NPR 2010-05-07

The closing bell on Wall Street after quite an afternoon, markets are recovering some losses after stocks took a brief nosedive at one point. The Dow plunged¹ nearly 1,000 points before gaining ground. We see at last check, the Dow was down now more than 350 points at 10,550. NASDAQ down 83 at 2,320. NPR's economic correspondent Chris Arnold is in Boston, tracking the markets'tumultuous afternoon. Chris, what's been going on?

Hi, Lakshmi. Well, basically, we've been watching a classic panic selling take over the market today. At one point, like you said, the Dow was down around 1,000 points. It quickly plunged down there in just a matter of minutes. That was a little bit for 3 p.m. and then it came roaring back up 700 points. And it's been bouncing around, you know, 100 or 200 points up and down ever since. As you said, it closed around 350. And what we're seeing here is that there's been a 14-month rally so far since the financial implosion². And stocks have been going up and what we're seeing now is a major correction.

Apparently³ what's playing out on Wall Street though is tied to escalating⁴ tension over the debt crisis in Greece, right?

That is one of the things. Yeah. They saw this turmoil⁵ in Greece and people rioting in the street and that makes people nervous. There's also a big jobs report coming out tomorrow. There might be some worries about that. There's also some speculation⁶ that some computer errors might be involved here in sparking this, but the New York Stock Exchange is so far saying that there were not any system errors.

OK, thank you, Chris. NPR's Chris Arnold joining us from Boston.

Going back to that story on Greece's debt crisis. Outrage⁷ over the country's austerity measures is generating protests involving tens of thousands of people and that has led to violence. Some demonstrators clashed with police prompting them to fire tear gas. Three people died yesterday after getting trapped in a burning bank that, authorities say, rioters set on fire.

Attorney General Eric Holder⁸ told a panel of senators today that the suspect in last weekend's attempted car bombing of New York City's Times Square was questioned extensively before being read the Miranda warning. NPR's David Welna reports.

It was Attorney General Holder's first appearance before Congress since Monday's arrest of Pakistani-born US citizen Faisal Shahzad, the prime suspect in the Times Square bombing attempt. Holder told a Senate standing⁹ panel that Shahzad provided interrogators with what Holder called a very substantial amount of information before his Miranda rights were read to him. That prompted this from Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.

"Did that in any way hinder your investigation¹⁰?"

"No, it did not. As we have seen in prior investigations¹¹, the giving of Miranda warnings has not deterred¹² people from talking to us. And Mr. Shahzad is, in fact, continuing to cooperate with us."

Holder also defended trying suspected terrorists in civilian¹³ courts.

This is NPR.

A group of married gay couples and widows were in federal court today, arguing for federal recognition of their marriages. As NPR's Tovia Smith tells us, they're challenging the federal Defense¹⁴ of Marriage Act as unconstitutional.

Plaintiffs say this is not a "right to marry" case. They already won that battle in Massachusetts and are already married. Rather, it's about whether the federal government has to provide them benefits on taxes or social security, for example, that other married couples get. The federal government has traditionally yielded to states' definitions of who is married. And now, Kathy Bush and Mary Ritchie who married in 2004 say the government can't just ignore some marriages while recognizing others.

"A marriage is a marriage. Massachusetts provided us with a marriage license¹⁵. And that's all we're asking for is to be treated like every other married couple."

The Obama administration opposes DOMA and government lawyers in court began and ended by saying they see the law as discriminatory, but they say that doesn't mean it's unconstitutional. Tovia Smith, NPR News, Boston.

Two people are dead as a result of yesterday's explosion at a missile and aviation research site in Alabama. Officials of Redstone Arsenal¹⁶ near Huntsville say the contract workers died last night after suffering burns from the explosion. A spokeswoman says the accident happened Wednesday morning as workers were removing some materials from rockets.

Productivity grew at an annual rate of 3.6% in the first months of the year in the US. Unit labor¹⁷ costs dropped at an annual rate of 1.6%.

Recapping our top story. US stocks tumbled nearly 1,000 points today before gaining ground. At last check, the Dow was down more than 300 points.
 

1 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。

2 implosion   

n.向内破裂，内爆

参考例句：

• The population explosion is accompanied by a population implosion.人口爆炸还伴随着人口爆聚。

3 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。

4 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

5 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

6 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

7 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

8 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

9 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。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

12 deterred   

v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告诉他我不感兴趣，可他却不罢休。
• Jeremy was not deterred by this criticism. 杰里米没有因这一批评而却步。 来自辞典例句

13 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

14 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。

15 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。

16 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

17 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。