NPR 2008-11-18

Congressional lawmakers are back on Capitol Hill this week for a special session on the nation's teetering auto¹ industry. Today the Senate began debate on whether to come to its aid. NPR's Brian Miller² reports.

As domestic carmakers teeter on the brink³ of insolvency⁴, the Senate has begun debating whether and how to help. Florida Democrat⁵ Bill Nelson says the industry has, as he put it, sailed against the winds of change. "And have failed to produce vehicles for the 21st century. For that matter, for the last half of the 20th century. " Still Nelson says he would support bridge loans to help the industry with conditions, such as replacing current management, but with no consensus⁶ on what to do. Lawmakers may put off action until the new Congress in January. Brian Miller, NPR News, the Capitol.

Some democrats⁷ have proposed using part of the 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout package for Detroit. White House spokesperson Dana Perino said today President Bush opposes that strategy. "We want the automakers to succeed and we support using an existing program to help them do so. " That program, the White House says, involves government loans that Congress has already approved.

Citigroup says it will soon cut 53, 000 jobs through both direct lay-offs and the sale of business units. It’s the second biggest lay-off announcement ever made by a U. S. company. The bank has already shed 22, 000 jobs this year. Citigroup has lost billions of dollars in subprime mortgages and it had losses in the last four quarters.

The nation's top military officer says it will take up to three years to remove all U. S. troops and their equipment from Iraq. The time frame is longer than one proposed by President-elect Barack Obama who wants most American forces out in 16 months. NPR's Tom Bowman has more.

Admiral Mike Mullen says he continues to believe that security consideration should dictate⁸ how fast U. S. forces leave Iraq. Still Mullen says he'll carry out whatever direction he gets from the next administration. Preparing, he says, to give Obama his best military advice on Iraq. There are now about 150, 000 U. S. troops in Iraq. Obama wants all combat troops out by the spring of 2010, and says a residual⁹ American force may remain to train Iraqis and pursue al-Qaeda. His advisors¹⁰ say that force could total tens of thousands of troops. Meanwhile, a security agreement now before the Iraqi Parliament calls for U. S. forces to leave the country by the end of 2011. Tom Bowman, NPR News, the Pentagon.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 224 points at 8, 273. The NASDAQ lost 34 points to close at 1, 482. The S&P lost 22 points.

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In Southern California, calm winds, cooler temperatures and an increase in humidity are helping¹¹ fire fighters battle wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of residents to evacuate¹². 3, 000 homes are still threatened.

Most of the countries that signed the Kyoto Climate Treaty are falling short on their pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions¹³. That's according to data released today by the United Nations Climate Agency. NPR's Richard Harris has details.

It's proving very difficult to cut down on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to climate change. The latest numbers mark progress between 1990 and 2006. In that time, Spain, for instance, has increased its emissions by 50%. New Zealand's emissions are up more than 25 %. Italy's emissions are up 10%. Just a few western countries are on track to cut emissions, for example, the United Kingdom, Sweden and France. Countries in Eastern Europe like the former Soviet¹⁴ Union have lower emissions today. But that's because their industrial economies collapsed¹⁵ in the 1990s. The United States is not part of the Kyoto treaty, but the Energy Department says emissions here increased 15% between 1990 and 2006. Richard Harris, NPR News.

The U. S. Navy says Somali pirates have hijacked¹⁶ their largest ship yet, a Saudi oil tanker¹⁷, three times the size of an aircraft carrier. It's carrying more than 100 million dollars worth of Saudi oil. The hijacking¹⁸ occurred Saturday in the Gulf¹⁹ of Aden where U. S. and European patrols have increased to thwart²⁰ Somali pirates. But the supertanker was on a different than usual course.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

3 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

4 insolvency   

n.无力偿付，破产

参考例句：

• The company is on the verge of insolvency.该公司快要破产了。
• Normal insolvency procedures should not be applied to banks.通常的破产程序不应当适用于银行。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

7 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

9 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。

10 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

13 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

14 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

15 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

16 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

17 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

18 hijacking   

n. 劫持, 抢劫 动词hijack的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• I have been told about the hijacking . 我已听说了那次劫机事件。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• They are taking measures to guarantee against the occurrence of hijacking. 他们正采取措施防止劫机事件的发生。

19 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

20 thwart   

v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的)

参考例句：

• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。
• I don't think that will thwart our purposes.我认为那不会使我们的目的受到挫折。