NPR 2009-02-11

The Senate has passed the 838-billion-dollar economic stimulus¹ bill, sending it to a House-Senate conference. The vote was 61 to 37. NPR's Audie Cornish reports.

The Senate passed its bill with the backing of just three Republicans who had considerable leverage² to help shape the measure. Now representatives from the Senate and the House will meet to negotiate a package that a majority in both chambers³ can support. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland says that won't be easy.

"Obviously we're confronted with the reality that if you have three people say, 'look, if you change anything, we are jumping ship, ' you know, that's gonna affect the tenor⁴ of the conference. I would think that's not a position we ought to be in. "

Congressional leaders say they want an economic stimulus bill ready for the president to sign by the end of the week. Otherwise, they vow⁵ to work through the scheduled February recess⁶ to get it done. Audie Cornish, NPR News, the Capitol.

The stock market reacted negatively to the Obama administration's efforts to prop⁷ up the financial sector⁸. All the major stock market indexes fell sharply in an hour after the Treasury⁹ Department's plan was announced. NPR's Jim Zarroli has more.

The administration's plans called for the creation of a public-private investment fund that would absorb some of the hard-to-sell assets now cluttering¹⁰ the balance sheets of financial institutions. The administration also called for banks to undergo a stress test to ensure they are strong enough to receive federal support. But Wall Street didn't much like the plans, and many analysts¹¹ said that was because they lack specifics. All of the major stock indexes fell at least three percent right after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke¹². And once again it was bank stocks that led the way downward. JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup were all down sharply. Meanwhile, the price of treasury bonds which are often a safe haven¹³ in bad times rose after the speech. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

On Wall Street, the major stock market indexes all fell more than 4% today. The Dow was down 381 points. The NASDAQ lost 66 points. The S&P dropped 42 points today.

 A second plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America has been temporarily shut down amid concerns the plant in Georgia may be tied to a nationwide salmonella outbreak. The outbreak has sickened at least 600 people and has been linked to eight deaths. The closing of the company's plant in Plainview, Texas came at a behest of health officials who say tests of facilities have turned up a possible presence of salmonella in some of its products. Officials say at least initially¹⁴ it does not seem any of the possible contaminated products from that Texas plant reached consumers.

More job cuts appeared to be in an offering in giant General Motors. Today the troubled automaker, which has already axed tens of thousands of hourly positions, said it will eliminate 10, 000 salary jobs. GM says it will reduce total salary workforce¹⁵ this year from 73, 000 to 63, 000. Salaries for many other employees will also be reduced. The automaker says most of the job cuts will take place by May.

This is NPR.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima Party eked¹⁶ out a surprise victory today in Israel's election at least based on exit polling. However, it also appears a strong showing by hard-line rivals could make it difficult for the more moderate Foreign Minister to form a coalition¹⁷ government or pursue her vision of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Exit polls there gave Livni's party a narrow edge of Benjamin Netanyahu's hard line Likud Party. The exit polls were released by Israel's three main television stations.

Authorities say China state broadcaster set off fireworks that resulted in a massive blaze at its new headquarters last night. The fire killed one fireman and injured seven others. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing.

A Beijing fire department spokesman said the China Central Television had brought in a company to put on a fireworks display on the last night of the Chinese New Year holiday. The fireworks were bigger than those sold on the street and therefore required city government approval. But the company ignored police warnings to stop the display. The 30-story tower that caught fire houses a luxury hotel that's part of Hongkong's Mandarin¹⁸ Oriental group and was due to open later this year. The tower is separate from the main CCTV building designed by the Dutch firm OMA. The main building has two leg-like towers that meet at the top, leading some Beijing residents to nickname the building the "Giant Underpants". Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.

The price of a first-class stamp will be going up by another two cents in May, the post office announced today, it effective May 11. The price of a first-class stamp will rise to 44 cents. Postal¹⁹ officials say you can still purchase so-called forever stamps at current 42-cent rate though beating the price rise.

1 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

2 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

3 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

4 tenor   

n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意

参考例句：

• The tenor of his speech was that war would come.他讲话的大意是战争将要发生。
• The four parts in singing are soprano,alto,tenor and bass.唱歌的四个声部是女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音。

5 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

6 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

7 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

8 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

9 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

10 cluttering   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的现在分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• I'm sick of all these books cluttering up my office. 我讨厌办公室里乱糟糟地堆放着这些书。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some goals will need to be daily-say, drinking water, or exercise, or perhaps de cluttering. 对这些目标，需要把他们变成我们日常事务的一部分。 来自互联网

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 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。

13 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

14 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。

15 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

16 eked   

v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日

参考例句：

• She eked out the stew to make another meal. 她省出一些钝菜再做一顿饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She eked out her small income by washing clothes for other people. 她替人洗衣以贴补微薄的收入。 来自辞典例句

17 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

18 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

19 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。