NPR 2011-10-02

 A Northern California farm has broadened a recall to include nearly 15,000 bags of romaine lettuce¹. Bob Hensley of Capital Public Radio reports the produce has been distributed in 21 states.

 

True Leaf Farms of Salinas has launched the recall after a federal agency reported a random² sample tested positive for listeria, a potentially deadly bacterium³. Most of the suspect produce were sent to wholesale⁴ distributors in mid-September. The expiration⁵ date is September 29th. There haven't been any illnesses reported that are connected to the lettuce. California officials are conducting tests to try to determine how the produce became contaminated. Listeria is linked to a non-related case of canned cantaloupes that recently killed at least 13. Those at greatest risks from listeria infections include pregnant women, the elderly and those with weak immune systems. For NPR News, I'm Bob Hensley in Modesto, California.

 

There're now 15 known deaths linked to listeria-contaminated cantaloupes from a Colorado farm, and in Littleton, Colorado Janie Exley's 84-year-old father became very ill.

 

"My dad started having symptoms on August 22nd, when he developed tremors⁶ and chills, and then that subsided⁷, and then over the next, of course, the next couple days, he was feeling a little more fatigued⁸."

 

Jensen Farms of Holly⁹ Colorado has added Louisiana, Indiana and Wisconsin to its whole cantaloupe recall notification. The company says its products are sold to customers who resell the products, meaning that sometimes the final customer is not known. Customers should check stickers on the whole cantaloupe.

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has lifted restrictions¹⁰ on disaster spending. NPR's Tamara Keith has more.

 

In August, FEMA stopped paying for some long-term repairing and rebuilding projects to make sure it had money to help victims of new disasters as they came along. The agency did this because the balance in its disaster relief fund had gotten precariously¹¹ low. FEMA's lifting those restrictions because the fund was replenished¹² after Congress passed a temporary funding measure to keep the government running. In a blog post, a FEMA official says the agency is now on the process of working with state and local partners across the country to get these projects that had been on hold moving again. Tamara Keith, NPR News.

 

It will be something in the October 18th paychecks of Federal Aviation Administration workers who were caught in the crossfire¹³ of a congressional budget fight this summer. Nearly 4,000 workers furloughed in the two-week partial shutdown are getting back pay. The money will come from an aviation trust fund used to help pay for construction and safety grants to airports. The shutdown cost the FAA nearly 400 million dollars in uncollected airline ticket taxes.

 

This is NPR.

 

The Senate next week considers a proposal to impose higher tariffs¹⁴ on Chinese products as retaliation¹⁵ for perceived unfair trade practices. Authors of the bill charge that Chinese currency manipulation keeps its exports to the US cheap and make some American exports more expensive. The White House doesn't support the bill, arguing that diplomacy¹⁶ is the best way to change Chinese policy.

 

New analysis suggests climate change is going to become very expensive for Canada. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, it could reach more than five billion dollars a year within a decade and cost even more afterward¹⁷.

 

The study from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy is considered groundbreaking. It says cost will continue to climb sharply, and by the 2050s it could go as high as 43 billion dollars a year. That's also depending on how much action is taken on reducing greenhouse gas emissions¹⁸ and how fast the Canadian economy and population grow. Researchers looked at the impact of warmer weather, forest fires, flooding and increased illness among the population, all with a raising price tag. The roundtable is made up of business leaders, academics and researchers, and it's an advisory¹⁹ body to the Canadian government. The group says Ottawa should invest in programs to help Canadians adapt, and that should also work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions around the world and not balk²⁰ at the initial costs. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

 

Across the Southeast, an outbreak of biting ants. They're known as hairy crazy ants, and they have the ability to short out industrial equipment. Extermination²¹ is expensive and tough because when one dies, it releases a chemical for the colony to attack.

1 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。

2 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

3 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

4 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。

5 expiration   

n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物

参考例句：

• Can I have your credit card number followed by the expiration date?能告诉我你的信用卡号码和它的到期日吗?
• This contract shall be terminated on the expiration date.劳动合同期满，即行终止。

6 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

7 subsided   

v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上

参考例句：

• After the heavy rains part of the road subsided. 大雨过后，部分公路塌陷了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• By evening the storm had subsided and all was quiet again. 傍晚， 暴风雨已经过去，四周开始沉寂下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 fatigued   

adj. 疲乏的

参考例句：

• The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
• The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑，疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。

9 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

10 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

11 precariously   

adv.不安全地；危险地；碰机会地；不稳定地

参考例句：

• The hotel was perched precariously on a steep hillside. 旅馆危险地坐落在陡峭的山坡上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The phone was perched precariously on the window ledge. 电话放在窗台上，摇摇欲坠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 replenished   

补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满

参考例句：

• She replenished her wardrobe. 她添置了衣服。
• She has replenished a leather [fur] coat recently. 她最近添置了一件皮袄。

13 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

14 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

15 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

17 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

18 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

19 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

20 balk   

n.大方木料；v.妨碍；不愿前进或从事某事

参考例句：

• We get strong indications that his agent would balk at that request.我们得到的强烈暗示是他的经纪人会回避那个要求。
• He shored up the wall with a thick balk of wood.他用一根粗大的木头把墙撑住。

21 extermination   

n.消灭，根绝

参考例句：

• All door and window is sealed for the extermination of mosquito. 为了消灭蚊子，所有的门窗都被封闭起来了。 来自辞典例句
• In doing so they were saved from extermination. 这样一来却使它们免于绝灭。 来自辞典例句