CNN 2010-05-09

Another big story we're following for you this morning, that massive oil spill in the Gulf¹ of Mexico. Boom! They're now being battered² in the water, and one of the main lines to defense³ here against the Gulf of Mexico oil spill may not in the end hold up.

Meanwhile, BP is still, they say, about a week away from possibly being able to contain the underwater leak. All of this the size of Delaware, the slick, the size of Delaware as we've been estimating actually moves closer and closer to shore. CNN's Reynolds Wolf has been live for us in Venice, Louisiana this morning.

Reynolds, let's just start with this big spill as we said, size of Delaware, moving closer and closer to all of those different states. Do we have any indication yet when it will hit the shore?

Well, That's great question. I can tell you this morning if there's a sense of urgency and opportunity as this thing is just sitting out there in the Gulf of Mexico, some of it actually has moved into a place called the Shandor Islands that is not far from the Louisiana Coast, about 20 miles east of Louisiana. I can tell you that the urgency is getting out there and trying to contain this as quickly as they possibly can. I'll tell you this. The first day, in about 36 hours, the weather should cooperate where crews can actually get out on the open water and get back to work.

When I say get back to work, what they're going to do is lay on more of that emergency boom. As you take a look at this video, over 300,000 feet of the boom and then later on in parts of the Gulf Coast from Louisiana back to Mississippi and even to Alabama and, of course, to the Florida panhandle and get this, Brook⁴, as over a million additional fee of guaranteed (ph) boom that is yet have been deployed⁵. We've also talked about the chemical dispersant. They've been spraying on the oil as it comes out to the major leaks. This chemical dispersant, they've used 150,000 gallons of it so far.

It has a molecular⁶ bond with the oil as it leaves the leak, weighs it down, keeps it on the ocean floor, but the latest thing that they tried or they will try within the next possibly five to six days is the sub sea oil recovery system which was build over in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, not far from where we happen to be at this time. It is a structure that weighs 125 tons, enormous. It looks like almost a two-story structure, has a bit of a dome⁷ at the very top of it, and what it does, actually, draws the oil from the ocean floor, from this leak, all the way up to a ship.

The deep water enterprise that will actually take the oil, harvest it and bring it back to shore or at least unload it on other craft who can then bring it back and safeguard the oil at shore. If this works, if it goes to plan, it can actually recover, they believe, up to 85 percent of the oil that is leaking from one of these large three leaks under water which certainly some great news.

In terms of where exactly the oil happens to be, our friend and colleague, Rob Marciano, flew out yesterday. I can tell you from his aerial observations, he mentioned that he was about 30 miles off, the thicker crude about 30 miles off the Mississippi coast. The sheen and oil of some of the heavier crude have infiltrated⁸, as I mentioned, the Shandor Islands. It's the 20 miles east of our exact position, but again, as you mentioned, Brook, this is a huge mass of oil, a mass of oil about the size of Delaware. Let's send it back to you.And unfortunately, they can't shut it off just by hitting that blowup preventer. BP very frustrated⁹ over that. Reynolds Wolf, I'm heading down to the coast today. I'll see you there, friend. Thank you.
 

1 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。

2 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

5 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

6 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

7 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

8 infiltrated   

adj.[医]浸润的v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The headquarters had been infiltrated by enemy spies. 总部混入了敌方特务。
• Many Chinese idioms have infiltrated into the Japanese language. 许多中国成语浸透到日语中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》