NPR 2010-02-02

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham.

 

President Obama says the new federal budget proposal he has sent Congress today would bring down the massive budget deficit¹ steadily² over the next decade. But Mr. Obama says the budget includes measures to address his more immediate³ concern: reducing the nation's high unemployment rate. “The budget includes new tax cuts for people who invest in small businesses, tax credits for small businesses that hire new workers, investments that will create jobs repairing roads and bridges, and tax breaks for retrofitting homes to save energy.” The president says the federal deficit which is projected to be nearly 1.6 trillion dollars, a record level, this fiscal⁴ year would decline to 1.3 trillion in the next fiscal year which begins in October. That’s about the level he inherited when he took office last year.

 

The Commerce Department says consumer spending increased 0.2% in December; the personal income of Americans was up 0.4%. Daniel Cousin reports consumer spending accounts for about 2/3 of the economic activity in the US.

 

Personal incomes and spending are important measures of a strong economy. Both took a beating during the recession, but the latest numbers show the economy is slowly digging itself out of the downturn. But John Lonski, chief economist⁵ with Moody’s Capital Markets Group, says consumers won’t be driving the recovery while unemployment hovers⁶ at 10%. “As long as employment struggles to grow, it’s highly unlikely that consumer spending is going to expand at a pace that’s typical of an economic recovery.” There was also the latest setback⁷ in the housing sector⁸. New home sales took a big tumble in December. The gross domestic product grew a whopping 5.7% in the fourth quarter last year, but the experts say that won’t last and expect the pace to throttle⁹ back to around 3% this year. For NPR News, I’m Daniel Cousin in Washington.

 

The US military has resumed medical evacuation flights from Haiti for the most critically wounded and sick earthquake survivors¹⁰. From Port-au-Prince, NPR’s David Schaper reports that comes after the flights have been suspended for five days.

 

No one here knows exactly who gave the order to suspend military medical flights to the United States last week nor why. But doctors caring for the most critically ill and wounded victims of the devastating¹¹ earthquake at a field hospital at the Port-au-Prince airport say over the past few days a handful of patients have died while waiting for airlifts. On Sunday, they arranged for privately¹² funded medical evacuation flights to get at least a half dozen children to US hospitals for life-saving treatment that could not get here. The doctors say there are still at least 200 patients, many of them at outlying hospitals with severe burns, head trauma¹³ and paralyzing spinal¹⁴ injuries, who need medical airlift to the US, because no facility here in Haiti can provide the kind of complex treatment or surgeries they need. David Schaper, NPR News, Port-au-Prince.

 

This is NPR News from Washington.

 

The Canadian commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan says he’s poised¹⁵ to launch an offensive aimed at crippling the insurgency¹⁶ there by summer. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the general is counting on the US troop surge to help.

 

Brigadier General Daniel Ménard commands NATO’s Task Force Kandahar which includes American forces, and the coming influx¹⁷ of the US troops will allow him to drastically change his tactics in the region. Ménard calls it a completely different ball game. While once he had small 50 to 100 member units dispersed¹⁸ around Kandahar City, there will now be units of up to 800. Ménard says the next four months will be crucial in the battle against the Taliban, adding that with the number of troops and resources he has been given, he believes he can break the back of the insurgency this summer and more importantly show the local population there is no need to be threatened by the militants¹⁹. Canada has about 2, 800 troops in Afghanistan, most of them around Kandahar. Ménard says he now has more US troops under his command in Canadian and the spring offensive will focus on the volatile²⁰ regions of Panjwaii and Arghandab, south of Kandahar City. For NPR News, I’m Dan Karpenchuk.

 

Toyota says it’s ready to begin fixing accelerator pedals prone²¹ to sticking in millions of recalled vehicles. The necessary parts are being shipped to dealerships. And the President and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales Jim Lentz says the company is eager to remedy the problem. “I think the key is that we have the fix that our dealers²² are ready. Our, our dealers are going to be working weekends. Some dealers, as you understand, are going to be working 24/7 to be able to take care of the customers.” Lentz was on NBC’s “Today Show”. Toyota says the company has developed and tested a fix that involves reinforcing the gas pedal with a small steel bar.

 

Wall Street at this hour, the Dow up 113 points.

 

I’m Craig Windham, NPR News in Washington.
 

1 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

2 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 hovers   

鸟( hover的第三人称单数 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovers in the sky. 一只老鹰在天空盘旋。
• A hen hovers her chicks. 一只母鸡在孵小鸡。

7 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

8 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

9 throttle   

n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压

参考例句：

• These government restrictions are going to throttle our trade.这些政府的限制将要扼杀我们的贸易。
• High tariffs throttle trade between countries.高的关税抑制了国与国之间的贸易。

10 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

11 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

12 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

13 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

14 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

15 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

16 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

17 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

18 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

19 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。

20 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

21 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

22 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。