NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-09-27

 Texas freshman¹ Republican Senator Ted² Cruz finally called it quits this morning after his 21-hour, 19-minute talkathon on the floor of the US Senate. Cruz spoke³ in favor of dismantling⁴ President Obama's health care law. Senate Majority Leader Harry⁵ Reid called Cruz's marathon speech "a waste of time."

"The things he talked about have been talked about before on a number of occasions; in fact, endlessly."

The Senate moved ahead with a test vote on the measure, would allow for a possible vote Friday on the bill over the government shutdown. While the House passed a version the measure contains a provision to gut⁶ the health care law, the Senate is expected to remove that.

One of the departments that stand to be severely⁷ affected⁸ by the budget impasse⁹ in Washington is Treasury¹⁰. Treasury Secretary Jack¹¹ Lew says as of October 17th, Treasury will be powerless to avoid a default on US government debt if Congress does not act to raise the debt celling. NPR's John Ydstie reports the warning came in a letter to all members of Congress.

In his letter, Lew estimated that by October 17th, Treasure may have only about 30 billion dollars on hand to honor a daily obligation that could exceed 60 billion dollars. He urged members of Congress to act immediately to raise the borrowing limit. He reminded them that a last-minute fight over the debt celling issue in 2011 caused significant harm to the economy and the downgrade to the credit rating of the United States. Lew said legislation recently passed by the House of Representatives, which would prioritize debt payments honoring some obligations but not others, is "simply default by another name." He said there is no way of knowing the damage that the default might cause to the economy and financial markets. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

In the wake of the Washington Navy Yard shootings, the Pentagon will review physical security defense¹² installations and check how military contractors¹³ receive clearances¹⁵. NPR's Tom Bowman has more.

Aaron Alexis drove into the Navy Yard in September 16th with the security clearance¹⁴, a government access card and a sawed-off shotgun stuffed in a bag. After his killing¹⁶ spree, Alexis was shot and killed by police. Now the Pentagon is mounting several reviews. Among the questions: How could Alexis have slipped through the cracks after several brushes with the law in what the FBI calls "delusional¹⁷" behavior? Investigators¹⁸ missed the fact that Alexis shot out the tires of someone's car in 2004.

"Oh, that jumped out at me, evidence that there was behavior well before the Washington Navy Yard incident."

That's Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. He says the reviews will include an independent one headed by a retired¹⁹ admiral and a government official. Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington.

What is being called one of the greatest comebacks in sports history--Oracle Team USA and skipper Jimmy Spithill had come from behind to win the American抯 Cup, Spithill steering²⁰ Oracle's 72-foot-long catamaran to its eighth straight victory in the final winner-take-all race in the San Francisco Bay.

On Wall Street, the Dow was down 61 points. You抮e listening to NPR.

A lawyer representing entertainment company AEG Live says music superstar Michael Jackson died as a result of his own bad choices, and not anything the company producing Jackson's "This Is It" concert may have done. Attorney Marvin Putnam began delivering final arguments to jurors who抮e weighing evidence in a negligence²¹ suit brought by Jackson's family. The attorney representing the late singer has claimed he would have had earnings²² potential of more than a billion dollars had he lived. Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50 for drug overdose. Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for tomorrow.

Three astronauts are due to arrive at the International Space Station in less than an hour. They are taking the express route. As NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports, they blasted off aboard a Russian rocket earlier today.

"Three, two, one, ignition."

The Russian Soyuz TMA-10M lifted off just a few minutes before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Onboard are NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy. They will dock with the station later this evening. Once aboard, the three new astronauts will join three already in orbit. While in space, the trio will conduct scientific experiments and routine maintenance onboard the station. They are scheduled to return to Earth in the spring of next year. Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.

School Board in North Carolina now says it's rethinking its decision to ban the Ralph Ellison's novel "Invisible Man." That's after the board's decision was ridiculed²³ by residents of the county located in the central part of the state. While the publicized ban came after the mother of a high school junior complained about the sexual content of the book, five of seven board members apparently²⁴ agreed. "Invisible Man" won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1953.

1 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 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。

9 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

10 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

11 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。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

15 clearances   

清除( clearance的名词复数 )； 许可； （录用或准许接触机密以前的）审查许可； 净空

参考例句：

• But I can't get to him without clearances. 但是没有证明我就没法见到他。
• The bridge and the top of the bus was only ten clearances. 桥与公共汽车车顶之间的间隙只有十厘米。

16 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。

17 delusional   

妄想的

参考例句：

• You became delusional and attacked several people trying to escape. 你产生了错觉并攻击了许多人还试图逃走。 来自电影对白
• He is incoherent, delusional, suffering auditory hallucinations. 他出现无逻辑的，妄想的，幻听的症状。 来自电影对白

18 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》

19 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

20 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

21 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

22 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%。

23 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。