美国国家电台 NPR 2012-09-22

 Mitt Romney's campaign says it's making good on its promise to release the GOP candidate's 2011 federal taxes today. The couple's returns were to have been posted online at the top of this hour. The campaign says Romney and his wife Anne paid an effective tax rate of 14.1% last year, nearly two million dollars in taxes on investment income of more than 13.5 million last year. That coincides with the candidate's statements that he's paid at least 13% in taxes in each of the past ten years, though he's been reluctant to review or release the taxes beyond 2011.

 

General Motors is recalling nearly a half million Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn¹ sedans in the US, Canada and Mexico. NPR's Dave Mattingly reports they may have a problem with the transmission.

 

The defect is with the transmission cable. GM says it can break, leaving the driver to believe the car is in park when it's actually in gear. When that happens, the vehicle can roll unexpectedly. The recall involves 2007 through 2010 Chevi Malibus, Pontiac G6s and some Saturns², all with four-speed automatic transmissions. GM says it knows of four crashes but no deaths or injuries. Dealers³ will fix the problem at no cost to owners. Dave Mattingly, NPR News, Washington.

 

Obama administration officials are saying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has decided⁴ to remove an Iranian militant⁵ group from the US terrorist list, a move likely to anger Iran. Mujahadin-e Khalq or MEK helped Islamic clerics overthrow⁶ the Shah of Iran, but then fought against the Iranian regime along with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. The group has been sponsoring a high-profile campaign to be taken off the US terror list.

 

Demonstrators took to the streets across Pakistan today, protesting an anti-Islam video that was produced in the US after the country's prime minister declared this a day of support for Islam's Prophet Muhammad. From Islamabad, NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

 

Security has been tightened⁷ to all of Pakistan's major cities. The government cut cell phone service first in this morning in an effort to prevent a terrorist attack. Cell phones are often used to detonate bombs. Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf used the public holiday to denounce a video which denigrates⁸ the Prophet Muhammad. And the American Ambassador Richard Hoagland was summoned to the Foreign Office, where Pakistan's government launched a strong protest over the video. On Thursday the major television network ran paid advertisements put out by the US embassy, which show both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying the US respects all religions, and that the US government had nothing to do with the video. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Islamabad.

 

An hour before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was up 15, the NASDAQ up seven. This is NPR.

 

As Apple's iPhone5 hits stores in several counties today, there's another embarrassment⁹ for the struggling maker¹⁰ of the Blackberry smartphone. Dan Karpenchuk reports an outage has left users in several parts of the world without service for several hours today.

 

The loss of service hit customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Canadian maker Research In Motion announced the interruption imposed things on Facebook and Tweeter. It later issued a statement to the media apologizing for the problem which it now says has been fixed¹¹. Many of the world's 70 million Blackberry users were affected¹². The outage couldn't have come at a worse time. The new iPhone from Apple has put even more competitive pressure on the Blackberry. Research In Motion has already lost a large portion of market share to Apple and to Google's Android system because of delays in launching its new smartphone products. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

 

Wal-Mart says it will no longer sell Amazon's Kindle¹³ eReaders and tablets. And the retail¹⁴ giant is severing¹⁵ ties with amazon.com altogether because of online competition. Kindle owners can use their device to shop around for the best prices on millions of items through Amazon, potentially putting Wal-Mart at a disadvantage as it tries to catch up to Amazon in online sales.

 

The French-owned Universal Music Group is a step closer to buying the troubled British music company EMI. The European Union has approved the sale over the objections of rivals who argue the Universal will be able to squeeze out competition. The combined group would include top-selling recording¹⁶ artists, including Jay-Z and Kanye West as well as the Beatles catalogue. The deal worth nearly two billion dollars still needs US approval. If it goes through, it would give Universal 40% of the US market.

1 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings.天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

2 Saturns   

n.土星( Saturn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This one concerned the possibility of life on Saturns largest moon, Titan. 这次有关生命存在的发现地是土星最大的卫星—土卫六。 来自互联网
• That, he says, gives Saturns now-frigid moon all of the elements it needs for life. 而这，将会赋予这颗目前冰冷的土星月亮以生命所必需的一切元素。 来自互联网

3 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

6 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

7 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

8 denigrates   

v.诋毁，诽谤( denigrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The line is clever, but it unfairly denigrates the predictive power of stock markets. 话说的很聪明，但却不公平地贬低了股市的预测能力。 来自互联网

9 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

10 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

11 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

12 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

13 kindle   

v.点燃，着火

参考例句：

• This wood is too wet to kindle.这木柴太湿点不着。
• A small spark was enough to kindle Lily's imagination.一星光花足以点燃莉丽的全部想象力。

14 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

15 severing   

v.切断，断绝( sever的现在分词 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• The death of a second parent is like severing an umbilical cord to our past. 父母当中第二个人去世，就象斩断了把我们同过去联在一起的纽带。 来自辞典例句
• The severing theory and severing method for brittle block are studied. 研究裂纹技术应用于分离脆性块体的分离理论和分离方法。 来自互联网

16 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。