NPR 2011-07-06

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

With less than a month left to raise the debt ceiling, Congress is back at the negotiating table this week. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports the Senate had to cancel its 4th of July break to push on with the talks.

The official deadline for raising the debt ceiling is August 2nd. After that, the country defaults. The White House says it takes time to write and pass legislation. So they say the real deadline is July 22nd. Democrats¹ insist they're willing to make deep cuts. But they say a deal must also include an increase in revenue. The GOP has opposed any plan that includes tax hikes. Now, some Republicans suggest they could go along with an agreement that raises taxes as long as they get a balanced budget amendment² as part of the deal. Economists³ fear that if lawmakers do not raise the debt ceiling, it could harm the economy. As the deadline gets closer, a "mini" deal seems more likely. That could buy negotiators more time to keep haggling⁴. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, the White House.

In a dramatic turn in the trial of Casey Anthony, a jury has found her not guilty of first-degree murder and of manslaughter in the death of her two-year-old daughter. The young mom who for weeks showed little emotion while listening to testimony⁵ about her two-year-old Caylee's 2008 disappearance⁶ burst into tears and hugged her lawyer when she was acquitted⁷ of murder. Her attorney Jose Baez says despite all the speculation⁸, today's verdict proves the justice system can work.

"You cannot convict someone until they've had their day in court."

State Attorney Lawson Lamar says the publicity⁹ surrounding the trial really hurt the case.

"The pretrial publicity generated by others has led to the great expense of having to seek a jury outside of our media market."

Now, Casey Anthony was found guilty of lying to investigators¹⁰. Her sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.

Another big story in central Florida today is Atlantis. The countdown is under way to the shuttle's historic final launch from Florida. As Judith Smelser reports from member station WMFE, this last mission means big job losses at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

More than 4,000 Florida space shuttle workers have already lost their jobs. The total layoff¹¹ number is expected to approach 9,000. State officials have been scrambling¹² to attract private employers to the area. But so far, fewer than 1,600 new aerospace¹³ jobs have been created. Frank DiBello heads the state-funded agency in charge of growing the space industry in Florida.

"I believe that this area has too long identified so solely¹⁴ with what NASA was doing."

Many shuttle workers are moving out of state, some landing jobs with Boeing's new plant in South Carolina. For NPR News, I'm Judith Smelser in Orlando.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 13 points at 12,570 in trading of just over three billion shares; NASDAQ was up before the close 10 points at 2,826.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

Former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic is under indictment¹⁵ in The Hague for allegedly masterminding the massacre¹⁶ of some 8,000 men and boys in Srebrenica. But now, as Teri Schultz explains, the Dutch government is being held responsible for some of those killings¹⁸ as well.

A court in the Netherlands has ruled that Dutch soldiers working for the UN and Bosnia were legally responsible for the deaths of three Muslim employees in 1995, and that the government must compensate¹⁹ relatives of the victims. The men were among those Dutch peacekeepers allowed to be taken away by Bosnian Serb troops commanded by Mladic, who now faces genocide charges for the killing¹⁷ of thousands of Srebrenica men and boys. The appeals court said that with what the Dutch soldiers had seen up to that point, they should have known the Bosnian Muslims were being killed and intervened. The Dutch government at the time later resigned over the implications. Monday marks the 16th anniversary of Srebrenica, the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz.

Yemen's state news agency is reporting the deaths of 40 suspected insurgents²¹ in air strikes on southern Yemen in the past two days. Authorities say militants²² were killed as they tried to storm a military camp in the province of Abyan. At least two troops were killed, and 20 others were injured in the insurgent²⁰ attack.

In the US, new signs today that the economic fallout from Japan's nuclear crisis may be close to over. Factory orders in the United States rose in May by 0.8%. The Commerce Department says much of the increase was bolstered²³ by orders for more planes, automobiles²⁵, auto²⁴ parts, as well as oil drilling equipment. Without transportation, factory orders still rose 0.2%. May's increase followed a downwardly revised decline in April of 0.9%.

1 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》

2 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 haggling   

v.讨价还价( haggle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I left him in the market haggling over the price of a shirt. 我扔下他自己在市场上就一件衬衫讨价还价。
• Some were haggling loudly with traders as they hawked their wares. 有些人正在大声同兜售货物的商贩讲价钱。 来自辞典例句

5 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

6 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

7 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

8 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

9 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

10 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 layoff   

n.临时解雇，操作停止，活动停止期间，失业期

参考例句：

• Finally, prepare an explanation about what led to your layoff.最后，要准备好一套说辞来解释你被解雇的原因。
• Workers were re-employed after the layoff.在暂时解雇不久后工人们又被再度雇用了。

12 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

14 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

15 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

16 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

17 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。

18 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

19 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

20 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

21 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

22 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。

23 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

24 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

25 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》