NPR 2009-04-03

Wrapping up his first international summit meeting, President Barack Obama hailed agreements reached by world leaders at the now-concluded G20 Summit in London. Mr. Obama spoke¹ shortly after G20 leaders reached agreement to providing an additional 1.1 trillion dollars in financing to deal with the global economic crisis through the International Monetary² Fund. "After weeks of preparation and two days of careful negotiation³, we have agreed on a series of unprecedented⁴ steps to restore growth and prevented crisis like this from happening again.” President meanwhile downplayed the fact that other leaders at the now-concluded summit largely rebuffed his bid for substantial new stimulus⁵ spending. Summit participants also announced the creation of a supervisory body to identify problems in the global financial system and declared a crackdown on tax havens⁶ and hedge funds.

Federal prosecutors⁷ have announced an indictment⁸ to against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The 52-year-old Blagojevich is accused of scheming to trade President Barack Obama's former US Senate seat, in exchange for money or favors among other crimes. Blagojevich's brother, two former aides and two businessmen have all reportedly been indicted⁹ on corruption¹⁰ charges.

The former head of Insurance giant AIG says the company collapsed¹² because of poor management after he retired¹³. Hank Greenberg who led AIG for nearly 40 years has told a Congressional committee he had nothing to do with the problem that led to the company’s collapse¹¹. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

Hank Greenberg built AIG into the largest insurance company in the world. When he was pushed out in 2005, it was with 170 billion dollars. As Chief Executive, he created the Financial Products Division which made huge profits by selling risky¹⁴ insurance products called “credit default swaps¹⁵”. That was the business that brought the company down, but Greenberg blames the executives who ran it after he left. "I think they got greedy. I think they rode considerably¹⁶ more businesses than they should have. When they lost the AAA rating after I left the company that should have been a signal to discontinue writing credit default swaps and hedge the book." Greenberg also faults the US government for its 180-billion-dollar bailout of AIG, saying it could have worked out a better deal. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.

The number of consumers falling behind on their mortgages has been going up for some time now, but it appears more borrowers are also falling behind on payments for consumer and home equity¹⁷ loans. American Bankers Association says the fourth quarter delinquency rate was just under 3.25% across different types of so-called closed-end consumer loans including auto/home equity and boat & RV loans.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 216 points to end the session at 7,977. The NASDAQ also gained ground today, rising 51 points to end the day at 1, 663. Standard & Poor's 500 closed up 23 points ending the session at 834 points. This is NPR.

According to the federal government, there was a spike¹⁸ last year in deaths from crashes of air medical, air taxi and tour flights. However, the National Transportation Safety Board says the major US airlines suffered no accident fatalities¹⁹ in 2008 for a second straight year. There were also no fatal crashes involving smaller commuter²⁰ airlines. The NTSB in its preliminary accident statistics says there were 56 so-called on-demand flight accidents in which 66 people were killed in 2008. That’s the highest number of fatalities in some eight years. The nation did suffer its deadliest air crash in seven years in February of this year when a regional airliner²¹ crashed into a house near Buffalo²² killing²³ a total of 50 people.

Researchers at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts have used a genetically²⁴ engineered virus to make a battery electrode. The technique could lead to more environmentally-friendly batteries. NPR's Joe Palca has more.

To find new materials for battery electrodes, engineers typically rely on strategies called heat and beat. Heat materials to high temperatures and beat them with exotic chemicals to see if they'll develop properties that will make them good in batteries. The new approach uses a much gentler mixture of molecular²⁵ biology and nanotechnology. The MIT researchers used a genetically engineered virus to form a tiny scuffled lithium iron phosphate. The virus was also capable of attaching a carbon nanotube to the scuffling so electricity could move in and out of it. The researchers say the electrode is as efficient as the best battery electrode on the market and can be made at room temperature without toxic²⁶ chemicals. The research appears in the Journal Science. Joe Palca, NPR News, Washington.

Crude oil future prices rose $4.25 a barrel today to end the session at $52 a barrel in New York.

1 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。

2 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

3 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 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。

6 havens   

n.港口，安全地方( haven的名词复数 )v.港口，安全地方( haven的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Your twenty havens would back out at the last minute anyhow. 你那二十个避难所到了最后一分钟也要不认帐。 来自辞典例句
• Using offshore havens to avoid taxes and investor protections. 使用海面的港口避免税和投资者保护。 来自互联网

7 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

8 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

9 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

10 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

11 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。

12 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

13 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

14 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

15 swaps   

交换( swap的名词复数 )； 交换物，被掉换者

参考例句：

• He swaps his old car for a new motorcycle. 他用旧车换了一辆新摩托车。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• Swaps the anchor and end points of the current selection. 交换当前所选内容的定位点和结束点。

16 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

17 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

18 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。

19 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

21 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

22 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

23 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

24 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

25 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

26 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。