight month. Meanwhile the separate report says that threat of inflation in the US remains subdued⁷. NPR's Jim Zarroli has more.

The Labor⁸ Department says inflation rose four tenths of a percentage point last month. But much of that was because of another steep rise in gasoline prices. When energy costs are factored out, prices rose at a much milder rate of tenth of a percentage point. Meanwhile the Federal Reserve said output by US industries rose eight tenths of a percentage point in the August. Production was also twice as fast as first estimated in July. Despite the increase the Fed said the capacity utilization⁹ rate, another measure of economic activity, was still well below average. The number suggests that the economy is improving but a complete rebound¹⁰ is still far off. And the threat of inflation remains low. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

The Obama administration has delivered the Capitol Hill a set of objectives designed to gauge¹¹ progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan. These are the long promised benchmarks which were officially due next week. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

The draft document runs three pages and it lays out broad goals for the region, such as disrupt terrorist networks in Afghanistan and especially Pakistan, promote more capable, accountable and effective government in Afghanistan, and involve the international community more actively¹² to forge an international consensus¹³ to stabilize¹⁴ Afghanistan and Pakistan. The matrix are mostly subjective¹⁵ and it's not clear whether they'll satisfy lawmakers who've called for specific benchmarks to measure progress. The document sets March 30th next year as a deadline for the administration to take stock of how well it's doing and achieving its goals. Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News Washington.

On Wall Street the Dow-Jones Industrial Average gained 108 points to close at 9,791. The NASDAQ was up 30 points. The S&P 500 closed up 16 points today.

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Atlanta based Delta¹⁶ Airlines is looking for a little extra time in dealing¹⁷ with some 904 million dollars in debt in connection with its ongoing¹⁸ integration¹⁹ of Northwest Airlines. The Security and Exchange Commission filing Delta said it might take on additional debt with a later maturity²⁰ date in order to pay down some of its current debt. Delta acquired Northwest in October of last year and said it's expected to be able to operate as a single entity²¹ by the end of this year. With the acquisition of Northwest, Delta has become the world's largest airline operator.

Today in Japan, the US-educated opposition²² leader has made history by becoming the country's new Primer Minister, Doualy Xaykaothao has more.

The victory of 62-year-old Yukio Hatoyama, head of the Democratic Party of Japan means after almost 55 years conservatives no longer govern Asia's largest economy. Hatoyama, who was educated at Stanford, said I've mixed feelings of excitement about changing history and the very heavy responsibility of making history. He promised to restart Japan's economy which is in its worst recession since World War Ⅱ, create more jobs to lower the unemployment rate which is at a record high and reduce public debt. Hatoyama's new government includes veteran lawmakers and younger conservatives. Next week Hatoyama is expected to travel to New York to attend a general assembly in the United Nations and possibly meet with President Obama. For NPR news, I'm Doualy Xaykaothao.

The government's broadest measure of foreign trades shrank in the April through June quarters showing the weak economy cut substantially the US demand for foreign goods. Government says the current account deficit²³ fell by nearly 99 billion dollars during the second quarter.

1 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

2 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

3 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

4 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。

5 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。

6 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

7 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 utilization   

n.利用，效用

参考例句：

• Computer has found an increasingly wide utilization in all fields.电子计算机已越来越广泛地在各个领域得到应用。
• Modern forms of agricultural utilization,have completely refuted this assumption.现代农业利用形式，完全驳倒了这种想象。

10 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

11 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

12 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

13 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

14 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

15 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

16 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

17 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

18 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。

19 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

20 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

21 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

22 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

23 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。