NPR 2010-04-24

President Obama is taking aim at an Arizona immigration bill that requires police to question people suspected of being in the country illegally. At a naturalization ceremony in Washington, D.C. today, Mr. Obama seized on the controversial state measure to make the case for an overhaul¹ of the nation’s immigration laws. More on this from NPR’s Scott Horsley.

 

President Obama called the Arizona proposal misguided and if it passes, he’s directed the Justice Department to be on the lookout² for possible civil rights violations³. Mr. Obama warned that reactions like Arizona’s are likely elsewhere until the federal government moves forward with both border security and the path to legalization for millions of undocumented residents.

 

“Indeed, our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others.”

 

The president said he welcomed the move by leading Democrats⁴ in Congress to take up immigration reform. He spoke⁵ during a Rose Garden ceremony for two dozen new Americans whose citizenship⁶ was fast-tracked by their military service. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

 

There is still no sign of the 11 oil workers who’ve been missing in the Gulf⁷ of Mexico since an explosion and fire on their rig Tuesday night, but it’s generating debate over the administration’s plans to expand offshore⁸ drilling. Today, spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president is still pressing ahead.

 

“The president still continues to believe that the great majority of that can be done safely, securely and without any harm to the environment.”

 

The oil spill from Tuesday’s rig explosion shows no sign of getting close to Louisiana shoreline anytime soon, but authorities say that could all change if the winds shift.

 

The latest surge in new home sales is like none other the country has seen in decades. The Commerce Department reports sales shot up 27% in March. And as Danielle Karson tells us, that put an end to a four-month losing streak⁹.

 

With the government’s homebuyer tax credit set to expire at the end of the month, people have been snapping up properties to the tune¹⁰ of 411,000 new home sales in March. They went up almost 36% in the Northeast and a whopping 44% in the South. But John Lonski, chief economist¹¹ for Moody’s Capital Markets Group, is putting the numbers in perspective.

 

“As impressive as the monthly jump was, it remains¹² at a pace that is less than half of the nearly 900,000 unit sales pace of the 2001 recession. ”

 

Lonski expects home sales to drop once the homebuyer tax subsidy¹³ expires, but he says they should pick up again by summer. For NPR News, I’m Danielle Karson.

 

This news certainly having an impact on U.S. stocks today, at last check the Dow was up nearly 70 points at 11,203, NASDAQ up 11 at 2,530.

 

This is NPR News.

 

As the clerical sex abuse scandal surrounds the Vatican, the latest target in this ordeal¹⁴ is a bishop¹⁵ of the Belgian city of Bruges, Roger Joseph Vangheluwe. NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli has this story from Rome.

 

The 73-year-old prelate, Belgium’s longest-serving bishop, stepped down after admitting sexually abusing a young boy. This is the first resignation in Belgium since the child sex abuse scandal exploded in Europe in February. Belgium’s Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard announced the resignation, saying it shows the Belgian Catholic Church wants to resolutely¹⁶ turn a page on a very painful topic. On Thursday, the Vatican announced Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop who acknowledged failing to report abuse to police. And in Germany, Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg offered to resign. Mixa is accused of hitting children decades ago when he was a priest as well as financial fraud at a Catholic orphanage¹⁷ where he served. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

 

Greece is calling in reinforcements to tackle its debt troubles. The government has formally requested an emergency loan package that’s backed jointly¹⁸ by the European Union and the International Monetary¹⁹ Fund. Officials had hoped to bolster²⁰ investor²¹ confidence when the eurozone promised last month to support Greece if the need arose. However, the country’s financial troubles continue to rattle²² world markets.

 

A hospital in Spain says it has carried out the world’s most complex full-face transplant. A man severely²³ injured in a shooting accident received new skin, jaws²⁴, cheekbones and other facial features. University Hospital, Barcelona says the operation lasted more than 20 hours. The patient is said to be recovering well.

 

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 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

3 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

7 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

8 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

9 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

10 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

11 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

12 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。

13 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

14 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

15 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

16 resolutely   

adj.坚决地，果断地

参考例句：

• He resolutely adhered to what he had said at the meeting. 他坚持他在会上所说的话。
• He grumbles at his lot instead of resolutely facing his difficulties. 他不是果敢地去面对困难，而是抱怨自己运气不佳。

17 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

18 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

19 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

20 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

21 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

22 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

23 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

24 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。