NPR 2008-08-27

It's Hillary Clinton's night at the Democratic National Convention. She takes the podium for a prime time speech to urge her supporters to rally behind Barack Obama's candidacy. NPR's Debbie Elliott has more.

With polls showing less than half of Clinton's supporters ready to commit to Obama, her speech tonight is considered a critical moment if Democrats¹ are to emerge from Denver unified². Alita Black is a Clinton delegate from Virginia. She is expecting Clinton to call on her supporters to back Obama. "What I want from this is a closure. I want her to give me the strength to go on and work in a campaign that has treated me with the most disrespect that I have ever encountered in any campaign in my 56 years. " Clinton's name will be put into nomination³ before what's expected to be a limited roll call vote agreed to by both campaigns. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Denver.

U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she still hopes there would be Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before President Bush leaves office. She also criticized Israel's continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, saying it is not helpful to peace talks. NPR's Linda Gradstein reports.

Secretary Rice wrapped up her 25-hour visit to the region with a joint⁴ news conference of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "God willing and with the goodwill⁵ of the parties, we have a good chance of succeeding," she said of the Bush Administration's goal for a peace agreement. But she offered no specific signs of progress, and did not mention any kind of a joint document. Abbas said it is important to reach a complete and comprehensive solution, not a partial peace deal. He also said the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are (quote) "a main obstacle" in the road of the peace process. He spoke⁶ as the dovish Israeli group Peace Now published a report that Israel has almost doubled its building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank in the past year. The report said there are 2, 600 new homes under construction. For NPR News, I'm Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

A problem with the communications network has caused major problems at US airports today. The reports that air traffic in more than two dozen airports are being held up by the glitch⁷ which, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Diane Spitaliere, centers round the Georgia FAA Center. "We had a processing center that went down in Atlanta, and that facility processes flight plans and weather information for the different carriers and as well for all, all aircrafts.” The FAA which expects to have the problem fixed⁸ tonight, says there are no safety issues and controllers are still able to speak to pilots on planes, on the ground and in the air. It's not clear how many flights are affected⁹.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 26 points before closing up at 11, 412. The NASDAQ lost three points to 2, 361 today. This is NPR News.

Ford¹⁰ said today it will spend around 75 million dollars to retool¹¹ part of a Michigan Truck Plant to build cars. The number two domestic automaker says the one thousand workers of the plant who currently build Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles (SUV) will be sent to the nearby Wayne Assembly Plant where Ford will add a third shift to make more of its Focus model cars. Ford says it will let in clear space at the Michigan Truck Plant to allow for retooling¹², convert of solely¹³ over to a car plant by 2010. Ford like many of its competitors including GM is trying to shift away from building trucks and SUVs to more fuel-efficient models.

The College Board has released this year's SAT scores. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

Just under one million five hundred and nineteen thousand students took the SAT this past school year, a record. But the average scores in math, reading and writing remained flat. The overall average was 1511 out of a possible 2400. Asian students had the highest average, 1610, 27 points higher than whites, who had the second-highest average. Latinos were next. African American students averaged just under 1300. More females than males took the SAT while ethnic¹⁴ and racial minorities now represent 40 percent of all test takers. As in past years, students from high income college educated families outperformed middle and low income students whose parents did not go to college. Private school students outscored public school students by ninety points on average. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today Sears will voluntarily recall more than 145, 000 of its twelve-cup Kenmore and Kenmore Elite¹⁵ coffee makers¹⁶, after reports of wiring overheating. The recall follows at least 20 reports of coffee makers overheating including 12 fires. There were no injuries.

 

1 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》

2 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

3 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 glitch   

n.干扰；误操作，小故障

参考例句：

• There is a glitch in the computer program somewhere.这个计算机程序中的某个部分有点小问题。
• It could just be a random glitch that can be solved by restarting the machine.可能只是一个小故障，重新启动主机就能解决了。

8 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

11 retool   

v.改组，重新装备

参考例句：

• Each time the product changes,the machines have to be retooled.每次更换产品，就得重新装备机器。
• In the computer industry,engineers have to retool frequently.在电脑业中，工程师必须经常以新知识充实装备自己。

12 retooling   

v.（给…）更换工具， （给…）更换机械设备( retool的现在分词 )；改组，革新

参考例句：

• The factory is retooling to start making the new line of cars. 工厂正在重新装备以便开始制造新系列车型。 来自辞典例句
• Among her suggestions: retooling factories to focus on rebuilding America's transportation system. 她的建议包括围绕重新建设美国交通系统这个重心来重组汽车工业。 来自互联网

13 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

14 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

15 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

16 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》