NPR 2009-02-17

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Tokyo, the first stop on a weeklong swing through Asia. She said she decided¹ to go there first because Asia is an indispensable region. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Secretary Clinton says she plans to reach out to regional powers in Asia to help solve the global financial crisis, climate change and nuclear proliferation. "By strengthening our historic Asian alliances, starting right here in Japan, and forging new partnerships² with emerging nations, we can begin together to build networks around the world to help us solve problems that none of us can solve alone." How to deal with North Korea will be key on her agenda here. Secretary Clinton plans to meet families of Japanese citizens who were abducted³ by North Korea decades ago - an unresolved issue that's one of the factors stalling multilateral disarmament talks with Pyongyang. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Tokyo.

Investigators⁴ trying to determine what caused last week's crash of a Continental⁵ commuter⁶ plane near Buffalo⁷ are hoping to get a closer look at the plane's engines. Steve Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board said a crane's been used to pull the engines from wreckage⁸ of the jet in a house it crashed into. He says it still remains⁹ mysterious what caused Continental Flight 3047 to crash as it was coming in for a landing. All 49 people aboard the plane were killed last Thursday night. One of the men on the ground also died. The turbo prop¹⁰ was flying in fog and snow and went down some six miles from Buffalo Airport.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi today rejected suggestions US has become protectionist. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome.

While leading a congressional delegation¹¹ on a visit to the Italian parliament, Speaker Pelosi defended the United States against accusations¹² of protectionism. "Somewhere in the mix of things, ur, someone has decided that America has become, is becoming, more protectionist. President Obama is not a protectionist president." Pelosi said many American workers had lost their jobs because of the global downturn, but added that the United States appreciates the value of global trade as a motor for economic growth. Last week, the US Congress adopted a 787-billion-dollar stimulus¹³ plan that would require public infrastructure¹⁴ projects to use US steeling goods - a "Buy American" clause that worries some trading partners in Europe and China. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

Negotiators of automaker General Motors and its largest labor¹⁵ union are facing a Tuesday deadline for submitting a survival plan to the US government. One of the issues two sides still have to determine is how GM will fund a trust for retiree health care. Separately, GM's board is set to be looking at a revised restructuring plan that has to be turned in tomorrow as well.

Wall Street's closed through for the holiday today. However, overseas markets for the most part reported continued losses: Japan's Nikkei fell four tenths of a percent; Stocks were lower in Britain as well.

This is NPR.

Officials in the Czech Republic are saying at least 43 people were injured today, several of them seriously, in a head-on collision between two trains near a railway station. Officials with the Czech Rail authority said the crash occurred when one of the trains went through a red signal not far from the station, colliding head-on with an approaching train. DV reports from the scene show the engine of the smaller train suffered heavy damage. The accident occurred in an area some 200 miles east of the capital Prague.

A new installment¹⁶ of Friday the 13th, the debut¹⁷ is at the top of the weekend North American box office, the horror film earning an estimated 42.2 million dollars, making it the biggest opening on record for the genre¹⁸. NPR's Trina Williams has more.

Friday the 13th's huge take also pushed Hollywood to its best President's Day weekend and figures for today have yet to be counted. This is the 12th installment of the 1980 original. "People don't mess around here. They're gone for good. Outsiders come; they don't know where to walk. They bring trouble. You just won't be left alone and so does he." "So does who? " The big opening boded¹⁹ well for some other horror film classics in the pipeline²⁰ including "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Last weekend's top movie "He's Just Not That Into You" fell to second on the chart. It was followed by spy thriller²¹ "Taken". Opening in fourth place was "Confessions²² of a Shopaholic", while "Coralline" dropped to number five, "The International" debuted²³ in seventh place. Trina Williams, NPR News.

It's not just homeowners who are having foreclosure problems. It also seems one of the Atlantic City's biggest resorts has fallen behind on its payment. Resorts Atlantic City acknowledges that it doesn't make long payments since October as trying to avert²⁴ foreclosure by arguing its lenders lacked a casino license²⁵ and a result can't operate the facility.

1 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。

2 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

3 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

4 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》

5 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

6 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

7 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

8 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

11 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

12 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

13 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

14 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

15 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

16 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。

17 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

18 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

19 boded   

v.预示，预告，预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待

参考例句：

• The beginning of that summer boded ill. 夏季一开始就来势不善。 来自辞典例句

20 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

21 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

22 confessions   

n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔

参考例句：

• It is strictly forbidden to obtain confessions and to give them credence. 严禁逼供信。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions. 既不诱供也不逼供。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

23 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

24 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

25 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。