NPR 2009-03-03

A rough start to the week for Wall Street: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest level in some 12 years today, dipping below 7,000. With the ongoing¹ credit crisis and more taxpayer² dollars going into AIG and Citibank, blue chip stocks are now less than half of what they were in October of 2007. Michael Farr is with the investment firm Farr, Miller³ & Washington. He says the uncertainty⁴ over how much more money the financial sector⁵ may need is responsible for the latest market jitters⁶. "Investors⁷ were beginning to once again sell the financial stocks and banks, as Citigroup's conversion⁸ of that preferred stock cast great uncertainty on the future of many of the banks. We really don't know how much more money a lot of these banks are gonna need in order to maintain their capital ratios."

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 299 points today to close at 6,763. The NASDAQ was down 54 points. The S&P 500 lost 34 points today.

President Barack Obama has nominated Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary for Health and Human Services. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

President Obama said Sebelius knows health care inside out, having served as the Kansas state insurance commissioner⁹; and although she tried and failed as governor to expand health coverage¹⁰ in Kansas by raising the cigarette tax, the president said she was the right person to help him lead a battle for health care reform that he said was no longer just a moral imperative¹¹, it was a fiscal¹² imperative. "It's a crisis punishing families, battering¹³ businesses, squeezing our states, and increasingly imperiling our own budget. Health care is one of the fastest growing expenses in the federal budget, and it's one we simply can not sustain." The president also named Nancy-Ann DeParle as the White House health reform czar. DeParle was the commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services in Tennessee, and she's a veteran of the Clinton administration's budget office where she handled Medicare and Medicaid. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House.

The CIA has destroyed almost 100 interrogation tapes of terror suspects, a far greater number than previously¹⁴ reported from the agency. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports.

The revelation comes in just-released court documents as part of a lawsuit¹⁵ about the treatment of detainees in US custody¹⁶ outside the US. In the new papers, the CIA said that it could now confirm that 92 videotapes were destroyed. The issue is controversial because the tapes are thought to have recorded harsh interrogation techniques, like waterboarding, being used on a handful of terrorism suspects. The CIA had said in the past that the tapes were destroyed to protect the identities of the people who were doing the questioning. At the time, the Justice Department was trying to decide whether the tactics used were illegal. The Bush Justice Department ended up deciding that indeed they were. The Obama administration has since condemned¹⁷ techniques like waterboarding as torture. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

This is NPR.

Coast Guard officials now confirmed one of four men missing since a weekend fishing trip off the Florida coast has been found, though they say three others including two NFL players are still missing. Authorities say Nick Schuyler, a former University of South Florida football player, was found clinging to a 21-foot boat in the waters of the Gulf¹⁸ Coast. Schuyler told rescuers the boat flipped¹⁹ Saturday evening in rough seas. The search for the remaining men including Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper and free-agent defensive²⁰ lineman Corey Smith as well as another former South Florida player William Bleakley continues. The four left the Clearwater area early Saturday in calm weather, but heavy winds quickly created high seas.

A Gallup poll finds Muslims in America have a much more upbeat outlook on their lives than Muslims in many other countries including some in Europe. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports.

Forty-one percent of Muslim Americans said they were thriving. That's slightly less than Americans generally, but far more than said the same in France or Britain or many majority Muslim countries. The survey also found Muslim Americans are more likely than the nation as a whole to be well-educated professionals, and Muslim women even more so than men. Gallup analyst²¹ Ahmed Younis says that should put to rest a stereotype²². "The Achilles heel that has always existed, well, Muslims aren't like us because their women are oppressed, well, the data speaks to the proposition that that is absolutely not true." Gallup says Muslims are the only religious group in the US not dominated by ethnic²³ whites, and it found splits that reflect the wider society. For example, African-American Muslims reported lower incomes than those of Asian origin. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

Crude oil futures²⁴ fell $4.61 a barrel to close at $40.15 in New York.

I'm Jack²⁵ Speer, NPR News in Washington.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

3 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。

4 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

5 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。

6 jitters   

n.pl.紧张(通常前面要有the)

参考例句：

• I always get the jitters before exams. 我考试前总是很紧张。
• The whole city had the jitters from the bombing. 全城居民都为轰炸而心神不宁。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

9 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

12 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

13 battering   

n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The film took a battering from critics in the US. 该影片在美国遭遇到批评家的猛烈抨击。
• He kept battering away at the door. 他接连不断地砸门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

15 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

16 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

17 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

18 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。

19 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

20 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

21 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

22 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

23 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。

24 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

25 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。