NPR 2012-04-05

 US stocks are retreating partly on news of Spain's weak bond auction¹, which's stoking new fears of European debt crisis. Last week, Spain announced tax hikes and deep spending cuts. The price of gold has fallen to its lowest level since January. At last glance on Wall Street, the Dow was down 120 points, nearly 1%, at 13,079.

 

The STOCK Act is formally law. President Obama signed legislation today that bars members of Congress, the president and thousands of federal workers from profiting off non-public information learned on the job.

 

“We should limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries that they have the power to impact. We should make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for Congress can't lobby Congress, and vice² versa.”

 

Provisions of the law will be enforced, beginning this summer. 

 

About 2,000 people are losing their jobs at Yahoo. The Internet company says it has to make cuts in order to effectively position the company in better financial standing³. But the broader job market in the US appears brighter. A payroll⁴ processing group says companies have been hiring more people in recent months. The monthly jobs report comes out on Friday.  

 

Dallas-Fort Worth is cleaning up today after getting hit by as many as a dozen tornados⁵ yesterday afternoon. We have the details from NPR's Wade⁶ Goodwyn.

 

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings called it a miracle that no one was killed.

 

“The Dallas-Fort Worth area really dodged⁷ a bullet. I mean, we've got hundreds and hundreds of homes destroyed, but amazingly no fatalities⁸.”

 

There was widespread damage. The suburbs Forney and Lancaster got it worse, with roofs ripped off and the leafless trees that signal (slip) dangerous twisters come through. More than 500 flights have been canceled at DFW today as planes are inspected for hail damage. The most inconvenient⁹ group, school children, who arrived home to complain they had spent four hours cooped up in bathrooms and hallways, bored stiff after the initial excitement. Wade Goodwyn, NPR News, Dallas.

 

There is word that Syrian troops are starting to pull out of some of the calmer areas of the military's year-old conflict with rebels. NPR's Grant Clark reports that President Bashar al-Assad is publicly reaffirming his commitment to a UN-backed deadline for Syrian forces to withdraw from towns and cities in less than a week.

 

The official who asked not to be named told the Associated Press soldiers were returning to their bases in calm areas and pulling back to the outskirts¹⁰ of ten cities. But opposition¹¹ activists¹² deny any sign of a military withdrawal¹³ or retreat. Shelling is reportedly continuing in the cities of Homs, Hama and Edlib, where activists say they have noticed there's some scaling down of checkpoints as in the port city of Latakia. 

 

That's NPR's Grant Clark reporting.

 

Dow was down 120 points. 

 

This is NPR News.

 

Now that Mitt¹⁴ Romney is closer to clinching¹⁵ the GOP presidential nomination¹⁶ after his latest primary victories, his campaign is launching a joint¹⁷ fundraising effort with the Republican National Committee (slip) in preparation for the big November vote. Details from NPR's Peter Overby.

 

The GOP effort lets donors¹⁸ write a single check for the Romney campaign committee, the national committee and several party committees in battleground states. The total — as much as 75,800 dollars or 15 times the legal limit for Romney's committee alone. The money chase this year is so relentless¹⁹. The RNC couldn't wait till the primaries were over. A Romney spokeswomen said donors are ready to mobilize for November and understand they need to get started now. This joint fundraising is completely unrelated to the independent super PAC supporting Romney. The biggest contribution it's gotten so far is three million dollars. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

 

The suspect in the shooting rampage at a religious school in Oakland, California this week is expected to make his first court appearance within hours. One Goh is accused in the deaths of seven people. The 43-year-old South Korean native is being held without bail²⁰. 

 

The Associated Press has been reporting the Greece's track and field federation²¹ has suspended all sports operations after Greece made deep cuts in state funding as part of its broad austerity measures. The suspension comes just one month before Greece holds the Olympic flame lighting²² ceremony in Ancient Olympia for the 2012 London Games. 

 

US stocks seeing losses today, with the Dow off 120 points; NASDAQ down 51; and the S&P 500 down 14 points.

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

1 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

2 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。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

5 tornados   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And the national weather service reports several tornados touch down. 国家气象中心报告预测龙卷风将来袭。 来自互联网
• They had stock footage of lightning, tornados, and hurricanes. 他们存有关于闪电、龙卷风和飓风的电影胶片。 来自互联网

6 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

7 dodged   

v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He dodged cleverly when she threw her sabot at him. 她用木底鞋砸向他时，他机敏地闪开了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He dodged the book that I threw at him. 他躲开了我扔向他的书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

10 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

11 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。

12 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

14 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

15 clinching   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• Joe gets clinching evidence of the brains role when he dreams. 乔做梦时得到了大脑发生作用的决定性依据。 来自辞典例句
• Clinching, wrestling, pushing, or seizing, without attempting a throw or other technique. 抱，扭摔，推或抓而没有摔或其它的技术。 来自互联网

16 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

17 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

18 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

20 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。

21 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

22 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。