NPR 2010-05-08

A day after a hair-raising session on Wall Street, the stock market showed signs of recovery though, it remained volatile¹ and spent most of today in the red. At last check, the Dow was down 141 points at 10,379. NASDAQ was down more than 50 at 2,266.

Yesterday, the Dow tumbled nearly 1,000 points, raising a lot of questions about how that could have happened. One possible factor: the debt crisis in Greece that threatens to spread to other European countries. The Obama administration says it is investigating. But the government's buoyed² by the Labor³ Department's monthly jobs report today. Nearly 300,000 jobs were created last month. NPR's Don Gonyea has the details.

The jobs report was significantly better than analysts⁴ had predicted and even though the nation's unemployment rate increased slightly to 9.9%. The president said that is due in part to the long-term unemployed⁵ seeing improved prospects⁶ and once again seeking work. The president was joined by his entire economic team for a statement outside the White House.

"Over the course of this recession, more than eight million jobs were lost. So there're a lot of people out there who're still experiencing real hardship. And we got to be mindful that today's jobs numbers, while welcome, leave us with a lot of work to do."

Still, the president said the new report is also a sign that businesses are feeling confident enough in the economy to start hiring again. Don Gonyea, NPR News, the White House.

A metal chamber's within 200 feet of a ruptured⁷ oil well in the Gulf⁸ of Mexico, but BP engineers warn this may not work to contain one of the country's worst-ever oil spills. BP executive Doug Suttles says as long as the weather cooperates, the crew will keep using controlled burns which appear to be the best way to contain the spill.

"We had a controlled burn just today. We estimate that we've burned between seven and nine thousand barrels of oil. This is quite substantial. And I think we've now demonstrated that this is a very powerful technique. And when the weather's good, it will continue, which we expect to go on for the next two days."

In New York, a cooler shut down parts of Times Square today. Police evacuated⁹ some areas after reports of a suspicious package which turned out to be nothing. But as NPR's Margot Adler reports, authorities weren't going to take any chances after last weekend's failed bombing in Times Square.

They blocked off this entire region. Three blocks stopped all traffic for about an hour. There were lines of people. There were, you know, probably 12 or 13 camera crews lined up looking down two blocks of a street that was filled with police vehicles. And nothing else and no one really knew exactly what was happening. The police kept on saying it's under investigation¹⁰. There was really no way to get word, but what it turned out to be was just a cooler filled with a water bottle.

NPR's Margot Adler reporting the disruptions lasted at least a couple of hours.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

Health authorities are looking into an E. coli outbreak possibly linked to a certain type of lettuce¹¹. NPR's Giles Snyder reports that at least 19 people have become sick.

Twelve of those who fell ill were hospitalized, three with reported life-threatening symptoms. Federal health officials say they're looking into ten other possible cases. The outbreak has turned up in three states: Ohio, New York and Michigan and those sickened include students on three college campuses. The outbreak is being linked to a brand of romaine lettuce that's generally sold in bulk. Freshway Foods of Sidney, Ohio says it's recalling the lettuce sold under the Freshway and Imperial Sysco brands in 23 states and the District of Columbia. According to food safety advocates, the Food and Drug Administration is focusing on romaine lettuce grown in Arizona. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.

Damage assessment¹² is still underway in Tennessee from floods last weekend. More than 50 of the state's 95 counties have been declared disaster areas. The storms were a factor in at least 20 deaths, nine of them in Nashville.

AIG is showing signs of improvement. The insurance giant which received $180 billion in taxpayer¹³ money during the financial crisis reports today net income of 1.45 billion for the first quarter. The company says streamlining its operations and recovering credit markets helped.

In Thailand, tension is reportedly flaring¹⁴ again in the more than month-long standoff between anti-government protesters and security forces. The Reuters news service reports a gunman opened fire near rival protesters in Bangkok's Silom business district, wounding at least four people.

 

1 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

2 buoyed   

v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• Buoyed by their win yesterday the team feel confident of further success. 在昨天胜利的鼓舞下，该队有信心再次获胜。
• His encouragement buoyed her up during that difficult period. 他的鼓励使她在那段困难时期恢复了乐观的情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

6 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

7 ruptured   

v.（使）破裂( rupture的过去式和过去分词 )；（使体内组织等）断裂；使（友好关系）破裂；使绝交

参考例句：

• They reported that the pipeline had ruptured. 他们报告说管道已经破裂了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wall through Berlin was finally ruptured, prefiguring the reunification of Germany. 柏林墙终于倒塌了，预示着德国的重新统一。 来自辞典例句

8 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

9 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。

10 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。

11 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。

12 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

13 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。

14 flaring   

a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的

参考例句：

• A vulgar flaring paper adorned the walls. 墙壁上装饰着廉价的花纸。
• Goebbels was flaring up at me. 戈塔尔当时已对我面呈愠色。