NPR 2011-06-02

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

US stocks are down sharply before the close. At last check, the Dow had fallen 271 points, more than 2%; it's at 12,298. NASDAQ off more than 2% as well; it's at 2,769. S&P 500 down 2% at 1,315. NPR's Marilyn Geewax has been tracking the markets today in what's been driving this sell-off.

A very bad case in jitters¹. This week, investors² have seen some new economic reports that have been really disappointing. Housing prices are still falling; public construction spending is dropping; manufacturing has been slumping³; and car sales and consumer confidence are both off. Another report came out to show that private businesses added very few jobs in May, and on top of that, Moody's downgraded Greece's bonds. So, you put all of that together, and suddenly everybody's feeling pretty gloomy.

Marilyn, you've noticed as well banks getting hit especially hard, is that right?

Yes, bank stocks got pounded today. The banks have been dealing⁴ with a lot of those bad home loans, and now if we're gonna have continued weakness in jobs and housing, then the foreclosure mess could get worse, and that would hurt bank profits.

NPR's Marilyn Geewax.

No sign of major progress yet in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, but after a meeting at the White House today, House Speaker John Boehner struck a cautiously optimistic tone.

"We had a very frank conversation. I thought it was productive. I'm looking forward to more serious conversations about how we reduce the deficit⁵ and the debt and to get our economy going again and creating jobs."

Yesterday, the GOP-led House overwhelmingly voted down a proposal to raise the government's borrowing authority by 2.4 trillion dollars without spending cuts.

Public health officials in Germany are no closer to figuring out the exact source of a deadly E. coli outbreak that has killed at least 17 people and made more than 1,500 people ill. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports the foodborne outbreak has hit at least eight European countries, but most of the people either live in Germany or recently traveled there.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease control center, said nearly 500 people here are suffering from a potentially deadly disease called hemolytic uremic syndrome⁶ or HUS. Experts say that figure is astounding⁷ and unseen in previous foodborne outbreaks in modern Europe. HUS can lead to kidney failure and death. Health officials have yet to trace the precise source of the E. coli outbreak or figure out why this particularly strain is more dangerous than past ones. After initially⁸ saying Spanish cucumbers were the source, German health officials now say they're not sure. The mayor of Hamburg, the city hardest hit by the outbreak, is calling for blood donations to help treat victims, and some European farmers are now asking for compensation as losses mount after they were forced to dump their produce. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Berlin.

This is NPR News.

A barrage⁹ of gun and artillery¹⁰ fire in Yemen reverberating¹¹ through the streets of the capital today. The latest battle between government forces and militiamen with the country's powerful tribes is blamed in at least 39 deaths. Meanwhile, President Ali Abdullah Saleh remains¹² undeterred in his fight to retain power.

Releasing water through Missouri River dams, as we're hearing courtesy of KELO-TV, the Army Corps¹³ of Engineers' trying to protect areas such as Dakota Dunes¹⁴, where some 2,500 people have been preparing to evacuate¹⁵. They're struggling to stay ahead of flooding along the Missouri River. South Dakota Public Broadcasting's Gary Ellenbolt reports most homes in the town are projected to see damage.

Floodwaters from the Missouri River continue to move toward Dakota Dunes. The town's 2,500 residents are asked to be out of their homes by Thursday night. Governor Dennis Daugaard says officials and residents are working as hard as they can to keep the water out.

"The most difficult aspect of Dakota Dunes is the scale. We have 1,100 residences in there. Just looking at the water inundation¹⁶ maps, perhaps 800 are going to be affected¹⁷ more or less, possibly more."

Sandbagging and levee-building continue upstream in Pierre and Fort Pierre. Releases from several dams on the Missouri are scheduled to be increased to 100,000 cubic feet per second Friday morning. For NPR News, I'm Gary Ellenbolt in Vermillion, South Dakota.

Investors' fears about the pace of economic recovery sending stocks plummeting¹⁸ today. Before the close, the Dow had fallen 280 points, more than 2%, at 12,291; NASDAQ also down more than 2% at 2,769.

This is NPR.

1 jitters   

n.pl.紧张(通常前面要有the)

参考例句：

• I always get the jitters before exams. 我考试前总是很紧张。
• The whole city had the jitters from the bombing. 全城居民都为轰炸而心神不宁。

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 slumping   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的现在分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Hong Kong's slumping economy also caused a rise in bankruptcy applications. 香港经济低迷，破产申请个案随之上升。
• And as with slumping, over-arching can also be a simple postural habit. 就像弯腰驼背，过度挺直也可能只是一种习惯性姿势。

4 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。

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 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

7 astounding   

adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)

参考例句：

• There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
• The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊，所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

9 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

10 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

11 reverberating   

回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射

参考例句：

• The words are still ringing [reverberating] in one's ears. 言犹在耳。
• I heard a voice reverberating: "Crawl out! I give you liberty!" 我听到一个声音在回荡：“爬出来吧，我给你自由！”

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 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

14 dunes   

沙丘( dune的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

15 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

16 inundation   

n.the act or fact of overflowing

参考例句：

• Otherwise, inundation would ensue to our dismay. 若不疏导，只能眼巴巴看着它泛滥。
• Therefore this psychology preceded the inundation of Caudillo politics after independence. 在独立后，这一心态助长了考迪罗主义的泛滥。

17 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

18 plummeting   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Prices are rising, falling, going up, going down, shooting up, plummeting, etc. 物价在上涨、下跌、上升、下落、猛然上涨、骤然下跌等。 来自辞典例句
• The enemy plane went plummeting into the sea. 敌机直直掉进海里。 来自辞典例句