NPR 2010-01-22

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

 

The US Supreme¹ Court is allowing corporations to spend however much they want on political campaigns again. Today the nation's high courts struck down a 20-year-old ruling that restricted corporate² contributions to candidates. The justices also rejected a part of McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that prevented union and corporate funded political ads from running in the final days of campaigns. President Obama is strongly criticizing the high court's decision saying it has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in politics.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she lacks the votes to approve the Senate version of a health care overhaul³ bill dealing⁴ another setback⁵ to the now flagging effort. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.

 

Tuesday's election of Republican Scott Brown to fill the seat of late Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts means Democrats⁶ no longer have 60 votes to block a Republican filibuster⁷ in the Senate. That means the health bill that was nearing the final vote must find another route to passage. One possibility was to have the House-approved version passed by the Senate last month. But Speaker Pelosi said today her members still found that unacceptable.

 

"So in its present form without any change, I don't think it's possible to pass the Senate bill in the house."

 

Pelosi, however, insisted that all options remain on the table and that finding a way to move forward on some sort of health overhaul remained a top priority for Democrats this year. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.

 

Southern California residents are getting hit by a fourth powerful storm with it comes a threat of new floods and mudslides. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is pleading with residents under evacuation orders to get out. "When we say you have to evacuate⁸, we mean it. It's because of potential for flash floods, mudslides and alike. Nearly 1,000 homes are under orders to evacuate.

 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton uses a speech on Internet freedoms today to call on China to investigate cyber attacks on Google and openly publish the findings. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

 

Google threatened to leave China after the latest cyber attacks saying hackers⁹ targeted the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists¹⁰. Secretary Clinton said the US will candidly¹¹ and consistently raise this issue with China.

 

"We look to the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough review of the cyber intrusions that led Google to make its announcement. And we also look for that investigation¹² and its results to be transparent¹³."

 

In a speech at the museum in Washington, Clinton said there's been a spike¹⁴ in threat to the free flow of information not only in China but also Tunisia ,Uzbekistan, Egypt and Vietnam. She said the State Department will hold a high-level meeting next month with Internet providers to talk about ways to fight censorship on the Internet. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

 

Dow's down 190. This is NPR.

 

The American Red Cross is vowing¹⁵ to be transparent about the way it's spending the money people donate to Haiti relief. And to that end, the Red Cross says that as of yesterday, the public has pledged 137 million dollars. Most of the donors¹⁶ are from the US. Of the 34 million dollars received thus far, about half of it has been spent on food and water, the rest has been used for various supplies such as tents, first aid, vehicles and fuel.

 

Former Senator John Edwards has admitted he is the father of a young girl born to a worker on his presidential campaign. Edwards had earlier confessed / having an affair with the woman but until now had denied paternity. NPR's Adam Hochberg has details.

 

Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice¹⁷ presidential nominee¹⁸, issued a written statement admitting that he fathered Frances Quinn Hunter who's now almost two years old. The girl's mother Rielle Hunter worked on Edwards's 2008 presidential campaign. The former Senator previously¹⁹ admitted to having an affair after the National Enquirer²⁰ published allegations about the relationship. But for more than a year, he denied he was the girl's father. Instead, one of his campaign aides claimed paternity. Now as the campaign aide prepares to release a tell-all book, Edwards finally has admitted that he himself is Quinn's father. In his new statement, Edwards said he will do everything in his power to provide Quinn with the love and support she deserves. He said he's truly sorry to those he hurt. Adam Hochberg, NPR News, Chapel²¹ Hill, North Carolina.

 

NBC says it's giving Conan O'Brien about 33 million dollars after deciding to take him off The Tonight Show and return Jay Leno to that spot in March. The network says it will also give O'Brien's 200-member staff about 12 million dollars in severance²².

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.
 

1 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。

2 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

3 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 filibuster   

n.妨碍议事，阻挠；v.阻挠

参考例句：

• A senator dragged the subject in as a filibuster.一个参议员硬把这个题目拉扯进来，作为一种阻碍议事的手法。
• The democrats organized a filibuster in the senate.民主党党员在参议院上组织了阻挠议事。

8 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

9 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

10 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 candidly   

adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地

参考例句：

• He has stopped taking heroin now,but admits candidly that he will always be a drug addict.他眼下已经不再吸食海洛因了,不过他坦言自己永远都是个瘾君子。
• Candidly,David,I think you're being unreasonable.大卫，说实话我认为你不讲道理。

12 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。

13 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

14 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

15 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

16 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 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。

18 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

19 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。

20 enquirer   

寻问者，追究者

参考例句：

• The "National Enquirer" blazoned forth that we astronomers had really discovered another civilization. 《国民询问者》甚至宣称，我们天文学家已真正发现了其它星球上的文明。
• Should we believe a publication like the national enquirer? 我们要相信像《国家探秘者》之类的出版物吗？

21 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

22 severance   

n.离职金；切断

参考例句：

• Those laid off received their regular checks,plus vacation and severance pay.那些被裁的人都收到他们应得的薪金，再加上假期和解职的酬金。Kirchofer was terminated,effective immediately--without severance or warning.科奇弗被解雇了，立刻生效--而且没有辞退费或者警告。