NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2013-08-03

 The State Department has issued an alert to all US citizens traveling overseas, and it’s closing some embassies in the Middle East and North Africa this Sunday. NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports some unusual al-Qaeda activity has officials worried.

The State Department was vague. It said that al-Qaeda and its affiliates² may try to conduct attacks against US targets between now and the end of August. Officials tell NPR that there’s been some al-Qaeda activity that has raised concern. Last week, for example, it appears Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the head of al-Qaeda’s affiliate¹ in Yemen and a bin³ Laden’s confidant, was named deputy emir of a core terrorist group. The US is also noticing operatives moving around, and some of the chatter⁴ the US is picking up indicates al-Qaeda’s arm in Iraq may be feeling empowered. The group was behind two recent jailbreaks in Iraq, and the concern is that it could start to focus on international targets. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

Meanwhile in Egypt, there’s word that riot police have fired tear gas at protesters loyal to their deposed⁵ president. Thousands continue to stage sit-ins.

The big monthly jobs report is coming under analysis or analysts’ expectations that is. The unemployment rate is down to 7.4%. But that’s partly because people stop looking for jobs in July, so they were not counted in the latest tally⁷. Economist⁸ Huge Johnson says the greater disappointment came in job creation.

“Most of us were now looking for a number around 185,000. We only saw 162,000 jobs.”

While Republicans are using the latest numbers as proof of an administration’s failure to put a serious dent⁶ in unemployment, NPR’s Ari Shapiro says White House is counting 41 straight months of job creation. These July numbers came on Alan Krueger’s last day as chair of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers⁹.

“I think what we see today it’s what we’ve seen frankly¹⁰ for the two years I’d been sitting here. The economy is continuing to heal. It’s moving in the right direction. It’s not moving fast enough.”

He blames the slow pace on Congress’s refusal to implement¹¹ President Obama’s job proposals. Republicans in Congress blame the president’s health care law for the jump in part-time instead of full-time¹² hiring. They say employers are trying to avoid the requirement to ensure full-time workers. But Krueger says many of the part-time jobs come from the sequester¹³. Those across-the-board cuts have forced some workers to cut their hours. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, the White House.

The rules that once prevented gays and lesbians from applying to live in the US with their spouses¹⁴ are no more. Secretary of State John Kerry made the unprecedented¹⁵ announcement during his trip to London today.

“When same-sex spouses apply for a visa, the Department of State will consider that application in the same manner, that it would consider the application of opposite-sex spouses.”

All US agencies are being urged to review their policies following a Supreme¹⁶ Court’s ruling that struck down a key part of a federal law defining marriage is just between a woman and man.

Before the close, Dow was up 30. This is NPR.

Congressman¹⁷ Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight¹⁸ Committee, has issued a subpoena¹⁹ for documents related to the IRS’s targeting of groups for scrutiny²⁰ due to potential political activity. NPR’s Tamara Keith reports the acting²¹ director of the IRS says the agency’s already fully²² cooperating.

Things got heated as the Acting Director of the IRS Daniel Werfel appeared before the House Oversight Committee. Chairman Darrell Issa presented a large stack of IRS documents he said were so heavily redacted they were useless and accused Werfel and the IRS of slow-walking the investigation²³. Werfel attempted to explain.

“I think this is an important fact for me to get out and hopefully I can get...”

“Yes, there’re important facts to get out, and you are obstructing²⁴ them.”

“I’m not.”

“For now.”

“That is not true.”

“So now.”

“And not support it.”

Werfel insisted the IRS is moving as far as it can. Issa wasn’t persuaded. Each document has to be screened to make sure it doesn’t contain sensitive taxpayer²⁵ information. Tamara Keith, NPR News, the Capitol.

Reputed Boston mobster “Whitey” Bulger won’t be testified in his racketeering trial after all. He called the whole legal process today a “sham” and told the judge to do ever she wanted with him. Bulger claims he had previously²⁶ received immunity²⁷ from a federal prosecutor²⁸.

The Cleveland man ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison for kidnapping and raping²⁹ three women for a decade reportedly will begin his term isolated³⁰ from other inmates³¹. A spokeswoman for Ohio’s prisons department says Ariel Castro will be kept apart from the general population for a while for his own protection. Castro was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years following his conviction on hundreds of charges.

US stocks were up before the close with the Dow gaining 30; it’s at 15,658.

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.

1 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

2 affiliates   

附属企业( affiliate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She affiliates with an academic society. 她是某学术团体的成员。
• For example, these security affiliates participated in the floating of 19,000,000,000 of issues in 1927. 例如，这些证券发行机构在1927年的流通证券中，就提供了一百九十亿美元的证券。

3 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

4 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

5 deposed   

v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证

参考例句：

• The president was deposed in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被废黜。
• The head of state was deposed by the army. 国家元首被军队罢免了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

7 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

8 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

9 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

10 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

11 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

12 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

13 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。

14 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

15 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

16 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

17 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

18 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

19 subpoena   

n.（法律）传票；v.传讯

参考例句：

• He was brought up to court with a subpoena.他接到传讯，来到法庭上。
• Select committees have the power to subpoena witnesses.特别委员会有权传唤证人。

20 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

21 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

22 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。

23 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。

24 obstructing   

阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止

参考例句：

• You can't park here, you're obstructing my driveway. 你不能在这里停车，你挡住了我家的车道。
• He was charged for obstructing the highway. 他因阻碍交通而受控告。

25 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

26 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

27 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

28 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

29 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网

30 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

31 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》