NPR 2009-09-15

A year after the start of the financial crisis, President Obama urged Wall Street to embrace reform to prevent another one from happening again. NPR's Frank Langfitt has the story.

Last fall the financial system was on the brink¹ of ruin. Today, the economy appears to be stabilizing². And efforts to reform the financial system have lost momentum³ in Washington. In a speech on Wall Street, the President pressed the financial community to back reform, he said, would protect the US economy from systemic risk. "We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. Those on Wall Street can not resume taking risks without regard for consequences.” The President's Wall Street audience remained quiet through most of the speech. The only applause came when the President called for a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Flank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.

There are reports that the New York Attorney General's office's preparing to charge several senior Bank of America executives for failing to disclose details about the bank's acquisition of the troubled Merrill Lynch. Executives did not alert shareholders⁴ about the broker⁵ firm's huge losses, nor did they tell them about accelerated bonus payments about to be made to Merrill executives. Bank of America agreed to acquire Merrill last year when the credit crisis was at its worst.

The FBI released its Uniform Crime Report today. It provides a snapshot of crime across the country as we hear from NPR's Dina Temple-Raston.

The Uniform Crime Report is compiled by getting crime statistics from law enforcement agencies all over the country. Experts say it is the gold standard when it comes to tracking crime in the US. This report covers 2008 and the news is almost uniformly good. Violent crimes were down about 2% between 2007 and 2008. Murders were down almost 4% over the same period. The number of stolen cars fell almost 13%. The number of other property crimes like burglaries are another story. They have shown rose between 2007 and 2008. The bureau doesn't rank cities and their crime rates, but it is possible to see regional trends. The southern part of the country, for example, had the highest crime rate. The northeast had the lowest. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

US commandos in the helicopter apparently⁶ have killed one of the region's most wanted militants⁷ in southern Somalia. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan man, was wanted in connection with a hotel bombing and a failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner⁸ in 2002. There are fears that insurgents⁹ are gaining a foothold in the African nation.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 21 points to close at 9, 626. The NASDAQ was up 10 points to 2, 091 and the S&P added six.

This is NPR News.

Connecticut’s Chief Medical Examiner confirms the body found stuffed into a wall of a lab building on the campus of Yale University is that of missing grad student Annie Le, and ruled her death a homicide. Le's body was found yesterday, the day she was to be married. Police say they don't believe the killing¹⁰ is a random¹¹ act. They did not say if they have a suspect.

Parks in New York City could become smoke-free. Michael Bloomberg, the city's mayor, says his next goal in his anti-smoking crusade is to end smoking in city parks, playgrounds and beaches. NPR's Margot Adler has more.

The announcement was actually made by the City's Health Commissioner¹² Tomas Phaley, who outlined a ten-step program with health goals the city wants to reach; it's put on something called Take Care New York 2012. Phaley said the city hopes to cut adults smoking rates from 16. 9% to 12%. He said the indoor smoking ban which was instituted in 2003 was so successful that the mayor wants it expanded and will seek legislation or ask the Parks Department to change its policy. He said that New Yorkers shouldn't have to breathe second-hand¹³ smoke even outside, and that children shouldn't have to see people smoking. The city has more than 1, 700 parks and some 14 miles of beaches. It was a tough battle to pass the indoor smoking ban. This could be just as difficult. Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.

Serena Williams apologized today for her profanity-laced outburst to a lineswoman during the women's semi-finals of the US Tennis Open against Kim Clijsters. Williams told the lineswoman, in so many words, that she was lucky Williams didn't force a tennis ball down her throat. She was penalized¹⁴ a point for her conduct and fined 10, 000 dollars. Williams and her elder sister Venus won the women's doubles final in New York.

1 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

2 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

3 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

4 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

5 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 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。

8 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。

9 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

10 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。

11 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

12 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。

13 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

14 penalized   

对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 )； 使处于不利地位

参考例句：

• You will be penalized for poor spelling. 你拼写不好将会受到处罚。
• Team members will be penalized for lateness. 队员迟到要受处罚。