NPR 2011-01-14

Doctors in Tucson say Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is opening her eyes for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, and they say her progress has been exceptional. NPR's Jeff Brady says doctors hope to remove her breathing tube in coming days.

Concern over brain swelling¹ is starting to pass, and Dr. Michael Lemole says medical staff are setting Giffords up in bed and dangling² her feet over the side.

"When people are dangling, we're also able to assess the strength in their legs much more readily, and I will say that she is able to move both those legs to command. That's huge."

Lemole says doctors are still concerned about problems like blood clots³ and pneumonia⁴ that can affect anyone in an intensive care unit. Lemole says it's still not clear what Giffords' recovery will look like eventually. He says people who progress at her rate could end up anywhere along a broad range of possibilities from needing help around the home to being out in the world and functional⁵. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Tucson

Funeral services for the youngest victim of this past weekend's shootings were held in Tucson today. Mourners gathered to say goodbye to nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who along with five others was killed when the suspected gunman opened fire outside a shopping center Saturday. Those who attended the service for the little girl say her father talked about places the family had lived and traveled to. A 9/11 flag was displayed at the funeral. Christina was born on that day.

The Food and Drug Administration now says it will limit the amount of acetaminophen that manufacturers can add to prescription⁶ painkillers⁷ like Vicodin and Percocet. The agency says it's taking action because acetaminophen has been linked to liver damage. FDA Deputy Director of the Office of New Drugs Dr. Sandra Kweder says the problem mainly occurs in the painkilling⁸ drugs combined with the second drug containing the key ingredient like Tylenol.

"The risk of liver injury primarily occurs when patients take more than one product containing acetaminophen at a time, and they exceed the current maximum dose."

Under the new FDA guidelines, the painkilling drugs would have the amount of acetaminophen they contain capped at 325 milligrams.

Government has offered a mixed bag of economic reports today. NPR's Giles Snyder reports inflation appears to be tamed and the trade gap is narrowing.

Exports help narrow the trade deficit⁹. The Commerce Department says exports climbed to their highest level in more than two years in November. The deficit shrunk to just over $38 billion, helped by a weaker dollar and rising demand for American products overseas. Back home, though, food and energy got more expensive last month. The Labor¹⁰ Department says wholesale¹¹ prices were up more than 1%. But costs of food and energy are volatile¹² when they are not taken into account. Inflation rose just 0.2%. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.
Mixed economic news weighed on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 23 points today to end the session at 11,731; the NASDAQ lost two points; the S&P 500 also closed down two points today.

You're listening to NPR News in Washington.

The sound of shouting in Brazil, where onlookers¹³ were yelling in Portuguese¹⁴ to a woman who had to jump across rising floodwaters to reach a rescue rope. What is being billed as Brazil's deadliest natural disaster in decades. Nearly 500 people are reported dead with others still unaccounted for. Torrents¹⁵ of mud and water caused by heavy rain there have left a path of destruction in the country's mountainous Serrana region. Officials expect the death toll¹⁶ will climb since some people remain buried beneath debris¹⁷ with rescuers unable to reach them.

The John F. Kennedy Libery in the National Archives announced today the nation's largest online digitized presidential archive. NPR's Brian Naylor has that story

The online archive contains the famous, such as the president's inaugural¹⁸ speech delivered 50 years ago.

"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

And the obscure, such as this recording¹⁹ of Mr. Kennedy greeting a group of labor leaders in the Rose Garden in 1963.

"And I can imagine that no work group of Americans who should feel more of pride and satisfaction and walking around the White House and standing²⁰ on my grass which has just been planted."

The digital archive took four years to scan and put online. It includes over 200,000 pages of speeches and notes, hundreds of reels of audio tape and over 1,000 recorded phone conversations. It's accessible at jfklibrary.org. Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington.

Crude oil futures²¹ prices ended the session lower today, the price of crude dropping $0.46 a barrel to close at 90.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

I'm Jack²² Speer, NPR News in Washington.

1 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

2 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

3 clots   

n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• When you cut yourself, blood clots and forms a scab. 你割破了，血会凝固、结痂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Milk clots when it turns sour. 奶变酸就凝块。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

5 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

6 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

7 painkillers   

n.止痛药( painkiller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some painkillers to ease the pain. 医生给了他一些止疼片以减缓疼痛。 来自辞典例句
• The primary painkillers - opiates, like OxyContin - are widely feared, misunderstood and underused. 人们对主要的镇痛药——如鸦片剂奥施康定——存在广泛的恐惧、误解，因此没有充分利用。 来自时文部分

8 painkilling   

[医]止痛的

参考例句：

• Painkilling drugs were not enough to relieve her suffering. 止痛药不能缓解她的痛苦。 来自互联网
• The effect of the painkilling drug didn't wear off for several hours. 止痛药的药效好几个锺头之仍未消失。 来自互联网

9 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。

10 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。

11 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

12 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。

13 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

14 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

15 torrents   

n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断

参考例句：

• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Sudden rainstorms would bring the mountain torrents rushing down. 突然的暴雨会使山洪暴发。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

17 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

18 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

19 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

20 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

21 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

22 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。