NPR 2009-03-06

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack¹ Speer.

President Barack Obama opened the administration conference on the nation's health care system today, saying for years federal officials have talked and tinkered around the edges of revamping health care. He said now it's time to address the situation. "The status quo is the one option that's not on the table. And those who seek to block any reform at all, any reform at any costs, will not prevail this time around." Mr. Obama complained about the soaring cost of health care, which, as he put it, causes a bankruptcy² in America every 30 seconds. The president spoke³ as over 100 policymakers gathered at the White House today to begin moving forward on a plan to overhaul⁴ the nation's health care system.

Auditors⁵ for General Motors say there is substantial doubt about the company's ability to survive without bankruptcy. The notice came in GM's annual filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Dustin Dwyer of Michigan Radio has more.

GM has lost 82 billion dollars since 2005. It's borrowed 13 billion dollars from the federal government. By now, just about everyone has doubts about the company's ability to stay in business. Auto⁶ industry analyst⁷ Aaron Bragman of IHS Global Insight says GM's auditors still have to make their concerns official. "This is something that's required under accounting⁸ laws. The auditors have an obligation to go over GM's books and determine what their chances are, what their future looks like." And that assessment⁹ creates a new set of problems for GM. Auto parts suppliers could start demanding payment up front for new orders and GM's cash drain could accelerate. To survive, the company is asking for a total of up to 30 billion dollars from the federal government. For NPR News, I'm Dustin Dwyer in Ann Arbor¹⁰, Michigan.

A number of countries are saying efforts to prosecute¹¹ Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will undermine peace efforts in Darfur. NPR's Gwen Tompkins has more.

China, Russia, the African Union and Arab states have all been reluctant to see the case move forward. All claimed that the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will spoil the gains made toward peace in Darfur. The court wants to try Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in that region. The Chinese Foreign Ministry¹² today said that China opposes anything that could disrupt peace efforts. But like many foreign powers who oppose Bashir's arrest, China has a strong economic interest in Sudan. China is Sudan's most vital trading partner with enormous investments in that country's oil industry and Beijing is believed to be the Khartoum government's largest supplier of weapons. Gwen Tompkins, NPR News, Nairobi.

Government's weekly unemployment numbers fell off slightly from the previous week, nonetheless remained at recession levels. Labor¹³ Department reported today first time jobless claims last week fell to 639,000.

On Wall Street, a difficult day for the stock market: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 281 points today; the NASDAQ was down 54 points; the Standard & Poor's 500 lost 30 points today.

This is NPR.

After an alarming spike¹⁴ in the number of soldier suicides in January, the army said today there were another suspected 18 suicides last month. The army, which generally only releases such numbers on an annual basis, said it's decided¹⁵ to release monthly numbers to help focus attention on the problem and on prevention. Army vice¹⁶ chief of staff says there were two confirmed suicides by soldiers last month with 16 other suspected cases that remain under investigation¹⁷.

Democrats¹⁸ continue to hammer radio host Rush Limbaugh's comments that he wants President Obama to fail. Liberal activists¹⁹ have a television ad campaign. Now the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is calling on Republicans to disavow Limbaugh's comments. NPR's Ari Shapiro has more.

Democrats believe they can force Republicans to alienate²⁰ their base or alienate moderates by making them take sides for or against Limbaugh. This TV ad came out Monday. "Call the Republican leadership, tell them to just say no to the politics of Rush Limbaugh. 'I hope he fails.'" And now Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has said this at a committee business meeting: "I realize that the person who's now been considered the putative²¹ head of the Republican Party says he does not want the president to succeed. I would hope, however, they were independent enough not to take orders from him." Committee Republicans have been trying to move beyond the controversy²² and they did not reply. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

The Cook County Sheriff's Office in Chicago has filed a suit against the popular online classified ad site Craigslist, alleging²³ the service helps promote prostitution. County Sheriff Tom Dart²⁴ in the suit says he wants the company to eliminate its erotic services section, suggesting many of the ads amount to blatant²⁵ solicitations for prostitution.

I'm Jack Speer, NPR News in Washington.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

5 auditors   

n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生

参考例句：

• The company has been in litigation with its previous auditors for a full year. 那家公司与前任审计员已打了整整一年的官司。
• a meeting to discuss the annual accounts and the auditors' report thereon 讨论年度报表及其审计报告的会议

6 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

7 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。

8 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

9 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

10 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

11 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

12 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 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。

17 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

18 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》

19 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 alienate   

vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等)

参考例句：

• His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.他离间那两个朋友的企图失败了，因为他们彼此完全信任。
• We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.我们最好还是不要与同事们疏远。

21 putative   

adj.假定的

参考例句：

• There have been many attempts to track down the putative Loch Ness monster.人们为追踪假定存在的尼斯湖水怪做了许多努力。
• He is the putative father of this child.他是这孩子的推定的父亲。

22 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

23 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

24 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

25 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。