NPR 2008-06-26

The Supreme¹ Court today has struck down a law allowing the execution of individuals convicted of child rape². The high court, in a 5-4 vote, said a Louisiana law permitting the death penalty to be imposed in such cases violates a constitution ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The case involved a man convicted for the rape of his eight-year-old stepdaughter. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child.

Exxon Mobile will be forced to pay punitive³ damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. However, the Supreme Court today slashed⁴ those damages to about 500 million dollars, far less than fishermen, land owners and native Alaskans had hoped for. NPR’s Frank Langfitt reports.

This is Joseph Hazelwood, the captain of the Exxon Valdez in March 1989. “We've fetched up hard ground, evidently leaking some oil.” That leak of “some oil” became 11 million gallons, the largest spill on record in North America. A lower court had ordered the company to pay 2.5 billion dollars in punitive damages. But today, the Supreme Court found that amount excessive. The court said that under federal maritime⁵ law, punitive damages shouldn’t be bigger than the compensatory damages the company had already been ordered to pay. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.

The Fed wrapped up a two-day meeting in Washington today, leaving a key overnight bank lending rate unchanged at two percent. Stuart Hoffman is chief economist⁶ with PNC Financial Services Group. He’s in the camp that believes the Fed is likely to stay on hold in terms of interest rates for the time being with consumer loan rates following suit. “It tells me the drop in rates has gone about as far as it’s gonna go and both savers and borrowers are gonna see the rates today they face now pretty much there for the next few months at least.” PNC economist Stuart Hoffman.

Even with persistent⁷ high oil prices, global energy demand won’t let up. That’s according to new projections⁸ from the Energy Department. NPR’s Debbie Elliott reports.

The Energy Information Administration forecast global energy demand will grow by 50% over the next two decades. And the agency predicts the amount of carbon dioxide resulting from energy use will also grow by about that same amount without mandatory⁹ actions to reduce global warming. Despite increases in renewable energy from wind and bio-fuels, the government says fossil fuels, mostly oil and coal, will continue to supply most of the world’s energy needs. The growth in energy demand is most dramatic in China and other developing countries. It says oil-consuming nations will rely even more on OPEC for supply. As for prices, the report says they’ll stay high. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Washington.

On Wall Street, the Dow was up four points. This is NPR.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee¹⁰ John McCain said today if elected, he would seek to break US reliance on foreign oil by 2025. Speaking in Las Vegas, McCain said he would do that through a combination of increased off-shore drilling, stepped-up reliance on nuclear power and conservation. Aides to the Arizona Senator said the aim would be to have a US economy where oil is no longer the primary fuel, lessening¹¹ dependence¹² on cartels, like OPEC. McCain made the pledge during a speech at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Critics have claimed McCain’s proposal to build 45 new nuclear reactors¹³ will generate waste that will have to be disposed of.

 The Vatican has described as “sensationalist” Italian media reports linking the late Archbishop Paul Marcinkus to the alleged¹⁴ muder of a teenage daughter of a Vatican employee 25 years ago. NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome.

 Twenty-five years after the mysterious disappearance¹⁵ of Emanuela Orlandi, posters of the teenager have reappeared all over Rome. And Italian dailies are filled with alleged claims by the girlfriend of a slain¹⁶ mobster that the late archbishop who died two years ago had hired hitmen to kidnap and murder Orlandi in 1983. A Vatican statement said the accusations¹⁷ are defamatory and baseless and chided the media for publishing the charges without any checks. At the time Orlandi disappeared, Marcinkus was the head of the Vatican Bank embroiled¹⁸ in a financial scandal. Italian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Marcinkus on suspicion of involvement in the fraudulent bankruptcy¹⁹ of the Banco Ambrosiano. The director of that bank, Roberto Calvi, was found hanging from London’s Blackfriars Bridge in 1982. An Italian court has ruled he was probably murdered by the Mafia. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

1 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。

2 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

3 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

4 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

8 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

9 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

10 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。

11 lessening   

减轻，减少，变小

参考例句：

• So however much he earned, she spent it, her demands growing and lessening with his income. 祥子挣多少，她花多少，她的要求随着他的钱涨落。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• The talks have resulted in a lessening of suspicion. 谈话消减了彼此的怀疑。

12 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

13 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

14 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

15 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

16 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

17 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。

18 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。