NPR 2008-09-27

Congressional leaders are reporting progress today in talks aimed at fashioning a bailout of the country's financial markets. NPR's Debbie Elliott has more.

Negotiations² jump-started after House Republicans joined the talks. Minority Leader John Boehner says everyone agrees there's a crisis but GOP members want to see a less government-centered response. "We will not agree to a bill that sells taxpayers³ out to bail¹ out Wall Street." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the process is back on track. She appears open to at least some of the Republican market-based proposals. "I don't see why the secretary could not accept some of those among the options he has to choose from in order to strengthen these institutions, in order to bring stability to the markets, in order to turn around our economy." Pelosi says Congress needs a bipartisan agreement to send the message to the markets. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, the Capitol.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain are in Mississippi preparing for a debate which is scheduled to begin in about two hours from now. McCain ended several days of speculation⁵ over whether he would attend the event on the campus of Ole Miss. Initially⁶ he'd called for the debate to be postponed⁷ while lawmakers in Washington continue to try and hammer out a financial rescue plan. However, Obama had consistently said he would attend. Tonight's debate is the first of three planned televised face-offs between the pairs sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

As the contenders prepare for this evening's foreign policy debate, Democratic vice⁸ presidential candidate Joe Biden is criticizing Republican Homeland Security efforts. Chuck Quirmbach of Wisconsin Public Radio reports.

senator Biden spoke⁹ to firefighters at a fish fry lunch in the Milwaukee suburb of Cudahy. The Delaware Democrat⁴ said GOP presidential candidate John McCain and other Republicans have not provided enough federal funding to help firefighters and police respond to terrorist actions inside the US. "He votes against giving you the money. He votes against and the president of the United States will not give you the money. Because philosophically¹⁰ he doesn't think it's a responsibility of the federal government. It is a local responsibility." The McCain campaign says the Arizona senator has a long record of supporting firefighters as the leader of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus¹¹. While in Wisconsin, Senator Biden also met with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. And pledged support for the former Soviet¹² republic. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee.

Following what is being described as the largest bank collapse¹³ in US history, depositors of Washington Mutual¹⁴ are being told their holdings are safe. Not so fortunate however, the stockholders in the Seattle-based thrift¹⁵ who pretty much lost everything when the government announced last night it was moving in to engineer the sale of the bank's assets to JPMorgan Chase for 1.9 billion dollars. The acquisition of WaMu Chase will have more than 5,400 bank branches and deposits of nearly a trillion dollars.

On Wall Street, the Dow was up 121 points today.

This is NPR News.

House lawmakers today voted to approve legislation that would extend billions of dollars in tax credits for renewable energy but the bill still faces an uncertain future. The measure which passed by a vote of 226 to 166 is similar to a bill that cleared the Senate this week. Though unlike that version, it would include tax breaks that are opposed by many Republicans. Both bills would extend for one year production tax credits for wind energy with an eight year extension of credits for solar energy projects, but also include tax credits for purchasing plug-in electric vehicles. Unclear is whether the respective sides can work out a compromise before lawmakers leave town to begin campaigning for the November election.

Olympic officials in China insist that Olympic athletes and journalists were not served milk contaminated with melamine. That's in response to concerns Chinese suppliers gave some of those products to the Olympics. NPR's Howard Berkes has more.

A spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Committee told aroundtherings.com that milk and yogurt served to Olympic athletes and journalists were checked by inspectors¹⁶ and found not to contain melamine, the toxic¹⁷ chemical at the centre of a growing food poisoning scandal in China. The only milk product served to athletes and media at the Olympic Villages and Venues¹⁸ were made by Olympic supplier Yili. Melamine has been found in Yili products. But Olympic spokesman Sun Wei told Around the Rings that food safety was strictly¹⁹ monitored during the Games. More than 50, 000 Chinese children have been sickened and four died due to melamine contamination. Some Chinese officials knew about the tainted²⁰ milk products before and during the Olympics, but kept that information secret. Howard Berkes, NPR News.

1 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

3 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

4 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。

5 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。

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

7 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 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。

10 philosophically   

adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地

参考例句：

• He added philosophically that one should adapt oneself to the changed conditions. 他富于哲理地补充说，一个人应该适应变化了的情况。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Harry took his rejection philosophically. 哈里达观地看待自己被拒的事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

12 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。

13 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

14 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

15 thrift   

adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约

参考例句：

• He has the virtues of thrift and hard work.他具备节俭和勤奋的美德。
• His thrift and industry speak well for his future.他的节俭和勤勉预示着他美好的未来。

16 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

18 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

19 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

20 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》