NPR 2008-06-04

As the final two Democratic primaries take place today in South Dakota and Montana, there has been a surge of superdelegates declaring their support for frontrunner Barack Obama, who's close to clinching¹ the majority he needs to be the Democratic nominee². More from NPR's David Welna.

At least 16 holdout superdelegates announced their support for Barack Obama, only one did so for rival Hillary Clinton. One of Obama's new backers is former President Jimmy Carter. Four others are members of Congress. But Senate Majority Leader Harry³ Reid remained uncommitted out of deference⁴ to Clinton. " Senator Clinton needs to be left alone. And let's get through the primary process and let this week work its course." In announcing his support today for Obama, House Majority Whip James Clyburn expressed confidence Obama will soon get a majority of delegates. "I think that threshold will be reached by the time Senator Obama addresses the American people from Minnesota this evening." Obama's appearing at the same St. Paul site where Republicans are holding their convention in September. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

One of the key issues on the campaign trail has been "whether the US should talk to its enemies like Iran?". Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice argued before a pro-Israel lobby today that there is no point in talking until Iran changes its behavior. NPR's Michele Kelemen has more.

"Diplomacy⁵ is not a synonym⁶ for talking", that's how Secretary Rice puts it. She says true diplomacy means setting out incentives⁷ and disincentives, and she repeated that she would sit down with her Iranian counterpart only if Iran suspends uranium enrichment activities. "We would be willing to meet with them, but not while they continue to inch closer to a nuclear weapon under the cover of talk." About a third of her speech to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee focused on Iran. On Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, she said that Israel can be "bold" because the US is behind her. She did not mention the political troubles of Israel's prime minister, who's facing corruption⁸ charges at home. Ehud Olmert is to address the conference this evening. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

In a move towards the production of more fuel-efficient vehicles, General Motors announced today it will close four of its North American truck plants. The announcement from the world's largest automaker came ahead of the company's annual shareholders⁹ meeting. One of those facilities is GM's Janesville, Wisconsin plant, which opened in 1919. Jim Doyle is governor of the state and says like everyone, he was shocked and saddened by the announcement. " My reaction was, I think, probably like everybody else's in the state. That made me ill , just coz I know everybody here so well. Just it was, just a, just a kick in the gut¹⁰." (A) total of 10,000 workers are employed at the plant, some will be offered jobs at other GM facilities.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 101 points.

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A Texas appeals court has blocked the scheduled execution of a former car wash worker, convicted in the 1991 double murder in the Houston area. The court moving to block the execution of death row inmate¹¹ Derrick Sonnier after lawyers for the State Public Defender's Office claimed the state's lethal¹² injection procedure would cause him unconstitutional pain and suffering. Sonnier was convicted in the stabbing deaths of a 27-year-old woman and her two-year-old son. He would have been the first prisoner to be executed in Texas since the Supreme¹³ Court took up the matter of lethal injection. The high court in April ruled such executions are constitutional.

The man who's considered the founding father of Chicago improv theater has died at the age of 80. Chicago Public Radio's Lynette Kalsnes reports.

Paul Sills created several theater companies during his lifetime. But he's best known for co-founding Second City, the famous Chicago improv company. Bernard Sahlins helped start Second City, and says there'd be no improv scene today without Sills. "He had absolute integrity in terms of the work. He served the work, and he also inspired the actors to serve the work rather than themselves. So (that), there was never any question of selling out." Sills helped start the Compass Players, which launched the careers of Mike Nichols and Elaine May. He also led workshops that taught his improv methods. He died Monday of complications from pneumonia¹⁴. For NPR News, I'm Lynette Kalsnes in Chicago.

The astronauts aboard the 100-billion-dollar International Space Station are about to get something that may be just as important to them as the new Japanese lab delivered by the space shuttle Discovery---a working toilet. Discovery, along with the new bus-sized lab, brought a pump to fix the toilet which had been working（口误），malfunctioning for some time. A fix is scheduled for tomorrow.

1 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

2 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

3 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。

4 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

5 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

6 synonym   

n.同义词，换喻词

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• The term 'industrial democracy' is often used as a synonym for worker participation. “工业民主”这个词常被用作“工人参与”的同义词。

7 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 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。

9 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

10 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。

11 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

12 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

14 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。