NPR 2011-07-01

President Obama is declining Senate Republicans' invitation to visit the Capitol and speak to them about the impasse¹ in budget talks. White House spokesman Jay Carney said there's no point since the White House already knows Republicans' position. Earlier, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he felt the president needed to hear first-hand why his proposal to make tax hikes part of the deficit² reduction effort will not pass.

"Come on up to the Capitol and meet with Senate Republicans. That way he can hear directly from Senate Republicans, directly from Senate Republicans why what he's proposing will not pass."

The impasse on deficit reduction pushes Congress closer to an August 2nd deadline to agree on raising the debt ceiling or default. Senate Majority Leader Harry³ Reid says that means cast canceling for July 4th recess⁴.

"What we have to do is too important not to be here and try to resolve what needs to be done. We really don't have any time to waste."

In Greece, some of the most violent protests to ensnare the capital in recent days weren't (wasn't口误) enough to prevent parliament from passing widely unpopular austerity measures. Critics say average workers cannot afford to take on the deep cuts and tax increases approved by lawmakers this week. But the government says the bills pulled Greece from the brink⁵ of bankruptcy⁶, allowing it to receive international assistance, and global markets are responding positively⁷. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 150 points or more than 1% before the close at 12412; NASDAQ was also up more than 1% at 2774.

General David Petraeus has been overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate to be the next director of the CIA as NPR's Jackie Northam reports the vote was 94-0.

Petraeus's new job as CIA director will take him far from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, where he has spent much of his time over the past few years. But during his stints⁸ as the head of US Central Command and as commander of Multi-national Forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the 58-year-old Petraeus avidly⁹ consumed and sometimes questioned intelligence provided by the CIA. His experience in fighting militants¹⁰ will now expand over multiple continents. Petraeus is expected to complete his command in Afghanistan in July and will take up his new role in September. He replaces Leon Panetta, who is due to be sworn in as secretary of defense¹¹ on Friday. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.

The US confirms three more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq. Their deaths yesterday bring to 14, the number of US troops killed in June, making this month the deadliest for American forces in Iraq in at least two years. The US officially ended combat operations in Iraq last August and focused more on training and support of Iraqi forces.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

MSNBC has suspended political analyst¹² Mark Halperin after he used a vulgar term to characterize President Obama on the show "Morning Joe" earlier today. NPR's David Folkenflik has the story.

You can probably refer to President Dick Nickson, just that way, on live TV. Assuredly uttering the name of former Vice¹³ President Dick Cheney would not get you in trouble. But when Time magazine editor at large Mark Halperin used a certain phallocentric synonym¹⁴ for jerk to characterize President Obama's demeanor¹⁵ during a press conference yesterday — it didn't end well. Halperin is a coauthor of the best-selling political book Game Change and a coiner of the instant conventional wisdom. This morning, Halperin laughingly asked whether there was a seven-second delay, and then he made his remarks. There was no such delay, and he appeared shaken when apologizing later. MSNBC apologized to the White House and its viewers and said his suspension was indefinite. David Folkenflik, NPR News, New York.

Police have custody¹⁶ of a Nigerian man who managed to get on a Virgin¹⁷ Atlantic flight from New York to Los Angeles last week with an invalid¹⁸ boarding pass. The FBI identified the stowaway¹⁹ as Olajide Noibi. He was finally arrested yesterday after attempting to sneak²⁰ onto another flight. Law enforcement officers say they found 10 expired boarding passes in Noibi's bag. Noibi is due to appear in court tomorrow.

In a long-awaited move, the UN-backed tribunal has handed indictments²¹ and arrest warrants to Lebanon against suspected Hezbollah members accused of killing²² Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. Hariri's son, opposition²³ leader Saad al-Hariri, calls it a "historic moment."

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.

1 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

2 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。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

5 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

6 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

7 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

8 stints   

n.定额工作( stint的名词复数 )；定量；限额；慷慨地做某事

参考例句：

• He stints himself in [of] sleep. 他节制睡眠。 来自辞典例句
• She never stints herself of money to buy books for her children. 她从不吝惜掏钱让子女们买书。 来自互联网

9 avidly   

adv.渴望地，热心地

参考例句：

• She read avidly from an early age—books, magazines, anything. 她从小就酷爱阅读——书籍、杂志，无不涉猎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her melancholy eyes avidly scanned his smiling face. 她说话时两只忧郁的眼睛呆呆地望着他的带笑的脸。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

10 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

11 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。

12 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。

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

14 synonym   

n.同义词，换喻词

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• The term 'industrial democracy' is often used as a synonym for worker participation. “工业民主”这个词常被用作“工人参与”的同义词。

15 demeanor   

n.行为；风度

参考例句：

• She is quiet in her demeanor.她举止文静。
• The old soldier never lost his military demeanor.那个老军人从来没有失去军人风度。

16 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

17 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

18 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

19 stowaway   

n.（藏于轮船，飞机中的）偷乘者

参考例句：

• The stowaway masqueraded as a crew member.偷渡者假扮成乘务员。
• The crew discovered the stowaway about two days into their voyage.船员在开船约两天后发现了那名偷乘者。

20 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

21 indictments   

n.（制度、社会等的）衰败迹象( indictment的名词复数 )；刑事起诉书；公诉书；控告

参考例句：

• A New York jury brought criminal indictments against the founder of the organization. 纽约的一个陪审团对这个组织的创始人提起了多项刑事诉讼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These two indictments are self-evident and require no elaboration. 这两条意义自明，无须多说。 来自互联网

22 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

23 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。