NPR 2012-04-25

 Five states are holding Republican primaries today. Mitt¹ Romney is expecting victories in all of them. That will get him that much closer to the number of delegates needed to clinch² the Republican Party’s presidential nomination³. But as NPR’s Ari Shapiro explains, Romney will be a no-show in today’s primary-voting states. Instead, he’ll watch results tonight from New Hampshire.

 

There’s no suspense⁴ in tonight’s results. These are the first primary contests since Rick Santorum ended his presidential campaign, clearing the way for Mitt Romney to take the nomination. Today voters will cast their ballots⁵ in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Romney has spent a good amount of time campaigning in Pennsylvania over the last few weeks. That’s because it’s likely to be an important swing state in the general election. He’ll deliver a speech tonight in Manchester, New Hampshire, looking ahead to the contest against President Obama in the fall. New Hampshire is where Romney formally announced his presidential campaign. The state was also his first win during this year’s primary and caucus⁶ season. Ari Shapiro, NPR News.

 

President Obama may have been taking a campaign swipe at his likely Republican challenger Mitt Romney when he addressed students at the University of North Carolina Chapel⁷ Hill today. He told the crowd that he and the first lady totally related their struggles to pay off their federal student loans.

 

“Michelle and I, we’ve been in your shoes. I guess that we didn’t come from wealthy families. So we, when we graduated from college and law school, we had a mountain of debt. When we married, we got poor together.”

 

The president is urging Congress to extend the 2007 law that had slashed⁸ student loan interest rates to 3.4%. He says if the law expires this July, the rates will double.

 

James Murdoch, the former chairman of News International, has appeared before a British inquiry⁹ today to talk about how much he may have known about phone hacking¹⁰ on his watch of the now-defunct paper. Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, resigned as chairman in February. His father is scheduled to appear before the panel tomorrow.

 

The UN observers sent to monitor Syria’s ceasefire say they’re not fool. Members have said they’re aware that cities they visit go quiet, but once they leave, the violence resumes. A spokesman for envoy¹¹ Kofi Annan also said satellite imagery confirms Syria has not withdrawn¹² all of its heavy weapons from populated areas as promised.

 

Ford¹³ Motor Company is shutting its junk status for the first time since 2005. Fitch Ratings has restored Ford’s credit rating to investment grade. The spokesman says the automaker’s assets will be released as collateral¹⁴ once it gets a nod from a second ratings agency. Ford’s credit rating suffered when the company mortgaged its assets to borrow enough money to avoid bankruptcy¹⁵.

 

At last check on Wall Street, Dow was up 65 points; NASDAQ off 14. 

 

You’re listening to NPR News.

 

A report out today on home prices in the US shows it’s still a buyers’ market. NPR’s Dave Mattingly reports the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index shows a six consecutive¹⁶ monthly decline in home prices.

 

The index tracks home prices in 20 major cities across the US. For the month of February, prices dropped in sixteen of them. The biggest declines were in Atlanta, Chicago and Cleveland. And compared to the same month last year, home prices went down in 15 cities. Sellers did catch a break in Miami, Phoenix¹⁷ and San Diego, cities where home prices rose during the month. 

 

NPR’s Dave Mattingly reporting.

 

The nation’s largest life insurer is making good on money it owes to beneficiaries. MetLife has agreed to pay nearly 500 million dollars in a settlement that, as NPR’s Giles Snyder explains, involves more than 30 states.

 

The states are working together in an investigation¹⁸ into insurance companies’ alleged¹⁹ misuse²⁰ of Social Security death record. Regulators say MetLife should have been more aggressive about tracking down beneficiaries. California is one of the lead states. John Chiang is a state controller. 

 

“If they were trying to aggressively do the right thing, they would have checked the Death Master File, identified those people who’re entitled to the insurance proceeds and returned the money earlier.” [虚拟语气,But-口误,对应上文的MetLife should have been more aggressive about tracking down beneficiaries]

 

Another state official says the MetLife settlement and earlier agreements with John Hancock and Prudential could force the hands of other companies. MetLife says it’s working with regulators, and that it will pay about 188 million dollars this year, but the remainder over the next 17 years. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.

 

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 clinch   

v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench

参考例句：

• Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
• We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元，请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。

3 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

4 suspense   

n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑

参考例句：

• The suspense was unbearable.这样提心吊胆的状况实在叫人受不了。
• The director used ingenious devices to keep the audience in suspense.导演用巧妙手法引起观众的悬念。

5 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

7 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

8 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

10 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

11 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

12 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

13 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

14 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

15 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

16 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

17 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

18 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

19 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

20 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。