NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2015-04-17

 In Fall River, Massachusetts today, former New England Patriot¹ Aaron Hernandez was convicted of murder in the first degree. As Craig LeMoult of member station WGBH reports, that comes to the mandatory³ sense of life in prison without parole. 

The jury took seven days to find Hernandez guilty of first degree murder. The victim, Odin Lloyd, was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée. The defenses are trying to argue Hernandez was targeted by police because of his fame as a Patriots⁴ tight end. District Attorney Thomas Quinn said that wasn’t true and it didn’t factor into the verdict. 

“The fact that he was a professional athlete made nothing in the end. He is a citizen who is held accountable by the jury for his depraved conduct.”

Odin Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found in an industrial park near Hernandez’s home in June of 2013. Aaron Hernandez still faces charges in an unrelated 2012 double murder in Boston. For NPR News, I’m Craig LeMoult. 

 

Capitol police say a man who landed a small single-seat helicopter on the West Lawn of the Capitol today has been taken into custody⁵. A bomb squad⁶ was also brought in to secure the area despite the fact authorities later said no explosives were found. Police say the pilot of what is technically⁷ known as a gyro copter was taken into custody after it landed, and it also resulted in a brief lockdown of the Capitol and nearby street closings. The FAA says the pilot was not in contact with air traffic controllers and did not have permission to enter restricted air space. He could face civil and criminal charges. 

 

At her campaign stops in Iowa this week, Hillary Clinton is seen stay tuned⁸ to her policy prescriptions⁹. Now she is mostly talking in broad strokes. As NPR’s Tamara Keith explains, she said she was open to something that has largely been a Republican idea. 

When Republican Senator and presidential candidate Ted² Cruz talks about repealing¹⁰ Obama care, he says one alternative would be allowing people to buy insurance across state lines. At a roundtable discussion in Newark, Iowa, one small business owner asked Hillary Clinton whether she thinks that approach could bring down costs. And she didn’t dismiss it.

“If we are going to have a free market system, then we need a free market, where we’ve got people competing on cost and quality and that may be one of the things we need to look at.”

Clinton said she is still working on specific proposals for improving the affordable¹¹ care act as well as plans in other policy areas. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Des Moines, Iowa. 

 

Further downgrading of Greece’s credit rating, ratings agency Standard and Poor’s today pushing the country’s rating further into junk status, citing what it calls the country’s unsustainable financial commitments without what it called deep economic reforms. Credit ratings agency downgraded Greece from B- to CCC- with a negative outlook. 

 

Stocks moved higher today. That’s as investors¹² continued to wade¹³ through first-quarter earnings¹⁴ numbers. The Dow was up 75 at 18,112. The Nasdaq gained 31 points.

 

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Secretary of State John Kerry says he remains¹⁵ confident a deal can be reached with Iran on that country’s disputed nuclear program. Speaking in Germany today, Kerry was with his counterparts of the so-called group of seven industrial powers. The G7 says it plans to discuss the recent announcement by President Obama he’s agreed to sign legislation, giving Congress the right to sign off on what’s negotiated. 

 

Music sales fell overall internationally last year, but sales of digital music rose 7%. NPR’s Neda Ulaby reports that’s the first time digital has matched global CD sales. 

2014 was stilled with the kind of catchy¹⁶ songs you want to listen to immediately.

“Because you know, I’m all about that bass¹⁷, about that bass…”

That one by Meghan Trainor. Prose happy, music by Taylor Swift, John Legend and the frozen soundtrack added up to $15bn worldwide in revenue. Still according to the International Federation¹⁸ of the Phonographic Industry, both sales of CDs and downloads dropped. But revenue from Spotify and other online streaming services went up 40% just last year. People often buy more music online in the U.S. since 2011, but this is the first time digital seen a slight edge in the worldwide music economy. Neda Ulaby, NPR News. 

 

According to organizers, it was expected to be one of the biggest mobilization of U.S. workers ever planned protests across the country today by fast-food workers as well as airport workers and employees at discount chain Walmart. Organizers say the issue was a call for $15 an hour pay raise for fast-food employees as well as the ability to unionize. Protests are planned today in more than 230 cities across the U.S. 

1 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

4 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

5 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

6 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

7 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。

8 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

10 repealing   

撤销，废除( repeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• In addition, repealing the alternative minimum tax would also help. 此外，废除替代性最低税也会有所帮助。
• Repealing the investment tax credit. 取消投资税款扣除。

11 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

12 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

13 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

14 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

16 catchy   

adj.易记住的，诡诈的，易使人上当的

参考例句：

• We need a new slogan.The old one's not catchy enough.我们需要新的口号，旧的不够吸引人。
• The chorus is very catchy to say the least.副歌部分很容易上口。

17 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

18 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。