NPR 2011-09-18

 From NPR News in Washington, I'm Nancy Lyons.

 

Investigators¹ with the National Transportation Safety Board are in Reno, Nevada today to look into yesterday's air show crash that killed three people including the pilot and injured more than 50. Mike Houghton is the president and CEO of the Reno Air Racing² Association.

 

"There appeared to be some air flight problem with the aircraft that caused it to go out of control, and we all know what the end result was on that."

 

The plane was being flown by a 74-year-old veteran Hollywood stunt³ pilot. Witnesses say the pilot pulled up at the last minute and avoided further injury with his final actions.

 

General Motors and the United Auto⁴ Workers Union have finished working on a new four-year contract and without any strikes. The union says the deal reached last night includes improvements and profit sharing, promises of new jobs and better health care benefits. The proposal is expected to serve as a model for contracts still being negotiated with Chrysler and Ford⁵.

 

With his country at the center of the eurozone crisis, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has suddenly canceled a planned visit to Washington and the UN General Assembly. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Athens local media are speculating that Greece's EU partners doubt the Papandreou's government can push through drastic fiscal⁷ reforms.

 

A government spokesman said the prime minister wants to ensure that all of Greece's commitments are fulfilled. Greek media are speculating that EU finance ministers have expressed serious doubts about the debt-ridden country's ability to meet international lenders' demands for further funding, and they may have decided⁸ to hold back the sixth installment⁹, eight billion of the 110-billion-euro bailout agreed to last year. The funds had been expected by the end of September. Greece has fallen back on meeting fiscal goals this year due to a much deeper-than-projected recession caused by draconian¹¹ austerity measures. This forced the government to further anger public opinion by slapping an emergency levy¹² on property to make up for the shortfall. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Athens.

 

International efforts are moving forward on trying to seal the freedom for bail¹⁰ deal for two Americans held in Iran. The two men were convicted of spying, and Iran says they will allow their release in exchange for a million dollars. The bail arrangement is still under review by Iran's powerful judiciary. Mediators from Iraq and Oman are urging Iran to release the men on humanitarian¹³ grounds.

 

Rebels fighters in Libya with help from NATO are still trying to take control of Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte. They're engaged in street-by-street battles with Gaddafi loyalists, trying to topple the old regime stronghold. Rebel forces are refocusing their efforts in Bani Walid, where loyalists, snipers, and gunners beat them back and are holding the high ground. The staunch resistance is stalling Libya's move to a new government.

 

This is NPR.

 

The maker¹⁴ of the Blackberry smartphone is again taking a beating from investors¹⁵. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, Canada's Research In Motion lost 20% of its stock value after second-quarter profits dropped. 

 

Those profits plunged¹⁶ 58% to about 330 million dollars, far below analysts¹⁷' expectations, mainly over disappointing sales of its Blackberry smartphones and its Playbook tablet. Research In Motion also said profits were affected¹⁸ by the 120 million dollars that had to pay to cover the cost of cutting 2,000 jobs. The co-CEO Mike Lazaridis says the numbers don't truly reflect the company's sales since the new smartphones were only on the market for a couple of weeks before the second quarter ended. But some observers say RIM⁶ just hasn't been able to compete with Apple's popular iPhone and iPad and hasn't learned how to anticipate the market and respond to customers' needs. Analysts remain worried about its aging line of products, too few job cuts and the fact that it's losing market share faster than expected. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

 

President Obama is keeping up the pressure on Congress to quickly pass his 447-billion-dollar jobs package. In his weekly address today, he said it's what’s needed to boost the economy.

 

"It will create new jobs. It will cut taxes for every worker and small businesses in the country. And it will not add to the deficit¹⁹. It will be paid for."

 

For the Republicans, Congressman²⁰ Peter Roskam from Illinois says the way to increase jobs is to eliminate all the bureaucratic²¹ red tape.

 

"Job creators should be able to focus on their work - not on Washington's busy-work."

 

Roskam says the Senate needs to approve House Republican initiatives including legislation that would give Congress veto power over certain high-cost regulations.

 

I'm Nancy Lyons, NPR News.

1 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》

2 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

3 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

4 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。

5 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

6 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

7 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

10 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

11 draconian   

adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的

参考例句：

• You can't expect the people to obey such draconian regulations.你不能指望人民服从如此严苛的规定。
• The city needs a draconian way of dealing with robbers.这个城市需要一个严苛的办法来对付强盗。

12 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

13 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

14 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。

15 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

16 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

17 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

18 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。

19 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。

20 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

21 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。