NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2014-02-05

 A recent deal with the Justice Department has allowed tech firms to report in greater detail about government surveillance. As NPR’s Steve Han explains, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are among tech companies releasing the information.

 

These new, updated transparency reports show that only a tiny fraction of US technology industry’s millions of customers have been targeted for surveillance by the FBI or the intelligence community. However, that still means thousands of individuals have had their data seized without their knowledge. For example, in the last six months of 2012, the FISA court made between 12,000 and 30,000 content requests from Google. It accessed between 4,000 and 5,000 customers accounts at Facebook and another 16,000 to 17,000 at Microsoft, and Microsoft’s top attorney Brad Smith just criticized the government for failing the pledge it would stop trying to hack¹ these tech giants. Steve Han, NPR News, Silicon² Valley. 

 

Last night’s Super Bowl broke broadcast records. As NPR’s Neda Ulaby reports, it was on average the most watched telecast of all time.

 

What the Super Bowl lacked in drama, it made up for in viewers. Over 111 million people were apparently³ happy to watch the Seattle Seashawks crush the Denver Broncos for more than three hours Sunday night. Many industry watchers thought ratings would suffer when the game’s winner became a foregone conclusion early on, but more people watched than ever before. Even the halftime show set a viewing record in spite of a Time Warner outage in Southern California that made many fans there miss most of it. The Super Bowl also set new records for streaming and tweeting. The last five Super Bowls are now the five most watched programs in US television history. Neda Ulaby, NPR News. 

 

Janet Yellen has officially taken over the reins⁴ of the Federal Reserve. Yellen sworn in today to replace outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke after being confirmed by the Senate last month. The 67-year-old Yellen becomes the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve in the body’s 100-year history. 

 

After one of the worst Januaries in recent history, Wall Street appears to starting February an equally ugly mood. The Dow fell more than 300 points today - more than 2% - after a number of reports seemed to indicate signs of slower global growth. Jack⁵ Ablin is with BMO Private Bank.

 

“We’ve gotten disappointing numbers here at home, and we’re getting disappointing numbers from many of our trading partners, most notably⁶ China. So I think there’s a growing sense that the economy isn’t moving along as well as we had originally thought.”

 

Today’s selloff moves the market at least closer to a technical correction, which is a 10% drop. Already the Standard & Poor’s 500 index is halfway⁷ there, while the Dow was down more than 7% for the year. 

 

On Wall Street, the Dow dropped 326 points today to close at 15,372; the NASDAQ Composite was down 106 points.

 

You’re listening to NPR News in Washington. 

 

Iraqi officials say more than a dozen people have been killed in a series of car bombings in and around the Iraqi capital today. Nine people were killed in the bombing in the town of Mahmoudiya, where car bombs exploded outside a local council building and in an outdoor market. Other bombs went off in neighborhoods in Baghdad. The attacks come on the heels of fierce fighting in Iraq’s western Anbar province between government and allied⁸ tribal⁹ militia¹⁰ forces and al-Qaeda-linked militants¹¹. 

 

Eleven candidates are now officially running to succeed President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan’s April election. NPR’s Sean Carberry reports former warlords will play a large role in the campaign.

 

While Afghanistan is technically¹² a democracy, it still has very weak political institutions, says political analyst¹³ Grant Heywete. 

 

“The tribal system is a dominantism.”

 

He says that patronage¹⁴ and political networks deliver far more votes than policy platforms, and many of the presidential candidates have former warlords as vice¹⁵ presidential running mates because of their ability to bring loyalists to the polls. Heywete says many of these former warlords still maintain a legal militia that can also “stuff ballots¹⁶ into their people and occupy polling stations to manipulate the votes.” Past elections here have been marred¹⁷ by fraud, and Western officials hope this year’s vote is legitimate¹⁸ enough for the Afghan people to peacefully accept the results. Sean Carberry, NPR News, Kabul. 

 

Broadway theaters are expected to dim their marquee lights Wednesday night in memory of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman, who in addition to his extensive film career also earned three Tony nominations¹⁹, was found dead over the weekend for an apparent drug overdose in his Greenwich village apartment. New York Medical Examiner’s Office says it plans to conduct an autopsy²⁰ to determine the cause of death. The 46-year-old actor who had dealt with earlier drug problems reportedly had relapsed. 

 

I’m Jack Speer, NPR News in Washington.

1 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 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。

4 reins   

感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带

参考例句：

• She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。

5 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。

6 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

7 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

8 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

9 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

10 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

11 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

12 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

13 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

14 patronage   

n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场

参考例句：

• Though it was not yet noon,there was considerable patronage.虽然时间未到中午，店中已有许多顾客惠顾。
• I am sorry to say that my patronage ends with this.很抱歉，我的赞助只能到此为止。

15 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

16 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

18 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

19 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

20 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。