NPR 2010-03-31

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Korva Coleman.

 

President Obama has signed the last piece of the health care overhaul¹ today. The new law also makes big changes in the federal government’s student loan program. NPR’s Scott Horsley reports.

 

The new law ends what President Obama called “a sweetheart deal” for commercial banks. That may guarantee profits on student loans backed up by the federal government. From now on, Mr. Obama says the government will make those loans directly.

 

“By cutting out the middleman, we’ll save American taxpayers² $68 billion in the coming years. Sixty-eight billion dollars. That’s real money.”

 

Much of the savings³ will go directly to students in the shape of more and bigger pal⁴ grants and reduce student debts. Students who take out the new loans won’t have to repay more than 10% of their disposable income. Any remaining debt will be forgiven after 20 years or ten, if graduates go into the public service. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

 

Another Michigan man has appeared in court, suspected of planning to attack police officers and of trying to start an armed campaign against the federal government. Joshua Stone is reportedly a member of a Christian⁵ militia⁶ group called Hutaree that he believed it would fight the anti-Christ. Stone appeared in federal court in Detroit where he was denying bail⁷.

 

Toyota is promising⁸ to respond faster to consumer complaints. NPR’s Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing this is the message coming from the first meeting of a quality control committee established following massive recalls by the world’s largest automaker.

 

President Akio Toyoda told reporters after the committee meeting that Toyota is setting up a system to respond more quickly to complaints, and that listening to consumer voices will be the key to regaining⁹ their trust. The quality control team brings together quality managers from several major markets, including the US. Toyota also plans to put black box data recorders in more cars to analyze¹⁰ a cause of accidents. It will also build four facilities in North America, Europe, China and Southeast Asia to train employees in quality control. In response to slumping¹¹ sales and consumer lawsuits¹², Toyota is offering 0% financing on some cars to lure¹³ customers back to US showrooms. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.

 

There’s flooding in Northeast following a second powerful storm this month. The government of Rhode Island is urging state residents to get home early to avoid problems. Rhode Island may experience some of its worst flooding in 100 years. Dozens of people have been evacuated¹⁴ from towns that are inundated¹⁵. A spokesman for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency says authorities are worried Interstate 95 may be closed. It’s also a major East Coast road.

 

On Wall Street before the close, the Dow Jones industrials were up 14 points at 10,910; the NASDAQ was up six, it was at 2,410; the S&P 500 was up a fraction.

 

You’re listening to NPR News.

 

A new report on housing shows the price of homes was much more stable at the start of the year than it’s been in some time. The Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller index tracked home prices in 20 cities from November through January. Prices were 0.7% lower over that three-month span than they were compared to the same time period a year earlier.

 

It’s something more than learning how to flip¹⁶ burgers. McDonald’s Corporation runs what it calls Hamburger University to train managers. Now the Illinois-based firm’s opened its first Hamburger University in the Republic of China. NPR’s Cheryl Corley reports.

 

McDonald has been in the Republic of China for 20 years. It’s considered the company’s fastest-growing overseas market. It already has more than 60,000 employees and more than 1,100 restaurants and it plans to expand to 2,000 outlets¹⁷ in three to five years. Each must be headed by a manager trained at McDonald’s Hamburger University or Hamburger U as it’s often called. There is a Hamburger U in Hong Kong and now one in Shanghai which becomes McDonald’s seventh worldwide training facility. Learning how to make hamburgers and fries is not part of the lesson plan. Instead, the focus is on how to run a business better. The move comes as foreign companies in China work to develop local managers and keep them on the job. McDonald’s plans to have 5,000 graduates from its Shanghai school in the next five years. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.

 

Scientists fired up the huge atom smasher today at the International Research Center in Switzerland. They sent proton beams flying into each other with great speed. They’re trying to replicate¹⁸ conditions that may have occurred at the birth of the universe billions of years ago and want to learn more about the makeup¹⁹ of particles and forces within atoms.

 

I’m Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.
 

1 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。

2 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

3 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。

4 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

5 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。

6 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。

7 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

8 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

9 regaining   

复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• She was regaining consciousness now, but the fear was coming with her. 现在她正在恢发她的知觉，但是恐怖也就伴随着来了。
• She said briefly, regaining her will with a click. 她干脆地答道，又马上重新振作起精神来。

10 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

11 slumping   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的现在分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Hong Kong's slumping economy also caused a rise in bankruptcy applications. 香港经济低迷，破产申请个案随之上升。
• And as with slumping, over-arching can also be a simple postural habit. 就像弯腰驼背，过度挺直也可能只是一种习惯性姿势。

12 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

13 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

14 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

15 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

17 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

19 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？