31| New York City, Wall Street's Bulls Keep Charging

Stocks continued their seven-month rally, lifting the Dow Jones industrial average above 10,000 points for the first time since last October. The symbolic milestone followed better-than-expected September retail sales and once troubled banking giant JPMorgan Chase's report that it earned $3.6 billion in the third quarter. Optimists considered the news an omen of improved economic conditions despite stubbornly high unemployment.

 

rally 上升

Dow Jones industrial average 道琼斯工业平均指数

JPMorgan Chase 摩根大通 △

omen 预兆

stubbornly 顽固地

 

32 Washington, Enlistment Rises in Recession

Soaring unemployment rates and heftier signing bonuses helped the U.S. military meet all its annual recruiting goals for the first time since it became an all-volunteer force in 1973. The quality of recruits also improved: 95% of Army soldiers have a high school diploma, up from 83% in 2008, and fewer felons and overweight applicants enlisted.

 

enlistment 征兵

heftier signing bonuses 更优厚的参军奖励，signing bonus本意“签约奖金”

felon 重罪犯

overweight applicant 体重超重的应征者

 

33 Vatican City, A Papal Power Play

In an apparent bid to boost its ranks by capitalizing on a rival's internal friction, the Vatican said it would make it easier for Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church while retaining their own traditions. The world's 80 million Anglicans have grown increasingly divided in recent years over their church's stance on same-sex unions and the ordination of women and gays, prompting fears of a schism. Some analysts say the Vatican's move could be perceived as predatory, potentially imperiling efforts in recent decades to foster dialogue between the churches.

 

capitalize on 利用

internal friction 内部矛盾

Anglicans 英国国教徒

Roman Catholic Church 罗马天主教教会

retain 保留

same-sex unions 同性结合

ordination 这里表示担任神职

schism 宗派分裂

predatory 掠夺的

imperiling 带来危害的

 

34| New York City, A Rigged Game on Wall Street

Prosecutors in Manhattan said they broke up a major insider-trading ring, the largest ever centered in the hedge-fund industry. Raj Rajaratnam, a billionaire co-founder of the Galleon Group, and five others were arrested and charged with earning $20 million off stock trades on the basis of information unavailable to the public. Rajaratnam, whose firm manages $3.7 billion, allegedly relied on a broad network of sources, including executives at IBM and McKinsey & Co., for lucrative tips; one leak about a Google earnings report yielded his firm $8 million in profits in 2007, authorities said. The investigation was the first insider-trading probe to make use of wiretaps and may signal a tougher attitude toward white collar crime in the wake of the Bernard Madoff scandal.

 

rigged 操纵的，诈骗的

insider-trading ring 内部交易圈

hedge-fund 对冲基金

lucrative 有利可图的

probe 调查

wiretaps 窃听

white collar crime 白领犯罪 △

in the wake of 在…之后

 

35 | United Nations, Benefits of Corporate Cultural Diversity

Complying with cultural diversity, whether at the management, human resources or marketing level, can reap big dividends for businesses, according to a wide-ranging United Nations report. Multinational corporations are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of diversifying and customizing their products to penetrate new markets and meet the expectations of local consumers, according to the report, which covers a raft of issues ranging from migration, to languages, education, sustainable development, and democratic governance.

 

comply with 遵守

reap 收获

dividend 红利，股息

diversify 多样化

customize 定制

penetrate 渗透

a raft of 大量的

sustainable development 可持续发展

governance 管理，治理

 

36 Kabul, A Weak Win for Karzai

After months of recounts, investigations and recriminations, Afghanistan's presidential election is over. Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from a runoff scheduled for Nov. 7, prompting the Independent Election Commission to declare incumbent Hamid Karzai the winner by default. But it's by no means an unalloyed victory for Karzai. Allegations of fraud in the Aug. 20 vote, coupled with long-standing concerns over corruption in his administration, have undermined his credibility. Abdullah, Karzai's closest challenger, said the election process was so flawed that it wasn't worth participating in. He later said he had no intention of joining a coalition with Karzai, calling his re-election "illegal" and adding that his "government cannot bring legitimacy, cannot fight corruption."

 

recrimination 揭发，相互指责，反诉

runoff 决赛，这里表示最终选举

prompt 引发，导致

incumbent 现任的

by default 缺席，不到场，默认

unalloyed 纯粹的，未掺杂的

long-standing 长期存在的

undermine 损坏

credibility 可信度

flawed 有瑕疵的

coalition 联盟

legitimacy 合法性

 

37 Washington, HIV Travel Ban Lifted

Announcing on Oct. 30 that the U.S. government would reverse a "decision rooted in fear rather than fact," President Barack Obama ended a travel and immigration ban on HIV-positive noncitizens trying to enter the U.S. without a special waiver. The reversal was first signed into law by George W. Bush in 2008, but the White House was unable to finalize the change before his term ended.

 

reverse 逆转，这里表示更改政策

waiver 放弃索赔，这里表示豁免

 

38| Vatican, God vs. E.T.

Four centuries after the Inquisition sentenced an Italian philosopher to death for claiming that other worlds exist, the Vatican gathered some 30 experts in biology, astronomy and other disciplines to study the possibility of life beyond Earth. The Vatican's chief astronomer, José Funes, has said there is no contradiction between faith in God and the belief that humans might have extraterrestrial "brothers."

 

Inquisition 宗教裁判所 △

disciplines 这里表示学科

contradiction 矛盾，冲突

extraterrestrial 地球外的，天外的，又缩写为E.T表示外星人

 

39 | Seoul, Shoot-out at Sea

North and South Korea's navies exchanged gunfire for the first time in seven years, raising tensions between the rivals shortly before President Barack Obama visits the region. Both countries reported no injuries from the Nov. 10 skirmish along their western maritime border, though the North Korean vessel sustained heavy damage. Officials in Seoul said the shooting was triggered by a North Korean patrol boat that had strayed more than a mile into South Korean territory; the North said the South was the aggressor. Analysts did not expect the incident to spark further conflict, suggesting that Pyongyang may be seeking attention before Obama visits Seoul on Nov. 19. North Korea recently sent signals that it may be willing to return to six-party talks on disabling its nuclear program.

 

shoot-out 交火

skirmish 小规模冲突

maritime border 海上边界

trigger 引起，激发

patrol boat 巡逻艇

stray 迷路，走失，这里表示越界

aggressor 侵略者

spark further conflict 激起进一步冲突

six-party talks （朝核问题）六方会谈 △

disable 使停止，这里表示关闭核设施

 

40 | Geneva, Gender Inequality's Deadly Toll

In its inaugural report on women's health from the cradle to the grave, the World Health Organization found that HIV is the No. 1 killer of women ages 15 to 49 worldwide and that unequal access to sex education and health care leads to millions of preventable deaths each year. Traffic accidents, suicide and breast cancer are the top causes of death in high-income nations, while HIV/AIDS, maternal conditions (such as dying during childbirth and unsafe abortions) and tuberculosis account for 1 in 2 female deaths in poorer countries.

 

gender inequality性别差异，男女不平等

inaugural report 正式报告

tuberculosis 肺结核 T.B.