NPR 2010-05-28

The Obama administration is making some changes after finding out that the oil spill in the Gulf¹ of Mexico is far bigger than initially² thought. Up to 19,000 barrels of crude have spilled each day in the last month, surpassing the Exxon Valdez disaster; it's the worst in US history. Today, President Obama announced plans to extend a moratorium³ on new offshore⁴ oil drilling by another six months. NPR's Jennifer Ludden has that story.

In addition to the moratorium, 33 deepwater drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico are suspended. Mr. Obama said his administration has started cleaning house of the scandal-plagued agency that oversees⁵ drilling, but more needs to be done. The president also rejected criticism that his administration has not been fully⁶ engaged in the effort to stop the spill and clean up damage.

"This notion that somehow the federal government is sitting on the sidelines and for the last three or four or five weeks we've just been letting BP make a whole bunch of decisions is simply not true."

The fact is, he said, the government does not have better technology than BP for stopping an underwater leak. Whether that should change something he said, his oil spill commission will take up. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

Also today, the administration announced that Elizabeth Birnbaum, director of the agency that oversees offshore drilling, is out. The official word is that she had resigned after the Minerals Management Service came under fire for its role in the run-up to the oil spill.

In his first National Security Strategy report, President Obama departed from the Bush administration in a number of key ways. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has the details.

President Obama stressed that the battle against violent extremism can't come to define this country's relationship with the rest of the world. Instead, he stressed engagement and economic development as key components⁷ of US security strategy going forward. The Obama National Security Plan doesn't mention, for example, preemptive attacks against countries and non-state groups who pose a threat to the US. Preemption had been a cornerstone of the Bush administration's national security strategy, and it set the stage for the war in Iraq. The report also focuses on the growing threat of homegrown terrorism. That says the US has to counter relatively⁸ unsophisticated attacks launched from inside this country, such as the recent failed car bombing in Times Square. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News, New York.

The US government seeing another drop in the number of Americans filing their first claims for unemployment benefits, it fell to 460,000 last week. David Wyss, chief economist⁹ at Standard & Poor's, says there're still too many new jobless claims despite the decline.

"Claims are doing a little bit worse than we would have thought at this stage of recovery. Normally, it used to be of lay-offs dropping off more than this. Critical number is going to be next Friday's employment report, however."

Dow's up more than 200.

This is NPR News.

An American woman, who's spent 15 years in a Peruvian prison for her role in an insurgency¹⁰ group, is out. Lori Berenson was released today, 48 hours after a court granted her parole. The New York native was arrested on a bus in 1995 on charges of being a leader of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Her family says Berenson never took up arms and was wrongfully convicted.

In the US, a new poll shows that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal still holds a large lead in the race for the Senate seat now held by Christopher Dodd. Blumenthal has been the subject of national criticism following a New York Times' article about his service during the Vietnam War. From member station WNPR, John Dankosky reports.

A full week of negative press has taken a small toll¹¹ on Blumenthal, once thought to be a shoo-in to replace Dodd. But he still holds a 25-point lead over his main Republican challenger, Linda McMahon, in a poll by Quinnipiac University. Last week's New York Times article shows Blumenthal referring to service in Vietnam during a war. He did actually serve stateside in the Marine¹² Corps¹³ Reserves. He's since apologized for what he called "misstatements". Doug Schwartz, director of the poll, says that Blumenthal still has a commanding lead.

"That says that people really like him, and because they really like the job that he's done for 20 years as attorney general, they're willing to cut him some slack on this controversy¹⁴."

The poll does show that fewer Connecticut voters found the Democrat¹⁵ honest and trustworthy since the incident. McMahon's negatives also went up by 13 points. The former executive of World Wrestling Entertainment had claimed credit for feeding the Vietnam story to the Times. For NPR News, I'm John Dankosky in Hartford.

US stocks rallied into the close, up 285 points for the Dow at 10,260.
 

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 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

3 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

4 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

5 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

8 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。

9 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

10 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

11 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。

12 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

13 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

14 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

15 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。