NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-10-26

 On Capitol Hill today, House lawmakers grilled¹ representatives of 4 major contracting companies, their work done the government health insurance website. In an exchange with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, Cheryl Campbell of CGI federal said her firm’s part of project worked until it linked to the others. 

“Our portion of the system, the CGI was responsible for our functionality worked.”

“And they didn’t?”

“Yes.”

“It did not in the end result, correct?”

“When it became part of an integrated end-to-end system……”

“But you knew it was going to be integrated. There were many subcontractors. That wasn't a surprise.”

The contractors³ said they warned the Obama administration about insufficient⁴ testing in the entire healthcare.gov website, but government decided⁵ to go public with its plan October 1. 

 

Meanwhile the Obama administration continues to say it’s working to make sure Americans who buy health insurances anytime during the open enrollment⁶ period that ends March 31 will face no penalties. But NPR’s Julie Rovner reports, there’s still no details on how that will happen.

 

As it stands, people can sign up for insurances until the end of March. But in an order to avoid tax penalty, they have to make that purchases by the middle of February. The White House Spokesman Jay Carney said the administration is working to make sure those to wait until the end of open enrollment aren’t penalized⁷ either. 

“If you have an insurance by March 31, because you purchased but hasn’t kicked in you should not be penalizing⁸. And we’re working to make sure that does not happen.”

Carney, however, and the officials at the Department of Health and Human Services both say the guide on how they would make that is not yet finished. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington. 

 

President Obama is making another attempt to get comprehensive immigration bill through Congress. At The White House today, NPR’s Mara Liasson reports the president told a group of immigration reform advocate now it’s the time to act. 

A big bipartisan majority of Senators have already passed the bill that includes the path to citizenship⁹ for undocumented workers in the US, and large bipartisan majority of Americans support the legislation. But the bill has been stuck in the House, and Mr. Obama wants House Republicans to act this year. 

“It’s not smart; it’s not fair. That doesn’t make sense. We’re kicking this particular can down the road for too long.”

But for House Republicans, the politics of immigration are complicated. Many represent districts with few Latino voters are the pressure to pass it now is not as great as it will be after the midterm election when Republicans were looking to run for president in the national election and they have to repeal¹⁰ to the growing block of Hispanic voters. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House. 

 

The number of people filing first time unemployment claim fell last week, but less than it expected. Analysts¹¹ blamed contractor² layoff¹² from government shutdown and backlog¹³ applications in California. 

 

On Walls Street today, the Dow closed up 95 points; the NASDAQ gained 21. 

 

It is NPR.

 

German Chancellor¹⁴ Angela Merkel is apparently¹⁵ not satisfied by President Obama’s assurances yesterday that the US National Security Agency is not taping their phone calls. Arriving in Brussels today for an European Summit, Merkel said allegations in US spy on its allies is a shatter trust in the Obama administration. Other European leaders are also expressing outrage¹⁶ over the reports including France where NIC is allegedly swept up more than 70 million phone records in one month. 

 

Off the coast of Nigeria, two Americans have been kidnapped from a US flagship. NPR’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports that US officials say the sailors were abducted¹⁷ by pirates. 

The American captain and an engineer from Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore¹⁸, C-Retriever were abducted when their all-supply vessel¹⁹ came under attack in international waters off the gulf²⁰ of Guinea, off Nigerian coast. It’s unclear whether a ransom²¹ has been demanded for the two US nationals as increasingly the case in pirate’s attacks in a massive ocean region. That’s difficult to monitor and place. Such attacks are rise by 1/3 this year as ships passing through a major commodity route become the targets of guns, seeking to profit from cargos and snatching vulnerable crews. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Abuja. 

 

Walmart says it’s planning to expand its business in China by opening up 110 new stores between 2014 and 2016. The world’s largest retailer²² sets its focus on building Walmart’s supercenters and Sam's Clubs. 

1 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

2 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。

3 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

5 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。

6 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

7 penalized   

对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 )； 使处于不利地位

参考例句：

• You will be penalized for poor spelling. 你拼写不好将会受到处罚。
• Team members will be penalized for lateness. 队员迟到要受处罚。

8 penalizing   

对…予以惩罚( penalize的现在分词 )； 使处于不利地位

参考例句：

• This is more than just penalizing a company that you are mad at. 她说：这将远远超过惩罚一个你感到不满的公司。

9 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

10 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 layoff   

n.临时解雇，操作停止，活动停止期间，失业期

参考例句：

• Finally, prepare an explanation about what led to your layoff.最后，要准备好一套说辞来解释你被解雇的原因。
• Workers were re-employed after the layoff.在暂时解雇不久后工人们又被再度雇用了。

13 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

14 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

15 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

16 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

17 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

18 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

19 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

20 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

21 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

22 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。