NPR 2010-06-15

President Obama’s back on the frontlines of the oil spill; this time it's Alabama. He's in Theodore, one of the Gulf¹ Coast's largest staging areas to stockpile and ship out supplies.

"We are minimizing the short-term impacts, and we're making sure that we've got the resources to fully² recover."

The president speaking to reporters after getting a status report on the spill now estimated to be more than two million barrels since April. The public is expected to get a progress report from the president when he delivers his speech from the Oval Office tomorrow.

A different kind of disaster's unfolding in other parts of the South. The death toll³ from Friday's flash floods in Langley, Arkansas is now up to 20. It was uncertain earlier. The latest victim was one reported missing since last week. Captain Mike Quesinberry says rescuers are still looking.

"There's still folks in the woods. They're still doing the things just in case there's someone else out there."

In parts of Oklahoma City, people are waiting through waist-deep water while others have to swim from one tree branch to the next to get to land. Flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall today. The latest from Michael Cross of member station KOSU.

The people of central Oklahoma awoke Monday morning to ten inches of rain in about six hours, which resulted in impassable roads and damage to some homes and businesses. Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett says the metro⁴ area isn't prone⁵ to flooding, but it's impossible to stop with the amount which fell in such a short time.

"We can handle ten inches of rain but not when it falls in a six-hour period. You need that ten inches spread out over a day or maybe two days, and it would be fine, but when you get that flow at that point, you know, your infrastructure⁶ just can't handle it."

And more rain is expected, and Mayor Cornett says he hopes it will be more sporadic⁷ to keep the rivers from overflowing⁸. The city's airport has remained open, but some flights were canceled. For NPR News, I'm Michael Cross in Oklahoma City.

Israel is setting up an independent commission to investigate the recent raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. As Dan Karpenchuk tells us, Canada's former top military lawyer has been asked to help.

Canada's former Judge Advocate General Ken⁹ Watkin will be one of two foreign observers for the proposed inquiry¹⁰. Watkin served as a Canadian forces legal officer for more than 25 years. He's been involving several probes arising from the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. He was also a legal adviser¹¹ to an inquiry into the brutal¹² killing¹³ of a teenager at the hands of Canadian soldiers in Somalia in 1993. In Ottawa, the foreign affairs minister, Lawrence Cannon¹⁴, welcomed Israel's decision to set up an independent commission, adding that Watkin is particularly well-suited to take part. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

Wall Street's losing sight of gains. At last check, the Dow was down 20 points at 10,191. NASDAQ Composite Index unchanged, settling at 2,244.

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A new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that eating brown rice can substantially reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes¹⁵. NPR's Alix Spiegel has details.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health studied rice consumption in more than 150,000 women and about 40,000 men. They found that people who ate brown rice instead of white rice were at much lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The researchers estimate that by replacing even 50 grams of white rice with the same amount of brown rice per week, you can reduce the risk by about 16%. Other whole grains can have an even more powerful effect. Replace 50 grams of white rice with barley¹⁶, for instance, and the risk falls 36%. The authors write that the average American already consumes more than 20 pounds of rice a year, and that rice consumption in America is steadily¹⁷ increasing. Alix Spiegel, NPR News, Washington.

Spirit Airlines has canceled flights through Wednesday because of a pilot strike. Spirit aircraft have not flown since pilots walked out on Saturday because of a pay dispute. At one time, the airline had hoped to keep flying through the strike. Pilot union leader Sean Creed¹⁸ says no new talks are planned as of Monday. Meanwhile, thousands of airline passengers have been stranded¹⁹.

Senate Democrats²⁰ want BP to set aside $20 billion in an escrow account to pay for damages from a leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico. Lawmakers have given BP CEO Tony Hayward until Friday to respond.

Last check on Wall Street, Dow's now down 21 at 10,191. NASDAQ unchanged, 2,244.

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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 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。

3 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。

4 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

5 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

7 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

8 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

9 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

10 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

11 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

12 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

13 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

14 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

15 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

16 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

17 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

18 creed   

n.信条；信念，纲领

参考例句：

• They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
• Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。

19 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

20 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》