NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-12-12

 Congressional budget negotiators in Washington have reached a deal to avert¹ a January 15th government shutdown. Democratic Senator  Patty Murray, Republican representative Paul Ryan helped negotiate the deal. Murray says it reduces the effects of the budget cuts known as a sequester² by $63 billion. 

 

Our deal puts jobs and economic growth, first by rolling back sequestration’s harmful cuts to education and medical research and infrastructure³ investments and defense⁴ jobs for the next two years. 

 

One of the issues in the proposed reductions in federal workers retirement⁵ benefits will help pay for slightly higher government spending on programs, including military programs. Republican Paul Ryan says he is confident the deal will be approved.

 

I expect we are going to have a healthy vote in the House Republican Caucus⁶. I think we will pass this to the House.

 

In a statement, President Obama praised the agreement, calling on lawmakers from both parties to move to approve it. 

 

U.S. Bank and financial market regulators voted today to approve the Volcker Rule, it’s one of the toughest measures produced by the Dodd-Frank financial reforms. As NPR’s John Ydstie explains the rule largely bans commercial banks backed from trading financial securities for their own profits. 

 

The bank strongly opposed the Volcker Rule, because trading for their own gain or proprietary⁷ trading has been very lucrative⁸. But former Federal Reserver Chairman Paul Volcker who first conceived the rule, warned the practice was too risky⁹ and pose dangers to financial stability and tax payers. After all, five regulators including the Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission approved the rule. Volcker issued a statement saying it should help the process of restoring trust and confidence in commercial bank institutions. Banks can continue to buy and sell securities to hedge risk and serve clients. But the rules forces\ to prove the trades are not simply speculative¹⁰ bets. Banks have until July 2015 to fully¹¹ comply. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

 

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today wraps up a week-long trip to the Middle East and Southwest Asia. As NPR’s Larry Ambrason reports from Doha, Hagel has been trying to reassure¹² allies about the U.S. military commitment to both Middle East and Southwest Asia.  

 

Hagel finishes his trip by meeting with leaders of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Both countries are concerned about U.S. talks with Iran. The U.S. has agreed to reduce economic sanctions in exchange for a freeze on Iran’s nuclear program. Both countries feared that this deal could undermine the U.S. commitment to defend Arab countries in Arabian gulf¹³. Hagel has tried to ease those fears by emphasising the U.S. determination to keep Iran from developing the nuclear bomb. At the same time, Hagel offered to help Gulf nations improve their missile defense systems to clear reference to the threat on the Iranian missile strike. Larry Ambrason, NPR News.

 

US employers are putting up the help wanted sign more frequently in October, the Labor¹⁴ Department says job openings were up 1%.

 

On Wall Street, the Dow closed down 52 points today; the S&P 500 lost five points.

 

This is NPR.

 

Eight officials in central African Republic say the death toll¹⁵ there has now risen to more than 500 people with no end insight to the sectarian violence that broke out last week. An official with the Red Cross says aid workers have been collecting bodies after fighting broke out between Christian¹⁶ fighters and Muslims. Much of the fighting has been in the capital city of Bangi. Though there has been fighting elsewhere as well.

 

A new report finds most Americans are unprepared for retirement. But the situation is even worse for those colour. NPR’s Ina Jaffe reports that’s because fewer black Latino and Asian American workers have employers who offer retirement plans. 

 

More than 60% of whites have retirement plans to their jobs, but just over half of black and Asian American workers do, while fewer than 40% of Latinos have job sponsored retirement plans. This is according to the study from the National Institute on Retirement Security. The study found that around 2/3 of black Latinos households have no money in a retirement account of any kind among older workers near retirement, households headed by people of colour average just $30,000 in savings¹⁷ compared to White House that average around four times as much. Ina Jaffe, NPR News.

 

Nevada officials now say they found two adults and four children missing in the mountains there since Sunday. According to officials of the Pershing county sheriff's department, the two adults and children were taken to hospital after being found today. All apparently¹⁸ in good condition. Groups began searching after they went missing Sunday night. Thirty-four-year-old James Glanton, his 25-year-old girlfriend Christina Mclntee and the children ranging in ages from 10 to 3 years old, had apparently gone out to play in the snow but failed to return home. 

 

I’m Jack¹⁹ Speer, NPR News, in Washington.

1 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

2 sequester   

vt.使退隐，使隔绝

参考例句：

• Everything he owned was sequestered.他的所有财产都被扣押了。
• This jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months.预计这个陪审团将至少被隔离两个月。

3 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

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 proprietary   

n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主

参考例句：

• We had to take action to protect the proprietary technology.我们必须采取措施保护专利技术。
• Proprietary right is the foundation of jus rerem.所有权是物权法之根基。

8 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

9 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

10 speculative   

adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的

参考例句：

• Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
• The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

13 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。

14 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。

15 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

16 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。

17 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

18 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。

19 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。