NPR 2011-09-10

 From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack¹ Speer.

 

President Obama has kicked off his three-day bus tour of the Midwest with a broadside against not only the Republican Party as a whole but the field of GOP candidates. Mr. Obama to stop in Minnesota and later in the day in Iowa criticized his potential 2012 rivals for their unwillingness² to consider any deficit-cutting measures that would include tax hikes.

 

"My hope is that Congress is willing to take up tax reform. So far they've said that they're willing to do it. But so far we haven't seen a lot of energy."

 

Speaking in Decorah Iowa, the president defended his own record, saying he makes no apologies for being reasonable. The president also pledged to present a specific jobs plan to Congress when lawmakers return from their summer recess⁴.

 

The new leader of al-Qaeda is renewing calls for attacks on the US. As NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports, he appears in a new video posted on militant⁵ websites.

 

The 12-minute message is the third from Ayman al-Zawahiri since he was named al-Qaeda's leader in June. In the latest dispatch, he said bin⁶ Laden⁷'s death should not shake the resolve of followers⁸ to attack the US. Zawahiri said America was a criminal country that has corrupted⁹ the world. US leaders have said in recent weeks that al-Qaeda's core operation is on the ropes. But in the run-up to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, officials are concerned that lone¹⁰ supporters of al-Qaeda will take the opportunity to launch small-bore attacks. Intelligence gleaned¹¹ from the compound where bin Laden was killed indicates that al-Qaeda was keen to mark the 10th anniversary with another attack. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

 

Google says it is buying suburban¹² Chicago-based Motorola Mobility¹³. Tony Arnold with member station WBEZ reports the price tag more than 12.5 billion dollars.

 

Google is gaining a key maker³ of Android cell phones in its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Earlier in this year, Motorola officially split into two companies. Google's acquiring Motorola Mobility, the side that focuses on cell phones. It's Google's biggest acquisition to date. In a statement, Google CEO Larry Page says that together the two companies will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem¹⁴. Earlier in this year, Motorola Mobility CEO announced the company would be staying put in Illinois, thanks to a 10-year benefit package from the governor. Motorola Mobility has about 3,000 employees. For NPR News, I'm Tony Arnold in Chicago.

 

Strong sales at department stores and at airports have been credited by cosmetics¹⁵ maker Estée Lauder for better-than-expected quarterly earnings¹⁶ numbers. The company's products include Clinique, Bobbi Brown and M.A.C. It’s forecasting tougher times ahead, however. Estée Lauder says in the months ending in July, the company posted net income of 41.1 million dollars with 20 cents a share.

 

After last week's up-and-down roller coaster ride on Wall Street, things are a bit calmer to begin the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 213 points today; NASDAQ was up 47 points.

 

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In the what is now a nine-day strike, Verizon workers wearing red shirts placed a wreath at the suburban New York location where a colleague was fatally injured while on a picket¹⁷ line 22 years ago. Many of the 45,000 striking employees also return to picket lines of their own as they protest plans by the company for contract givebacks, including cuts to employee pensions and health care benefits. A striking employee who was killed on August 15th of 1989 died after jumping on the hood¹⁸ of a replacement¹⁹ worker's car then falling off. Verizon last week was granted an injunction to limit picketing²⁰ by striking workers in New Jersey²¹.

 

A new study in the journal Pediatrics shed some unexpected light on autism. As NPR's Richard Knox tells us, the report finds the younger siblings²² of an autistic child have a higher risk of the disorder²³ than experts thought.

 

It's one of the first questions parents with autistic children have: What are the chances of this happening again? Experts thought it was between 3% and 14%. But the new study, the largest of its kind, finds that 19% of younger siblings will have a form of autism. For male siblings, it rises to one in four. And if there're two or more older children with autism, the risk is even higher - 33%. Alicia Halliday of the group Autism Speaks says knowing the true risk may change the thinking of parents and pediatricians.

 

"We hope that parents can now receive an earlier diagnosis²⁴ and then get the proper treatment for their child."

 

Autism Speaks helped fund the study, along with the National Institutes of Health. Richard Knox, NPR News.

 

Crude oil futures²⁵ prices closed higher. The price of oil up $2.50 a barrel to end the session at $87.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

 

I'm Jack Speer, NPR News in Washington.

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 unwillingness   

n. 不愿意，不情愿

参考例句：

• Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position. 她不愿回答问题，这不利于她所处的形势。
• His apparent unwillingness would disappear if we paid him enough. 如果我们付足了钱，他露出的那副不乐意的神情就会消失。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

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 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

6 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

7 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• 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。

8 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

9 corrupted   

（使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏

参考例句：

• The body corrupted quite quickly. 尸体很快腐烂了。
• The text was corrupted by careless copyists. 原文因抄写员粗心而有讹误。

10 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

11 gleaned   

v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗

参考例句：

• These figures have been gleaned from a number of studies. 这些数据是通过多次研究收集得来的。
• A valuable lesson may be gleaned from it by those who have eyes to see. 明眼人可从中记取宝贵的教训。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

13 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

14 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

15 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

16 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

17 picket   

n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫

参考例句：

• They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
• Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。

18 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

19 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

20 picketing   

[经] 罢工工人劝阻工人上班，工人纠察线

参考例句：

• mass picketing of the factory 罢工工人集体对工厂的封锁
• "And my chaps were also there to prevent picketing! “我的人也是防着女工们要拦厂！ 来自子夜部分

21 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

22 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

23 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

24 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

25 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。