NPR 2011-07-26

The Senate will take up a Democratic plan denied to raise the debt limit high enough to get passed next year's election. NPR's David Welna reports House Republicans are proposing a rival plan that would require an increase to the debt ceiling early next year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry¹ Reid says his debt ceiling plan cuts spending by 2.7 trillion dollars over the next decade. Beyond the amount, the debt ceiling would be raised, and it contains no new tax revenues.

"The proposal provides everything the House Republicans have said they needed for an agreement to avert² default and cut the deficit³. I hope my colleagues on the other side will still know a good deal when they see it."

Still, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell backs the six-month debt limit increase proposed by House Speaker John Boehner.

"There's absolutely no economic justification⁴ for insisting on a debt limit increase that brings us through the next election."

Congress has little time to reach an agreement before the deadline to raise the debt ceiling next Tuesday. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

President Obama's looking to shore up support among Latinos, some of whom criticized the president for not delivering on certain promises of his last campaign, namely a revamp of immigration laws. Today, Mr. Obama appeared before the Latino civil rights organization, the National Council of La Raza, to reaffirm a pledge.

"I promised you I would work tirelessly to fix our broken immigration system and make the DREAM Act a reality."

Addressing the high number of deportations raising concern in a Latino community, the president said the laws had to be enforced, and he could not change them himself. To that, members of the audience shouted: "Yes, you can! Yes, you can!"

Hundreds of thousands of people reportedly rallied across Norway today to honor the 76 people killed in a bombing and shooting rampage last week. The self-confessed perpetrator, Anders Behring Breivik, pleaded not guilty in court today. One of the revelations in today's hearing in Oslo is that the suspect says he has other members of a terrorist cell ready to launch attacks. Terri Schultz reports on how Norwegian authorities are now dealing⁵ with that information.

One of the reasons Anders Behring Breivik wanted an open hearing is so he can get even more publicity⁶ for his extreme right-wing views. One of the reasons the judge closed that procedure to the public is because Breivik had been boasting of having collaborators. And just in case he's telling the truth, officials are not going to give him the chance to pass information through the media. They're not revealing any details about what organizations might be involved. Breivik was remanded in solitary⁷ confinement⁸ for four weeks. He can have no visitors, letters or even news for another four weeks after that. In late September, he'll go back before a judge. Breivik admits the acts but not that they are crimes. For NPR News, I'm Terri Schultz in Oslo.

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 88 points at 12,593; NASDAQ was down more than 0.5% or 16 points at 2,843.

This is NPR News.

The City of Dallas may be able to boast one more thing—23 days of triple digit⁹ temperatures, if that is something to boast about today. The predicted high was 104 degrees. From Dallas, NPR's Wade¹⁰ Goodwyn has this story.

About the only place you want to be in Dallas is in the pool. And if you're wise, you'll jump in the morning hours or the evening when it's still 100 degrees. But the sun has gone down.

"Hey, look!"

While the Northeast has sweltered these last few days, Dallas has laughed. But it’s a bitterer laugh. When the temperature gets back to normal this weekend in New York, it will be back to normal in Dallas too. 104 Monday. Tuesday 105. Wade Goodwyn, NPR News, Dallas.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says he is satisfied with the progress made to stabilize¹¹ Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. John Matthews in Tokyo reports on the aftermath of March's deadly earthquake and tsunami¹².

Yukiya Amano, chief of the UN's nuclear watchdog, says Tokyo Electric is well on its way to stabilizing¹³ the situation and its nuclear plant on schedule. The Japanese government agrees, saying the melted-down reactors¹⁴ are on track to achieve 'cold shutdown' by January. However, the government warns that a complete cleanup effort could take years. With growing public sentiment in support of waiting Japan for nuclear energy, efforts to restart offline plants and ease fears of power shortages are running into trouble. After two recent shutdowns, only 16 of Japan's 54 atomic reactors are online. For NPR News, I'm John Matthews in Tokyo.

This is NPR.

1 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

2 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

3 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。

4 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

7 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

8 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

9 digit   

n.零到九的阿拉伯数字，手指，脚趾

参考例句：

• Her telephone number differs from mine by one digit.她的电话号码和我的只差一个数字。
• Many animals have five digits.许多动物有5趾。

10 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

11 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

12 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。

13 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

14 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。