NPR 2009-07-26

President Obama says small businesses need some help in offering health insurance benefits to employees. He cites a new White House study showing an up to 18% disparity between what small and large businesses have to pay for similar employee plans. NPR’s Scott Horsley has more.

 The White House says President Obama will continue the campaign for a health care overhaul¹ throughout the month of August even after lawmakers leave Washington to their home districts. In his weekly address this morning, Mr. Obama highlighted the heavy toll² that health care costs take on small businesses. "Because they lack the bargaining power that large businesses have and face higher administrative³ costs per person, small businesses pay up to 18% more for the very same health insurance plans, costs that eat into  their profits and get passed onto their employees." Mr. Obama says proposals now in Congress would help to subsidize small businesses that offer health insurance and promote a more competitive insurance market. All but the smallest firms would be required to provide workers with health coverage⁴, or else, pay a penalty. Scott Horsley NPR News, Washington.

 The president of the National Organization for Women spoke⁵

in Kansas today about rebuilding the women’s rights movement across the US. The group’s meeting is taking place nearly two months after the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a physician who provided abortion⁶ services in Wichita. NPR’s Kathy Lohr reports.

 Newly elected NOW President Terry O'Neill says after the murder of Dr. Tiller, Kansas is crucially important to the pro-choice movement. Tiller’s family decided⁷ to close the Wichita clinic, one of the few places in the country that provide late abortions⁸. O’Neill says it’s time for people to speak out in support of women’s health care including abortion. "I have become convinced that right now in this country what we are seeing is a truly remarkable⁹ combination of optimism and outrage¹⁰. There is no better combination for creating change in community after community. " O’Neill says the optimism stems from the election of a pro-choice president; she says the outrage is over restrictions¹¹ that prevent women from getting abortions. Kathy Lohr NPR News, Wichita, Kansas.

Taliban suicide bombers¹² attacked a provincial¹³ capital in Afghanistan today. Only one of the militants¹⁴ was able to trigger a blast that wounded two policemen. The attacks came less than a month before Afghanistan’s presidential election. US envoy¹⁶ Richard Holbrooke met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his two main opponents today in Kabul. Holbrooke says the election comes at a challenging time there. "Only the second election in their history and the first truly contested election is a difficult thing to hold under any circumstances. To hold it in the middle of a war is extraordinary." Holbrooke says he’s especially concerned about women in Afghanistan being allowed access to polling places.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Protesters in dozens of cities around the world staged for rallies today to call on Iran’s government to halt its crackdown on opposition¹⁷ supporters. One of the rallies was in Tokyo. In Teheran, police and pro-government militia¹⁸ attacked protesters.

Forest fires sweeping¹⁹ across southern Europe this week have killed at least eight people. The worst blazes have been in Spain. Jerome Socolovsky has more from Madrid.

Soldiers have been sent to some of the worst blazes in the eastern provinces of Teruel in Castile-Leon and in Almeria in the south. Many homes were evacuated²⁰ as fire swept into residential¹⁵ areas. Government officials are touring the devastation²¹ while regional lawmakers pay tribute to the firefighters who died in the line of duty. The government has declared a maximum fire alert around the country, highway signs warn of steep fines for throwing cigarette butts²² out of vehicles. In Italy, ten water-dropping planes are aiding in the effort on the island of Sardinia. In Greece, fire brigades have brought two forests fires north of Athens under control. For NPR News, I’m Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid.

An American Airlines jetliner en route from Boston to San Juan Puerto Rico returned to Boston and made an emergency landing today after the smell of smoke was detected in one of the plane’s bathrooms. Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner says mechanics are still not sure what caused that smell. "At this time we don’t have a diagnosis²³ of what caused the smell, but inside any sort of aircraft cabinet, sort of very confined space. It’s only a sort of smell like a burned out light bulb that is gonna smell pretty strong." Wagner says none of the 185 people aboard the flight were injured; all were put on other flights to their destination.

1 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。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

4 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。

5 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。

6 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

7 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。

8 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

9 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

10 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

11 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

12 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

14 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

15 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

16 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

17 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

18 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

19 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

20 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

21 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 butts   

笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。
• The house butts to a cemetery. 这所房子和墓地相连。

23 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。