NPR 2010-06-26

President Obama is praising congressional negotiators for working out a deal on an overhaul¹ of the rules governing Wall Street, and he is carrying his victory to Canada.

"This weekend in Toronto, I hope we can build on this progress by coordinating² our efforts to promote economic growth, to pursue financial reform, and to strengthen the global economy."

Mr Obama spoke³ before leaving for Toronto for a summit devoted⁴ to financial matters. He says the deal represents the strongest overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression. It still needs final congressional approval.

Officials are worried that a storm system brewing⁵ in the western Caribbean could disrupt efforts to contain oil from BP's blown-out well in the Gulf⁶ of Mexico. National Weather Service says there is a chance the storm can strengthen and hit the Mexico-Texas border next week. The top government official overseeing the spill response, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, says he's watching the weather closely.

"We have a very robust⁷ hurricane contingency⁸ plan that has been produced by our incident commanders. In general, our threshold to start taking action is 120 hours before gale-force winds are forecasted."

Investors⁹ are worried about the storm's potential to make it more difficult to contain the spill. In Europe, BP shares fell sharply, down more than 6% today after hitting a 14-year low.

The administrator¹⁰ of the 20-billion-dollar oil spill cleanup fund, Kenneth Feinberg, is cautioning against making fraudulent claims against BP. He says legitimate¹¹ damages should be paid quickly, but those that aren't should not.

"There is absolutely no sense at all driving BP into bankruptcy¹². That would be a disaster, a disaster."

Feinberg was speaking in Louisiana today.

At least three more American service members have died in Afghanistan. NPR's Corey Flintoff reports from Helmand province on a bloody¹³ day that included the discovery of the bodies of 11 men, some of whom have been beheaded.

NATO military officials say one American service member has died following a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan on Thursday. Two more Americans died on Friday -- one in an explosion and one in an insurgent¹⁴ attack. NATO didn't provide further information on the deaths, pending¹⁵ notification of the service members' families. The deaths bring the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this month to more than 80, including nearly 50 Americans. Afghan police in the southern Uruzgan province reported a grisly discovery in a farmer's field -- 11 bodies, some beheaded. Police say the men were Hazaras, a minority ethnic¹⁶ group whose members are mostly Shiite Muslims. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan.

On Wall Street, stocks at the close finished mixed, the Dow down four points at 10,147, the NASDAQ down six or rather up six points at 2,223.

And from Washington, this is NPR News.

For those web users who are not thrilled by ".com" or ".net" sites, Teri Schultz reports that the global Internet authority that grants naming rights will now allow ".xxx" after a year's long battle against it.

For a decade, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, has rejected the creation of the ".xxx", a sort of immediately identifiable red-light district for Internet users to wander through. But at its annual summit held in Brussels this year, ICANN admitted it had not been objective in its handling of the proposal made back in 2000 by Stuart Lawley of ICM Registry LLC. Lawley says ICANN's repeated refusal to allow the adult erotica zone was due to pressure from Christian¹⁷ groups and governments trying to stop the spread of porn. He now expects to make $30 million a year by selling ".xxx" sites for 60 bucks¹⁸ each.

He says he will donate $10 of each sale to a non-profit he set up to combat child pornography. For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz in Brussels.

A day after he won the longest professional tennis match in history, American John Isner has lost his second-round match at Wimbledon. Isner looked tired from the outset, losing in straight sets to Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands. After the match, Isner said he knew it was going to be a tough day.

"When I went out there and hit that first serve, I knew, and it didn't have, you know, it didn't have much behind it. I knew I was in for some trouble. On top of that, I'm playing a really good player who is on top of his game. So, bundle those up together, just, it wasn't, you know, a recipe for success."

Isner held serve 69 consecutive¹⁹ times in the final set of his record-breaking match against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, who had lost his first four service games today.

I'm Giles Snyder, NPR News from Washington.
 

1 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

2 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

5 brewing   

n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然，一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
• She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。

6 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。

7 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

8 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

11 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

12 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

13 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

14 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

15 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

16 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

17 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

18 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。