NPR美国国家公共电台 NPR 2014-04-09

 The Senate easily passed a proposal to extend unemployment benefits for five months, lawmakers voting 59 to 38 to approve the bill. But as NPR’s Ailsa Chang explains, the measure has slim chances of surviving the House where Republicans demand to attach job creation provisions. 

 

House Speaker John Boehner has already said he has problems with the Senate bill and that he’d support an extension of unemployment benefits only if there were a company by job creation programs. So House Republicans say they plan to attach their own provisions to the legislation, proposals they say will lead to more jobs, such as building the Keystone XL oil pipeline¹ or mandating² employer-provided healthcare coverage³ only to employees who work 40 hours a week rather than 30. More than a million people lost their benefits Dec. 28th, but that number has since grown to nearly three million. Ailsa Chang, NPR News, the Capitol. 

 

The international community continues to praise this Saturday’s presidential election in Afghanistan. NPR’s Sean Carberry reports the turnout far exceeded expectations and Taliban violence, while significant in rural areas, fell far short of projections⁵. 

 

Election officials estimate that more than seven million Afghans turned out to vote. That’s nearly double the turnout of the 2009 election.

 

“We don't know who has won. We know that the Taliban has lost.”

 

Thijis Berman, head of the European Union monitoring team, says all eyes will now be on Afghanistan’s electoral bodies that are tallying⁶ the votes and evaluating claims of fraud. 

 

“We do not know how these elections went.”

 

More than 150 fraud complaints have been filed against the eight presidential candidates. The final election results will be released in May after the allegations have been resolved. If no candidate gets more than 50%, there will be a runoff between the top two. Sean Carberry, NPR News, Kabul.

 

If you are running Microsoft XP on your home computer, starting tomorrow you are essentially⁷ unsupported. That’s because 12 years after the release of its popular operating system, the company says it will stop supporting XP. Patrick Thomas, a security consultant⁸ with Neohapsis, explains what it essentially means to millions still using the system. 

 

“Computers will continue to work as they have before April 8th except that at that point users’ security is essentially entirely⁹ in their own hands because Microsoft provider is no longer stepping in to release updates, to release patches." 

 

One reason many individuals and businesses have been slow to move on from XP is it’s relatively¹⁰ stable, thus made it roughly 30% of (companies) computers being used by businesses and consumers around the world are still running on XP.

 

Consumers boosted their borrowing again in February, though much of the rise was due to an increase in non-revolving¹¹ credits, things like education and auto¹² loans rather than for revolving credit which covers store and credit card debts.  

 

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 166 points to end the session at 16,245. The Nasdaq dropped 47 points today. 

 

You are listening to NPR News in Washington. 

 

The official death toll¹³ in the Washington state mudslide has now risen to 33 with 30 of the victims now positively¹⁴ identified by Medical Examiner’s Office. Latest victim id, there’s 30-year-old Billy L. Spillers, who, like the other victims, died as a result of blunt force trauma¹⁵ after a wall of earth and mud swept across a residential⁴ area on the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River that’s located some 55 miles northeast of Seattle, and dozens of people are still listed as missing after the devastating¹⁶ mudslide. 

 

Airlines delayed more flights and lost more bags last year, but fewer passengers complained to the federal government about it. That’s according to an annual study of airline quality. As NPR’s David Schaper reports, the overall marks to the airline industry are the highest ever.

 

The annual Airline Quality Rating’s report finds that the airline industry appears to be in a pretty good place right now, according to one of the study’s authors Dean Headley of Wichita State University. 

 

“Almost 80% on time with about three out of 1,000 passengers have their bags not shown up with them—that’s not a lot. And there are only about 1 out of 100,000 passengers are complaining about it. But that may be the ramp¹⁷. People have maybe gone to the point where they say ‘I just don’t care anymore’.”

 

Headley says many consumers just don’t bother complaining to the federal government and seem resigned to the fact that poor service is the new normal for most airlines. David Schaper, NPR News.

 

In a film career that began at age six and continued well into his later years, actor Mickey Rooney is being remembered today. Rooney, who died over the weekend at the age of 93, never really stopped working. His bodywork included 16 of the Andy Hardy¹⁸ comedies over the course of two decades, including one that featured child star Judy Garland. Rooney gained nearly as much attention for his personal life—he was married eight times. 

 

1 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

2 mandating   

托管（mandate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Current requirements mandating that committees keep minutes are too general. 目前对委员会要保持详细记录的指令性要求，还是太过一般化了。
• Mandating that workers who quit without permission forfeit a month's wages. 规定工人私自离岗将受到罚没一个月工资的处罚。

3 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

4 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

5 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

6 tallying   

v.计算，清点( tally的现在分词 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• In 2007 the state set a U.S. record, tallying 141 twisters. 该州在2007年以总计出现了141个龙卷风而创下了一个美国记录。 来自互联网
• We charge extra fee at 100% of the rates of tallying fees. 我们按理货收费率的100%收取附加费。 来自互联网

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

10 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

11 revolving   

adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The theatre has a revolving stage. 剧院有一个旋转舞台。
• The company became a revolving-door workplace. 这家公司成了工作的中转站。

12 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

13 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

14 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

15 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

16 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

17 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

18 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。