NPR 2011-07-09

Shuttle Atlantis's flight to the International Space Station is unlike any other. This one is historic. This morning, Atlantis lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center for the last time. NASA's ending the shuttle program so it has more resources to work on venturing farther out into the solar system. Today's flight was in the works for a long time. But as Judith Smelser with member station WMFE reports, NASA had to wait until the very last minute to decide if the flight was a go.

Hundreds of thousands of people came to Florida's East Coast, hoping to see a launch, but few really expected it to happen. A tropical wave in the area prompted NASA to give the liftoff only a 30% chance of going ahead. Then when it looked like the weather was going to cooperate, a technical glitch¹ popped up with just 30 seconds left in the counts. After a few breathless moments, mission managers got that straightened out, and the shuttle lifted off for one final time.

"Two, one, zero, and lift off. The final liftoff of Atlantis on the shoulders of the space shuttle, America will continue the dream."

After a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, Atlantis is scheduled to land back in Florida, wrapping up 30 years of space shuttle flights. From NPR News, I'm Judith Smelser at the Kennedy Space Center.

The unemployment rate turns higher as the economy adds even fewer jobs. Today, the Labor² Department announced that only 18,000 positions were added to payrolls³ last month. That pushed the rate up to 9.2%. Mark Zandi, chief economist⁴ at Moody's Analytics, points to a number of contributing factors.

"Clearly, the damage to the economy from the surge in oil prices earlier in the year, the Japanese quake effects, a number of other things have taken a real toll⁵."

Hours after the report was released, President Obama said the country is still trying to recover from a painful recession, but that the jobs picture will get better. Congress's leading Republicans say the latest jobs report has proved that this is no time to raise taxes. That's been a sticking point in negotiations⁶ that come up with a deficit-reduction plan. An agreement is key to raising the debt ceiling by August 2rd before the government defaults on its obligations.

And arrest of the former top editor of the British tabloid⁷ at the heart of the scandal besetting⁸ Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. More from NPR's David Folkenflik.

London police arrested the former top editor of the News of the World, Andrew Coulson, today on suspicion of illegal phone hacking⁹ and corruption¹⁰. Separate criminal investigations¹¹ are focusing on allegations the paper ordered the interception¹² of mobile voicemail messages and made illegal payments to police officers. Another former editor for the tabloid, who's already served time in jail for hacking, was also arrested today on corruption charges. Coulson stepped down as the paper's editor in 2007, denying any knowledge of such act. He became a top aide to Prime Minister Cameron but resigned earlier this year after a new round of disclosures.

That's NPR's David Folkenflik.

This is NPR News.

French prosecutors¹³ have started a preliminary inquiry¹⁴ into a writer's claim that former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape¹⁵ her in 2003. Eleanor Beardsley reports that detectives have been assigned to investigate the complaint lodged¹⁶ by the 32-year-old woman this week.

Tristane Banon says Strauss-Kahn assaulted her in her Paris apartment as she attempted to conduct an interview with him for a book she was writing. She went public with the charges shortly after Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York. Eight years ago, Banon’s mother discouraged her daughter from filing charges because she said it would ruin her daughter's writing career and family relations. Banon was the goddaughter of Strauss-Kahn's second wife and good friend with his youngest daughter. Banon says because of what happened in New York, she has a chance to finally be listened to. She said: "If I want to put an end to this hell that has lasted eight years, there needs to be a trial in court." Under French law, attempted rape carries a maximum sentence of 15 years if the prosecutors' inquiry leads to formal charges. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

The search for plane crash victims is under way in the dense¹⁷ forest of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Forty people have been pulled from the wreckage¹⁸; 53 are confirmed dead; nearly two dozens still unaccounted for. Authorities say the Hewa Bora Airways¹⁹ flight crashed in bad weather on its way from Congo's capital to Kisangani.

Montana's governor is telling landowners along the Yellowstone River to take oil samples on their property in case they have to file claims against ExxonMobil. Governor Brian Schweitzer is criticizing the oil company's handling of a pipeline²⁰ breach²¹ last week that dumped tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone.

The Dow's down 60 points before the close.

1 glitch   

n.干扰；误操作，小故障

参考例句：

• There is a glitch in the computer program somewhere.这个计算机程序中的某个部分有点小问题。
• It could just be a random glitch that can be solved by restarting the machine.可能只是一个小故障，重新启动主机就能解决了。

2 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。

3 payrolls   

n.（公司员工的）工资名单( payroll的名词复数 )；（公司的）工资总支出，工薪总额

参考例句：

• Indices of employment, payrolls, and production steadied in February 1931931年2月，就业、工资额和生产指数稳定。 来自辞典例句
• Wall Street responded to the payrolls figures with gusto. 华尔街对就业数据作出了积极的反应。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

7 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。

8 besetting   

adj.不断攻击的v.困扰( beset的现在分词 )；不断围攻；镶；嵌

参考例句：

• Laziness is my besetting sin. 懒惰是我积重难返的恶习。 来自辞典例句
• His besetting sin is laziness. 他所易犯的毛病就是懒惰。 来自辞典例句

9 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

10 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

11 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

12 interception   

n.拦截；截击；截取；截住，截断；窃听

参考例句：

• Aerial photography can provide valuable information on precipitation, evapotraspiration, interception, and runoff. 航空摄影可提供有关降水量、蒸发蒸腾量、入渗和径流量的有价值的资料。
• Light interception and distribution in hedgerow orchards with different alleyway widths is indicated in Fig. 56. 图56显示篱壁果园不同行间宽度的光能截取和分配的情况。

13 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

14 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

15 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

16 lodged   

v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• The certificate will have to be lodged at the registry. 证书必须存放在登记处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Our neighbours lodged a complaint against us with the police. 我们的邻居向警方控告我们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

18 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

19 AIRWAYS   

航空公司

参考例句：

• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。
• At one point the company bought from Nippon Airways a 727 jet. 有一次公司从日本航空公司买了一架727型喷气机。

20 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

21 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。