NPR 2010-10-15

The young Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb a US airliner¹ on Christmas Day has waived³ his right to a speedy trial. As NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports, the young man is acting⁴ as his own attorney.

The last time he was in court, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab fired his court-appointed attorneys and said he wanted to represent himself. Today was his first day doing that. Allegedly he told the FBI that he had been trained by al-Qaeda in Yemen to bring down the plane, and there's been some speculation⁵ that he might plead guilty to some of the charges against him, because he asked how he might do that the last time he was in court. This time, he didn't mention any plea agreement. The judge asked if he would waive² his right to a speedy trial, and he said he would. Abdulmutallab is 24 years old and has no legal training, so he has a standby attorney who will help him with the case. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

President Obama, speaking at a town hall meeting today, told an audience the policy preventing gays from serving openly in the military will end on his watch. Earlier this week, a federal judge ordered the military to immediately suspend and discontinue any investigation⁶ or other proceeding⁷ to dismiss gay service members. A gay rights group says one branch of the service, the Air Force, has already taken that step. According to a lawyer involved in the government's handling of controversy⁸ over the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the Obama administration will ask a federal judge to allow the policy to continue pending⁹ an appeal. The lawyer's saying his client, Log Cabin Republicans, has been told the Justice Department plans to seek a stay.

The foreman of the 33 miners rescued Wednesday after ten weeks trapped underground in Chile says democracy was the secret to his success. But as Richard Reynolds reports, in the early days the men's lots were far darker.

Luis Urzua is credited with keeping his team together during the ordeal¹⁰. He spoke¹¹ out repeated votes taken by Los Treinta y Tres or the 33, as they became known. But other miners say the early days before those aboveground even knew they were alive were difficult. There was a two-day supply of food available to the men that in the end lasted 17 days. The men shed as much as a pound a day on the limited diet. At one point, the men began to assume they would never be rescued and began to make jokes about cannibalism¹². There are reports of endless squabbles and even fistfights. Once the first drill managed to complete a five-inch hole through to the miners' refuge, spirits began to immediately improve. For NPR News, I'm Richard Reynolds in Copiapo.

The number of people filing unemployment benefits ticked up last week, the Labor¹³ Department announcing today first-time jobless claims rose by 13,000 to 462,000. The rise was the second in these many months. Jobless claims through much of the year have been stuck in a fairly narrow range, with few employers seeing much reason to create new jobs. At the time, some are continuing to lay off workers.

The jobs numbers did not play well on Wall Street today. The Dow was down a point to close at 11,094; the NASDAQ lost five points; the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped four points today.

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A group representing some of the nation's largest CEOs is becoming far more pessimistic about the prospects¹⁴ for the US economy. The Business Council says based on its poll of CEO sentiment, it finds only about a third of its members who took part in the group's latest survey believe their industry will improve over the next six months. That's down from two thirds back in May, when the last poll was taken. The group, which represents 150 chief executives from large US companies, was almost evenly split over the outlook for the broader economy.

Georgia is the second state to ban some students heading for college from several universities there. As NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports, this happens if they are in the country illegally.

Beginning next fall, public colleges in Georgia will have to check the legal residency of all applicants¹⁵ and prevent students who can't prove their legal residency in the US from enrolling¹⁶ in the state's five most elective schools including the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. The state's Board of Regents, which oversees¹⁷ higher education, voted 14 to 2 in favor of the ban after a widely publicized story of a young undocumented college student, who had received in-state tuition to attend college just outside Atlanta. She now faces deportation¹⁸. Republican lawmakers want the ban to include all postsecondary institutions in Georgia, but immigrant rights groups are threatening to challenge the proposal in court. Only South Carolina has a similar ban. A growing number of states are reviewing this issue, as more and more students who were brought to this country illegally graduate from high school and apply for financial aid to attend college. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

Shares of web company Yahoo moved higher today on speculation that online firm AOL with a group of private equity¹⁹ firms may be preparing to launch a bid for the company. Wall Street Journal reported on its website after the close of trading yesterday AOL and Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group plan to bid on the company.
 

1 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。

2 waive   

vt.放弃，不坚持(规定、要求、权力等)

参考例句：

• I'll record to our habitat office waive our claim immediately.我立即写信给咱们的总公司提出放弃索赔。
• In view of the unusual circumstances,they agree to waive their requirement.鉴于特殊情况，他们同意放弃他们的要求。

3 waived   

v.宣布放弃( waive的过去式和过去分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等）

参考例句：

• He has waived all claim to the money. 他放弃了索取这笔钱的权利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I waived the discourse, and began to talk of my business. 我撇开了这个话题，开始讲我的事情。 来自辞典例句

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

10 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

11 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。

12 cannibalism   

n.同类相食；吃人肉

参考例句：

• The war is just like the cannibalism of animals.战争就如同动物之间的互相残。
• They were forced to practise cannibalism in order to survive.他们被迫人吃人以求活下去。

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 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

15 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

16 enrolling   

v.招收( enrol的现在分词 )；吸收；入学；加入；[亦作enrol]( enroll的现在分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They lashed out at the university enrolling system. 他们猛烈抨击大学的招生制度。 来自辞典例句
• You're enrolling in a country club, Billy. 你是注册加入乡村俱乐部了，比利。 来自辞典例句

17 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

18 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

19 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。