NPR 2011-07-18

The phone-hacking¹ scandal in Britain has taken a sudden new twist. NPR's Philip Reeves says the country's most senior police officer has now resigned.

The scandal is spreading. Sir Paul Stephenson, head of London's Metropolitan² Police， has resigned, citing accusations³ about links at a senior level between his force and Rupert Murdoch's News International. Stephenson said his decision particularly related to a man called Neil Wallis. Wallis is a former deputy editor of the News of the World, the paper at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal. He was recently arrested. It's emerged that after leaving the paper in 2009, three years after the police began investigating hacking allegations, Wallis secured a consultancy contract for the Metropolitan Police. Stephenson's resignation came just hours after the arrest of Rebekah Brooks⁴, former chief executive of News International, a close aide to Murdoch and a friend of the Prime Minister David Cameron. Philip Reeves, NPR News, London.

There are conflicting reports about the health of the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. His lawyer claimed that he had fallen into a coma⁵, but the BBC's Jon Leyne reports from Cairo doctors of the hospital denied the report.

Hosni Mubarak's lawyer said that the former president's health had suddenly deteriorated⁶, and he was now in a full coma. Mr. Mubarak has been in hospital in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh since he was arrested several months ago. The lawyer's version of events was quickly contradicted by the head of the hospital, who said Mr. Mubarak's health had not got worse. Another doctor of the hospital was quoted as saying that the former president already fell into a coma occasionally, so nothing had changed.

The BBC's Jon Leyne reporting.

The White House budget director says President Obama believes there's still time to get something big done on a deal to reduce the nation's deficit⁷ and raise its borrowing limit. NPR's Allison Keyes reports.

Budget Director Jack⁸ Lew made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows, insisting on ABC's "This Week" that the nation won't default on its bills next month because lawmakers know that's not an option.

"I think Congress knows what it has to do. It's got time to do it. The president's made clear what he's prepared to do."

Arizona's Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, agrees that lawmakers will work something out to avoid a default, but told ABC there will be no big deal if it includes tax hikes.

"Unless the president gets off of his absolute obsession⁹ with raising taxes, Republicans are not going to agree to do anything that will harm our economy."

Governors from both parties are among those urging lawmakers to make a deal. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.

The president has picked former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head a new consumer protection agency. He's to make the announcement at the White House tomorrow. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will oversee¹¹ mortgages, credit cards and other forms of lending.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Carmageddon never materialized. For weeks, officials in Los Angeles were warning motorists that shutting down part of Interstate 405 to demolish¹² a bridge this weekend could cause huge traffic jams. But traffic was described as lighter¹³ than usual, and workers finished the job earlier than expected. Officials reopened the highway about an hour ago one day early.

Space shuttle astronauts are spending the day packing to come home. They're filling a cargo¹⁴ canister, the size of a bus with trash and discarded equipment from the International Space Station. The crew will undock Tuesday, return home Thursday.

It's been a long way, but Darren Clarke has won this year's British Open. Larry Miller¹⁵ reports from London that the long-suffering Clarke becomes the third Northern Ireland golfer to win a Major in the last 14 months after Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy.

The crowd at Royal St. George's in Sandwich, England comfirming to Darren Clarke he was not dreaming that he had just won the British Open, his first major title, 22 years after turning pro¹⁰. Clarke won with a five-under-par 275 just three strokes ahead of Americans Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.

"But it's been a long and bumpy¹⁶ road. I have had good things happened to me, bad things happened to me."

It's been a decade since Clarke was a serious Grand Slam contender. He came into the Open of 40-1 long shot. He goes out nearly 1.5 million dollars richer. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.

In women soccer, the World Cup is under way in Frankfurt, Germany. The US and Japan are vying¹⁷ for the championship. There's no score after 64 minutes of play. This would be the American third World Cup title.

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.

1 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

2 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

3 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

4 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

6 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

7 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

10 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

11 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

12 demolish   

v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等)

参考例句：

• They're going to demolish that old building.他们将拆毁那座旧建筑物。
• He was helping to demolish an underground garage when part of the roof collapsed.他当时正在帮忙拆除一个地下汽车库，屋顶的一部份突然倒塌。

13 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

14 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

15 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

16 bumpy   

adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的

参考例句：

• I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。

17 vying   

adj.竞争的；比赛的

参考例句：

• California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。
• Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。