NPR 2011-04-14

President Obama is pitching a plan to slash¹ the federal budget deficit² by about $4 trillion over 12 years. NPR's Brian Naylor says the proposal the president outlined in a speech at George Washington University today relies on a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes.

The president calls for cutting spending on everything from defense³ to health care and for tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans. He says it's a progressive vision for the country.

"If we believe that government can make a difference in people's lives, we have the obligation to prove that it works — by making government smarter, and leaner, and more effective."

Mr. Obama says the GOP plan up for a vote this week would end Medicare as we know it. Republicans, meanwhile, quickly ruled out the president's call to raise taxes. Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington.

The Federal Reserve finds the economy is still improving, with employers hiring more people, factories producing more and consumers willing to up their spending. But a new federal report also reveals that high energy prices are weighing on businesses to hike their prices. And even though people are willing to spend a little more, the Fed says the Americans are not making more money. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says that as a result, inflation is likely to remain in check this year.

Representatives from NATO and Arab and African nations have met in the Persian Gulf⁴ state of Qatar in an effort to resolve the situation in Libya. As NPR's Jackie Northam explains, one discussion in particular took up much of the meeting.

Ministers at the meeting in Doha agreed that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his regime have lost all legitimacy⁵, but there were disagreements amongst the 21 nations attending the meeting about whether to arm rebels. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that would go against the UN resolution authorizing⁶ NATO action in Libya. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini indicated that part of resolution was open to interpretation⁷ and suggested it wasn't robust⁸ enough.

"Either we make it possible for these people to defend themselves, or we withdraw from our obligation to support defending the population of Libya."

The contact group also issued a communiqué saying among other things that a trust fund of sorts would be set up for opposition⁹ groups in Libya. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.

US warplanes are still conducting air strikes inside Libya, even though NATO is now in charge of enforcing the no-fly zone. Today, the Pentagon said that nearly a dozen fighter jets have been assigned to the military alliance. Libyan rebels have been looking for more NATO support against Muammar Gaddafi's forces, but they've complained in recent days that NATO's bombing operations have actually mistaken rebels for government forces and forced opposition fighters to retreat.

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was up seven points to 12,271.

This is NPR News.

An airport in Japan closed after last month's deadly earthquake and tsunami¹⁰ is open again. From Tokyo, NPR's Greg Dixon reports flights have resumed in Sendai.

Sendai Airport received its first passenger flight in more than a month today. The airport's runways and terminal building were flooded by the massive tsunami on March 11th, and Japan's famed bullet train service is expected to resume in another section in the quake-and-tsunami-hit region tomorrow. The train's operator says it suffered damage in about 1,200 places on its Tohoku line. Full service is expected to resume by the end of the month. Greg Dixon, NPR News, Tokyo.

In the US, more than 40% of offenders¹¹ released from prison are back behind bars within three years of their release, according to a study out today. NPR's Laura Sullivan reports that offenders are returning to prison despite billions spent on programs to keep them from committing new crimes.

The study by the nonprofit Pew Center on the States found very little improvement in recidivism¹² rates since the last time they looked at the numbers three years ago. This is despite correctional spending that halves $50 billion every year. Researchers say the report is a wake-up call to states that you can't lower crime rates simply by building more prisons. The report notes that many of the new crimes that send offenders back to prison are parole violations¹³. The report finds that states could save millions of dollars by diverting parole violators to programs instead. Overall, some states fare better than others. Wyoming and Oregon had the lowest recidivism rates, while Minnesota, Alaska and California had the highest. Laura Sulliven, NPR News, Washington.

US stocks turned higher today, with the Dow up seven to 12,271 and NASDAQ gaining 17 to hit 2,762.

This is NPR.

1 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

2 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。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

6 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

7 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

8 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

9 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。

10 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

11 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

12 recidivism   

n.累犯，再犯

参考例句：

• Many areas and work units have experienced no recidivism at all for as long as ten or more years.不少地区和单位出现了连续几年、十几年没有发生重新犯罪的好典型。
• It needs to supplement the personality factor to confirm the ordinary recidivism.在普通累犯成立的条件中,应增加罪犯的人格因素。

13 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。