NPR 2010-01-28

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.

 

President Obama heads to Congress tonight for his first State of the Union address. The economy will dominate but the speech also comes during a difficult time politically for the president. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

 

The president will look back at what's been a difficult year for the nation as it struggles economically while two wars continue. Polls show the public's greatest worries are jobs and the economy. The president's support is slipping as he has wrestled¹ with health care legislation. He'll cite progress, though not as much as he wanted. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

 

"I don't doubt that at times he'll be feisty. I don't doubt that at times he's gonna believe that while Washington may not want to make progress in certain ways that Washington has to be pushed to make that progress."

 

Mr. Obama will speak at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Don Gonyea, NPR News, the White House.

 

The uncle of a Colorado airport driver charged in a terror plot against New York City has apparently² been indicted³. The Associated Press says Naqib Jaji was arraigned⁴ on a single felony charge in a sealed proceeding⁵ in Brooklyn two weeks ago. Jaji is the uncle of Najibullah Zazi, who was charged in September with plotting to attack New York City with homemade bombs. Two other New Yorkers have been charged in the case as well.

 

The Federal Reserve's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee has left alone short-term interest rates and has given no hint of any near-term rate hikes. Steve Beckner of Market News International reports.

 

Fed policymakers left the federal funds rate between 0 and 0.25%, where that overnight money market rate has been for 13 months. And in the rate announcement, they again said it will likely stay exceptionally low for an extended period. There was one change - the vote was not unanimous this time. Kansas City's Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig, one of this year's policy voters, dissented⁶, not in favor of higher rates but against signaling that rates would stay low for an extended period, given improved economic and financial conditions. Explaining the majority of decision, the Fed said the economy is strengthened, but said consumer spending remains⁷ "constrained," that firms "remain reluctant" to hire, and that inflation is apt to stay "subdued⁸ for some time." For NPR News, I'm Steve Beckner in Washington.

 

Sales of new homes unexpectedly fell last month. Economists⁹ had expected a slight increase but the Commerce Department says sales were down 7.6 percent from November.

 

In San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has settled speculation¹⁰ about the company's latest creation. It's a tablet-style device called the iPad. The device has a touch screen and it's designed for all sorts of media from video games to electronic books. Steve Jobs says the iPad is more intimate than a laptop, but tablet computers aren't anything new and consumer appetite for such a device is unproven.

 

Stocks have turned positive today. The Dow was up 9 points, and the NASDAQ, Apple shares are leading. The NASDAQ has gained 7 points. This is NPR.

 

Russia’s pledging to help rebuild war-torn Afghanistan. That promise came from Russia's envoy¹¹ to NATO. He spoke¹² as officials from dozens of countries converged¹³ in London for tomorrow's international conference on Afghanistan's future. NPR's David Greene reports.

 

Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin said Russia is ready to help rebuild some Soviet¹⁴-era infrastructure¹⁵ that remains in Afghanistan. That includes hydro-power stations, also pipe lines for gas and oil. But Rogozin was speaking to the Reuters news agency, and he did add a major caveat¹⁶. He said if Russia makes such improvements, the international community would have to foot the bill. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was planning to attend Thursday's international conference on Afghanistan and the Russian envoy said Lavrov might bring up the topic of Russian assistance. Back in the 1980s, the Soviet Union fought its own prolonged war in Afghanistan, and during the present war, Russia has refused to send troops to fight alongside NATO forces. But Russia has promised to assist in stabilizing¹⁷ the country in other ways. David Greene, NPR News, Moscow.

 

Global leaders are already in London. They've been talking about how to stabilize¹⁸ Yemen. In a joint¹⁹ news conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the foreign ministers of Yemen and Britain said that they have agreed to work together to battle militant²⁰ groups that threaten security in the region.

 

The prolific²¹ author Louis Auchincloss has died. The author's grandson says Auchincloss died yesterday, a week after suffering a stroke. He was 92. Auchincloss wrote dozens of books and was a four-time fiction finalist for the National Book Award. "The Embezzler²²" and "The House of Five Talents" are among his nominated novels.

 

I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.
 

1 wrestled   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• As a boy he had boxed and wrestled. 他小的时候又是打拳又是摔跤。
• Armed guards wrestled with the intruder. 武装警卫和闯入者扭打起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 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。

4 arraigned   

v.告发( arraign的过去式和过去分词 )；控告；传讯；指责

参考例句：

• He was arraigned for murder. 他因谋杀罪而被提讯。
• She was arraigned for high treason. 她被控叛国罪。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

6 dissented   

不同意，持异议( dissent的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We dissented from the decision. 对那项决定我们表示了不同意见。
• He dissented and questioned the justice of the award. 他提出质问，说裁判不公允。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

9 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

11 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。

12 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。

13 converged   

v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Thousands of supporters converged on London for the rally. 成千上万的支持者从四面八方汇聚伦敦举行集会。
• People converged on the political meeting from all parts of the city. 人们从城市的四面八方涌向这次政治集会。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

15 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

16 caveat   

n.警告； 防止误解的说明

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling.为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。
• As I have written before,that's quite a caveat.正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。

17 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

18 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

19 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

20 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

21 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

22 embezzler   

n.盗用公款者，侵占公款犯

参考例句：

• The embezzler was severely punished and enjoined to kick back a portion of the stolen money each month. 贪污犯受到了严厉惩罚，并被责令每月退还部分赃款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Soon after the loss was discovered a warrant was sworn out for the embezzler's arrest. 一发现亏损，就立即提出指控而获得了逮捕令逮捕那用公款的人。 来自辞典例句