NPR 2011-09-09

 President Obama is expected to call for hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax cuts and government spending tonight in an effort to boost the creation of jobs and bring down the nation's high unemployment rate. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the president's long-awaited job speech to a joint¹ session of congress comes at a time when many are questioning his stewardship² of the economy. 

 

After months of looking for ways to cut government spending and raise tax revenue, President Obama will call on congress to move in the opposite direction tonight. White House Spokesman Jay Carney says while the president is still concerned with deficit³ reduction, his immediate⁴ goal is shoring up the economy. 

 

The president will put forward a series of proposals that he believes are the right answers to the most important question, which is, what can Washington do to help private sector⁵ create jobs and to help those who have lost their jobs deal with that situation. 

 

Carney says the president's plan is tailored to win bipartisan support, though in today's deeply divided congress that's far from guaranteed. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

 

In an assessment⁶ likely to fuel GOP criticism of the administration, Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke says it appears the impact of the last recession was worse than initially⁷ thought. 

 

From recent comprehensive revisions of government economic data, we have learned that the recession was even deeper and recovery weaker than we had previously⁸ thought. Indeed, aggregate⁹ output in the United States has still not returned to the level that it had attained¹⁰ before the crisis. 

 

Bernanke also said that he was surprised at how cautious consumers have been with spending in the two years since the recession officially ended. But he offered no indications that the Fed would take new steps to help the economy grow faster. The Central Bank is expected to consider some options though at the next meeting later this month. 

 

It's just a matter of hours before the Susquehanna River is expected to crest¹¹ at nearly 41 feet, sending about 100,000 residents in Pennsylvania and New York running for safety at the order of local officials. Days of heavy rains from tropical storm Lee are triggering flood alerts across the northeastern US including in Connecticut, where Nancy Cohen of WNPR reports some places are seeing problems with the sewage system. 

 

In Connecticut, the ground is saturated¹² and there are still a lot of debris¹³ left over from tropical storm Irene clogging¹⁴ up storm drains. That means there are not a lot of places for storm water to go. Dennis Greci with Connecticut’s environmental agency says in some cases flooded streets have drained into the sewage system and overflowed¹⁵. 

 

It means we do have raw sewage going into the rivers and onto the streets and into people's basements. 

 

Some of the larger rivers, like Connecticut and Farmington, are expected to flood. From NPR News, I'm Nancy Cohen. 

 

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was down 94 points at 11,321. This is NPR. 

 

The Associated Press is reporting that investigators¹⁶ say a wildfire caused by a plane crash in California burnt twice as many buildings as initially thought. They say 27 homes and more than 50 other buildings were destroyed in that place. It was caused by a weekend plane crash that killed two people in a remote area. The fire officials expect full containment¹⁷ though by tomorrow. 

 

A long simmering labor¹⁸ dispute has erupted into violence at the Washington State Port of Longview on the Columbia River. As NPR's Martin Kaste reports a crowd of disgruntled Longshoremen stormed the port and overpowered security. 

 

Local police say unionized Longshoremen broke down gates, smashed windows and briefly¹⁹ took several port security guards hostage. Then they damaged railroad cars carrying grain to the port. They are members of the International Longshoremen and Warehouse²⁰ Union. And they are angry that the operator of a new grain terminal is using a contractor²¹ that employs workers from another union. The National Labor Relations Board is already seeking a court order to end what it calls the union's “aggressive” picketing²² at the port. Martin Kaste, NPR news, Seattle. 

 

Former Christian²³ Dior designer John Galliano has been convicted by a French court for making anti-Semitic remarks. He is not serving prison time and a fine of 6,000 Euros have been suspended. Galliano who says he cannot remember making the insults because he was drunk and on prescription²⁴ drugs at the time was not at today's court proceedings²⁵ in Paris. 

 

US stocks continue to lose ground. At last check the Dow had fallen 108 points at 11,307. 

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 stewardship   

n. n. 管理工作；管事人的职位及职责

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Last, but certainly not least, are the issues of stewardship and ethics. 最后，但当然不是微不足道的，是工作和道德规范的问题。

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 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。

5 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。

6 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

8 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

9 aggregate   

adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合

参考例句：

• The football team had a low goal aggregate last season.这支足球队上个赛季的进球总数很少。
• The money collected will aggregate a thousand dollars.进帐总额将达一千美元。

10 attained   

（通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况）

参考例句：

• She has attained the degree of Master of Arts. 她已获得文学硕士学位。
• Lu Hsun attained a high position in the republic of letters. 鲁迅在文坛上获得崇高的地位。

11 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

12 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

13 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。

14 clogging   

堵塞，闭合

参考例句：

• This process suffers mainly from clogging the membrane. 这种过程的主要问题是滤膜的堵塞。
• And you know that eyewitness that's been clogging up the airwaves? 你知道那个充斥着电视广播的目击证人？

15 overflowed   

溢出的

参考例句：

• Plates overflowed with party food. 聚会上的食物碟满盘盈。
• A great throng packed out the theater and overflowed into the corridors. 一大群人坐满剧院并且还有人涌到了走廊上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

18 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。

19 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

20 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

21 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

22 picketing   

[经] 罢工工人劝阻工人上班，工人纠察线

参考例句：

• mass picketing of the factory 罢工工人集体对工厂的封锁
• "And my chaps were also there to prevent picketing! “我的人也是防着女工们要拦厂！ 来自子夜部分

23 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

24 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。

25 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼