NPR 2011-01-07

President Obama formally announces his next chief of staff.

"Today I am proud to announce the appointment of an experienced public servant, a devoted¹ patriot², my friend, fellow Chicagoan Bill Daley to serve as my chief of staff."

William Daley is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. The new chief of staff has a strong business connection at a time when the administration has tried to strengthen ties with corporate³ America. Daley served as commerce secretary during the Clinton administration and most recently as executive of J.P. Morgan Chase.

The shopping blitz that gave retailers⁵ reason to celebrate over the holidays appears to be dying down. NPR's Giles Snyder reports retail⁴ sales dragged in December.

Evidence that consumers have retreated after flocking to stores after Thanksgiving comes in the form of sales reports for December. Many of the top American retailers missed Wall Street expectations. The post-Christmas blizzard⁶ on the East Coast is getting some of the blame, so are early holiday season discounts, which prompted consumers to get their shopping done before the December rush. Looking forward, retail analyst⁷ Britt Beemer of America's Research Group expects retail sales to be a little better than usual in January because consumers are in better financial shape, but he says gasoline is among wild cards.

"Twenty-nine percent of consumers say if gasoline is four dollars a gallon, they are gonna have to start cutting back even more."

The International Council of Shopping Center says overall holiday spending rose at 3.8 percent from last year, the best showing since 2006. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.

The government of Pakistan says it will roll back a rise in fuel prices that stirred public outrage⁸ and fractured the ruling coalition⁹ in parliament. NPR's Corey Flintoff tells us the move could help ease Pakistan's political turmoil¹⁰.

As of the first of the year, Pakistan's government allowed fuel prices to rise by nine percent in a bid to reduce the country's growing deficit¹¹. The move was widely unpopular, and it gave opposition¹² political parties an issue they could use to attack the government. On Sunday, a key party walked out of their ruling coalition, leaving the prime minister without a majority in parliament. Analysts¹³ say the decision to roll back fuel prices may help stave off political defeat for the government, but it will also drive Pakistan deeper into debt. It could endanger a loan from the International Monetary¹⁴ Fund, which is propping¹⁵ up Pakistan's economy. Corey Flintoff, NPR News.

Emergency personnel are on the scene of two government buildings in Maryland after reports of suspicious packages in Hanover and Annapolis. Police say there were no explosions and no serious injuries.

The latest from Wall Street, the Dow was down nearly 40 points at 11,685.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

The US is deploying¹⁷ 1,400 additional Marines to Afghanistan. They'll head out within weeks. Defense¹⁸ Department spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan says the Defense Secretary Robert Gates is sending more combat forces in hopes of shoring up gains made in Afghanistan. A year ago, President Obama approved a troop surge of 30,000, but he said Gates could deploy¹⁶ up to 3,000 more troops if the need arose. American forces are expected to start pulling out of Afghanistan in July.

In China, the local authorities have blamed battery factories after at least 200 local children were found to have lead poisoning. As NPR's Louisa Lim reports, this case is just the latest in a string of heavy metal poisonings.

Lead poisoning has hospitalized more than 20 children in Anhui province's Huaining county. At least 200 are reported to have alleviated¹⁹ lead levels. This can impair²⁰ brain development, causing learning difficulties. The children were living close to two battery factories, which, according to Chinese law, should be a certain distance from residential²¹ areas. Such cases can unleash²² widespread public anger. Two years ago, protesters attacked a smelting²³ works, which they blamed for poisoning more than 600 children. But in profit-hungry China, safety standards are often ignored in the pursuit of wealth, even when protecting the most vulnerable members of society. Louisa Lim, NPR News, Beijing.

The latest look at unemployment number shows an increase in applications. Today, the Labor²⁴ Department announced applications rose last week by 18,000 to a seasonally²⁵ adjusted 409,000. This comes a week after those figures dropped to their lowest level in two years.

1 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

2 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

5 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

6 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

7 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

8 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

9 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

10 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

11 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。

12 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。

13 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。

14 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。

15 propping   

支撑

参考例句：

• You can usually find Jack propping up the bar at his local. 你常常可以看见杰克频繁出没于他居住的那家酒店。
• The government was accused of propping up declining industries. 政府被指责支持日益衰败的产业。

16 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

17 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

18 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

19 alleviated   

减轻，缓解，缓和( alleviate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It is always completely alleviated by total gastrectomy. 全胃切除永远完全缓解症状。
• Toxicity problem in manufacturing and storage might be alleviated by coating beryllium with aluminum. 但如果用铝包覆铍，则可避免加工过程中及储存期间的中毒问题。

20 impair   

v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少

参考例句：

• Loud noise can impair your hearing.巨大的噪音有损听觉。
• It can not impair the intellectual vigor of the young.这不能磨灭青年人思想活力。

21 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

22 unleash   

vt.发泄，发出；解带子放开

参考例句：

• They hope to create allies to unleash against diseases,pests,and invasive species.他们希望创造出一些新群体来对付疾病、害虫和一些有侵害性的物种。
• Changing water levels now at times unleash a miasma of disease from exposed sewage.如今，大坝不时地改变水位，从暴露的污水释放出了疾病瘴气。

23 smelting   

n.熔炼v.熔炼，提炼（矿石）( smelt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a method of smelting iron 一种炼铁方法
• Fire provided a means of smelting ores. 火提供了熔炼矿石的手段。 来自辞典例句

24 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。

25 seasonally   

参考例句：

• The price of vegetables fluctuates seasonally. 蔬菜的价格随季节变动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They moved seasonally among various vegetation types to feed on plants that were flourishing. 它们还随着季节的变化而在各种类型植物之间迁移，以便吃那些茂盛的植物。 来自辞典例句