美国国家电台 NPR 2012-09-19

 Mitt¹ Romney's campaign has been buffeted² today by a hidden camera video from a May fundraising event. In it, the presidential hopeful says, he does not expect to get the support of about 47% of Americans who he says see themselves as victims and entitled to government support. Last night, Romney met with reporters saying he wouldn't necessarily take it back but he may have stated this case more elegantly. Today, Romney's running mate Paul Ryan was campaigning in New England. As New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers tells us it was Ryan's first appearance since that video emerged. 

 

Paul Ryan didn't address Romney's comments directly during a town hall meeting in Dover, but he did attempt to clarify where he and Romney stand on what they say are the failures of the Obama Administration.

 

This is what Mitt and I are talking about, when we are worried about more and more people becoming net dependent upon the government, than upon themselves. 

 

The video clips made public by Mother Jones magazine show Romney saying that 47% of voters will support President Obama because they believe they are entitled to healthcare to food to housing,  you-name-it. Last night, Romney called these comments off the cuff³ and not elegantly stated. For NPR News, I'm Josh Rogers in Concord⁴, New Hampshire. 

 

At the White House today, President Obama's Press Secretary Jay Carney offered this comment on Romney's comments. 

 

The president certainly doesn't think that men and women on social security are irresponsible or victims.

 

Both Mr. Obama and GOP challenger Romney are on the road fundraising today. Romney is in Utah and Texas, Mr. Obama attends an event hosted by pop stars Beyonce and Jay-Z in New York, and also takes the couch on the David Letterman show.

 

A big decision shaping up in the city of Chicago at this hour where members of the Teachers Union are gathering⁵ to decide whether to call off the strike now in its second week. As NPR's Sharal Quli tells us the matter could go to court. 

 

Today's vote by delegates of the Chicago's Teachers Union will determine if the city's first school strike since 1987 will continue or if it will be suspended. But for consideration a tentative deal that the Teachers Union and the school board announced reaching last week. Despite the framework, tensions heightened  after majority of the unions nearly 800 delegates said Sunday, they needed more time to see the exact contract language and to get feedback from teachers. The next day, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel filed a lawsuit⁶ asking a judge to order teachers back in the classrooms. The judge will hold a hearing Wednesday morning if the delegates decide not to lift the strike which is now on its seventh day.  Sharal Quli NPR News, Chicago.

 

On Wall Street, approaching the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up six points at 13,559.

 

This is NPR News.

 

An international business that moves packages around the world says the global economy is in a stall. Fedex says economic conditions are deteriorating⁷ everywhere. The statement led Wall Street's opening lower, only to recover European markets were in the negative too.

 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has welcomed Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi to Washington at the start of her first trip to the U.S. Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest nearly two years ago in Myanmar also known as Burma. NPR's Craig Windham reports the Obama Administration is considering whether to ease remaining sanctions against that country.

 

During the more than two-week, she will be in the U.S., Suu Kyi will be the guest to the dinner in her honor at the White House and she will receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian⁸ award. But Suu Kyi told Clinton she is especially looking forward to visiting Fort Wayne, Indiana, where there is a sizable Burmese expatriate community.

 

Clinton said there is excitement in the U.S. that Suu Kyi can finally visit this country. Prior her arrival, Myanmar announced the release of at least 87 more political detainees, but activists⁹ there say, hundreds more remain in custody¹⁰. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington.

 

There are grim predictions about the state of health America from the Robert Wood Johnson foundation and the Trust for America's Health. The groups predict that by the year of 2030, more than half the population of 39 states will clinically obese¹¹. They say the heaviest state right now is Mississippi.

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 buffeted   

反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去

参考例句：

• to be buffeted by the wind 被风吹得左右摇摆
• We were buffeted by the wind and the rain. 我们遭到风雨的袭击。

3 cuff   

n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口

参考例句：

• She hoped they wouldn't cuff her hands behind her back.她希望他们不要把她反铐起来。
• Would you please draw together the snag in my cuff?请你把我袖口上的裂口缝上好吗？

4 concord   

n.和谐；协调

参考例句：

• These states had lived in concord for centuries.这些国家几个世纪以来一直和睦相处。
• His speech did nothing for racial concord.他的讲话对种族和谐没有作用。

5 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

6 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

7 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

11 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。