NPR 2010-12-05

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Raum.

In the Senate today, Republicans blocked two Democratic proposals for extending the expiring Bush-era tax cuts. NPR's David Welna reports the measures ran into a wall of Republican opposition¹.

Democratic proposals capping income eligible² for tax-cut extensions at a quarter million dollars or at a million dollars, each fell seven votes shy of the 60 needed to proceed. At the White House, President Obama called on lawmakers to compromise.

"Today's votes cannot be the end of the discussion. It is absolutely essential -- to our hardworking middle-class families and to our economy -- to make sure that their taxes don't go up on January 1st."

GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell predicts Republicans would get what they want: an extension of all the tax cuts.

"I'm relatively³ confident that the end of this process will lead us to, I think, a very sensible decision not to raise taxes on anybody."

David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

On another topic, the president said today a new trade agreement with South Korea will increase US exports by billions of dollars each year and support at least 70,000 US jobs. The pact⁴ was reached yesterday after a week of negotiations⁵. US automakers will be allowed to export 25,000 cars to South Korea. South Korea would also be required to eliminate its ten percent tariff⁶ on US trucks. The pact must be ratified⁷ by legislatures of both countries.

Firefighters from around the world are battling the worst forest fire in Israel's history. The blaze began Thursday north of the city of Haifa. At least 41 people were killed. Most of them (were) prison guards who were on a bus on the way to evacuate⁸ a prison. About 17,000 people have been told to leave their homes. Police officials say their initial investigation⁹ suggests the fire was started by negligence¹⁰ rather than by arson¹¹.

The Internet payment service provider PayPal has shut down the account that Wikileaks was using to collect donations. NPR's Allison Keyes reports PayPal claims Wikileaks is misusing¹² its service.

PayPal posted a blog notice yesterday, saying the Wikileaks' account has been permanently¹³ restricted due to what the company said was a violation¹⁴ of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy. PayPal said its service cannot be used for "any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity". Today, attempts to donate money to Wikileaks via PayPal bring up the message reading "This recipient¹⁵ is currently unable to receive money." PayPal was one of several ways to donate to Wikileaks, including online transfers via credit card. Wikileaks has a message on the front page of its website, asking supporters to "keep us at the forefront of anti-censorship" with a link to its donations page. Allison Keyes, NPR News.

This is NPR News from Washington.

In Ivory Coast, both the incumbent¹⁶ and the challenger took the oath of office to be president today. The US and the United Nations have said the challenger won the election and have urged the incumbent to concede.

Kenya is asking the FBI to help investigate two separate grenade attacks in Nairobi that left three police officers dead. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports Kenyan police are trying to determine if yesterday's attacks were linked and were acts of terrorism.

The first attack came during morning rush hour in Eastleigh, a Somali suburb of Nairobi. An assailant threw a grenade into a police Land Rover, killing¹⁷ one officer and wounding another. The second attack came later in a separate suburb. Officers pulled over two men on a motorcycle who then opened fire on them and threw a grenade. The site of the first attack, Eastleigh, is a shadowing neighborhood of Somali exiles that Kenyan police and the FBI are watching. Some in Eastleigh are sympathetic to al-Shabab, a violent Islamist group trying to overthrow¹⁸ the US-backed government in neighboring Somalia. The FBI also helped investigate a bombing last summer in Uganda which al-Shabab claimed credit for. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Nairobi.

The president of the Philippines says reporters are ruining his love life. Benigno Aquino III is a bachelor. He broke up with his girlfriend in October. Since then, he's been linked to several women. The Philippine Star had a front-page picture of him with a stockbroker¹⁹ said to be his new romantic interest. According to the Associated Press, Aquino says that he'll spend Christmas without a date because women are afraid to go out with him. They don't want to end up in the newspaper.

1 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。

2 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

7 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

8 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

9 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。

10 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

11 arson   

n.纵火，放火

参考例句：

• He was serving a ten spot for arson.他因纵火罪在服十年徒刑。
• He was arraigned on a charge of arson.他因被指控犯纵火罪而被传讯。

12 misusing   

v.使用…不当( misuse的现在分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• This means we must stop misusing them. 也就是说，我们已必须停止滥用抗菌素不可了。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器
• Misusing organic fertilizer may cause a decrease in the soil's quality. 滥用有机肥料可能会导致土地的土质下降。 来自互联网

13 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

14 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

15 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

16 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

17 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。

18 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

19 stockbroker   

n.股票（或证券），经纪人（或机构）

参考例句：

• The main business of stockbroker is to help clients buy and sell shares.股票经纪人的主要业务是帮客户买卖股票。
• My stockbroker manages my portfolio for me.我的证券经纪人替我管理投资组合。