NPR 2010-08-15

The First Family is in Florida for a 27-hour-visit that combines a vacation with a sales pitch. The president said he wants everyone to know that Gulf¹ Coast beaches are clean and open for business following the BP oil spill. The president also wanted to reassure² local residents.

"Today, the well is capped. Oil is no longer flowing into the Gulf. It has not been flowing for a month. I'm here to tell you that our job is not finished, and we’re not going to anywhere until it is."

BP is being told to come up with ways to relieve pressure that may develop during the final phases of killing³ its well. Eileen Fleming of member station WWNO reports the government still wants the well permanently⁴ plugged by more mud and cement pumped in from the bottom.

National Incident Commander Thad Allen says he's ordering BP to come up with a plan, if pumping during the "bottom kill" cranks up pressure on the capping system, holding back the oil from the top.

"We're still dealing⁵ with part of the well that we can't see and only know from pressure readings and external indications. What the condition is and we will not know until we actually intercept⁶ the well."

Allen says there may be 1,000 barrels of oil stuck in the well that's been choked by mud and cement pumped in from the top earlier this month. He says he wants BP to make sure that oil doesn't leak into the Gulf, when the "bottom kill" begins possibly next weekend. For NPR News, I'm Eileen Fleming, in New Orleans.

Police in Buffalo⁷, New York are asking for witnesses to come forward to help in the investigation⁸ of a shooting early this morning. Gunfire erupted outside a restaurant, killing four people and wounding four others, two critically. Chief of Detectives Dennis Richard says one man who died was in town to celebrate his first wedding anniversary.

"That couple was going to have a party today with their local friends and Buffalo friends and families to celebrate their one-year anniversary. I can confirm that in fact the husband—the groom⁹, if you will, from a year ago, is one of the victims."

Richard says it appears that shortly before the shootings, there'd been some kind of verbal altercation¹⁰ in the restaurant, and at least one person had been escorted outside.

Authorities in Nevada say rescuers have found human remains¹¹ at the bottom of a gold mine shaft¹². They say they appear to be those of two missing miners. The men were being lowered into the mine cage Thursday morning, when a pipe broke loose from a wall and struck the cage, trapping the miners about 1,300 feet below the surface. The mine is owned by Barrick, the largest gold company in the world. Nevada is the fourth largest gold producer in the world behind South Africa, Australia and China.

Rescuers in northern Chile are still searching for 33 miners trapped in a gold and silver mine. There's been no contact since they were trapped on August 5th. 

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Authorities in Pakistan say some 20 million people have been displaced by the worst floods in decades. That's nearly 12% of the country's population. Relief efforts have yet to reach about six million people, more than two weeks after the flooding began. At least 1,500 people have died. Authorities fear the death toll¹³ may rise. The Pakistani government is being accused of responding too slowly to the crisis. The prime minister said today the disaster is so huge that the government help looks insufficient¹⁴, saying rescue workers are doing their best to reach all those in need.

China is making tomorrow a national day of mourning for those who died in a huge landslide¹⁵ in the northwest last weekend. NPR's Louisa Lim reports the death toll is now more than 1,200; more than 500 people are missing.

Chinese flags will be lowered and public entertainment activities suspended. This (is) to remember those who died, when a massive wave of mud engulfed¹⁶ Zhouqu in Gangsu province. Seven thousand rescuers are still working to remove debris¹⁷ from the river that now inundates¹⁸ one third of the town, amid the threat of further rainstorms over the coming days. Clean drinking water is a concern and state media have reported cases of dysentery. Elsewhere, heavy rain has caused landslides¹⁹ in a part of Sichuan province that was hit by a massive earthquake two years ago. Dozens of people have been killed and 4,000 stranded²⁰ by the downpours. Louisa Lim, NPR News, Beijing.

Hundreds of wildfires continue to burn in central and western Russia. Hundreds of people have been put out of their homes during the worst heat wave on a record. The drought has also destroyed about a third of Russia's wheat crop.
 

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 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

3 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。

4 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

7 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

10 altercation   

n.争吵，争论

参考例句：

• Throughout the entire altercation,not one sensible word was uttered.争了半天，没有一句话是切合实际的。
• The boys had an altercation over the umpire's decision.男孩子们对裁判的判决颇有争议。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

13 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。

14 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

15 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

16 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

18 inundates   

v.淹没( inundate的第三人称单数 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• The river inundates the valley each spring. 那一条河流每年春天使山谷泛滥。 来自辞典例句
• A flood occurs when overflows or inundates land that's normally dry. 当水流过量或者淹没正常的土地时，洪水发生。 来自互联网

19 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

20 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。