NPR 2010-10-12

The next 24 hours are expected to be especially tense for those trying to rescue miners who've been trapped nearly a mile underground for more than two months in Chile. Crews are shoring up a long escape shaft¹ that they set up to pull the 33 men out, starting around midnight Tuesday to Wednesday. Mining Minister Laurence Golborne says medical personnel are standing² by for the miners.

"They will be immediately taken to a zone that we have called triage, which in this zone they are gonna receive first aid, immediately first aid and they are gonna be allocated³ in terms of their medical conditions."

Golborne says all the miners appear to be in good physical and emotional condition.

At the White House today, President Obama met with mayors, governors and cabinet officials to discuss a plan for improving America's infrastructure⁴. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on the president's latest strategy to reduce unemployment.

This proposal would provide $50 billion to improve America's roads, rails and runways without adding to the deficit⁵, the White House says. Republicans in Congress have dismissed the proposal as another stimulus⁶ package. But speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Mr. Obama argued that there has traditionally been broad bipartisan support for infrastructure improvement. To drive the point home, he spoke⁷ to the press flanked by government officials from both parties. 

"There's no reason why the world's best infrastructure should lie beyond our borders. This is America. We've always had the best infrastructure. This is the work that needs to be done. There are workers who are ready to do it. All we need is the political will."

He said infrastructure investment can create jobs where they are needed most. Right now, one in five construction workers is unemployed⁸. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

Economic policies that affect jobs are at the center of two Americans and a British-Cypriot scholar winning this year's Nobel economics prize. We have more from NPR's Paul Brown.

Peter Diamond of MIT, Dale Mortensen of Northwestern University and Christopher Pissarides of the London School of Economics shared the $1.5 million Nobel award. They've analyzed⁹ obstacles keeping buyers and sellers including employers and jobseekers from getting together efficiently¹⁰. Diamond says his research leads them to believe in stimulus efforts to get and keep as many people as possible working during recessions and recoveries.

"It's a primary job for the government to do things to speed that process, rather than just relying on the market doing it by itself, because it's so costly¹¹ to go slowly."

Diamond is a nominee¹² for a seat at the Federal Reserve. So far, Senate Republicans have opposed confirming him. Paul Brown, NPR News, Washington.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up two points at 11,009.

This is NPR.

New York City police are investigating the source of military-grade explosives reported this morning in a garbage bag at a historic cemetery¹³ in Manhattan. Police Commissioner¹⁴ Raymond Kelly says a worker doing gardening at the site actually dug up the bag at Marble Cemetery last fall, but police just told about it today.

"It was thought on the back fence, close to the back fence of the cemetery, which is a structure on the other side of the fence. But you could reasonably glean¹⁵ from that it was put there to threaten any structure."

Kelly says the explosives were not capable of detonating.

A woman accused of sexually abusing girls at a South African school funded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey has been found not guilty on all charges. As Vicky O'Hara reports, the elite¹⁶ school opened in 2007 in a high-profile ceremony attended by Nelson Mandela.

Dormitory matron Virginia Tiny Makopo was arrested in November, 2007. She was accused of assaulting six girls as well as a colleague. When the charges were broad, Winfrey said she had been shaken to the core. The talk show host had said that she suffered sexual abuse herself as a child. Winfrey promised reforms at the school, which serves girls from disadvantage backgrounds. A spokesman for the prosecution¹⁷ says the state failed to prove its case beyond all reasonable doubt. When Winfrey heard the news, she issued a statement, saying she was profoundly disappointed at the outcome. But Winfrey said she will be forever proud of the nine girls who had the courage to come forward and testify. For NPR News, I'm Vicky O'Hara in Johannesburg.
 

1 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 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。

6 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。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

9 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

11 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

12 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

13 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

14 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

15 glean   

v.收集(消息、资料、情报等)

参考例句：

• The little information that we could glean about them was largely contradictory.我们能够收集到的有关它们的少量信息大部分是自相矛盾的。
• From what I was able to glean,it appears they don't intend to take any action yet.根据我所收集到的资料分析，他们看来还不打算采取任何行动。

16 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

17 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。