NPR 2010-05-17

Some of the oil spilled in the Gulf¹ of Mexico is starting to be diverted from a blown-out well a mile underwater and onto a tanker² on the surface, just how much remains³ to be seen. From New Orleans, Eileen Fleming of member station WWNO says BP engineers manage to hook up a tube to start collecting the crude after suffering yet another setback⁴.

The first insertion tube was knocked out because of robots that were taking photographs of this and sending images up of how this operation was going. They crashed into each other. They hit the contraption. And that stopped things yesterday. Now overnight, they're able to re-hook it up. So we're waiting for BP to tell us how much oil they are actually capturing, how the system is working, and they plan to do with the top hat, if anything that's sitting on the seabed next to the broken well.

Eileen Fleming reporting from New Orleans.

A crackdown on anti-government protesters in Bangkok is underway. Thailand's government has rejected a plea from demonstrators for UN-mediated talks. Street clashes between government troops and so-called red-shirts have killed at least 30 people in last four days. The BBC's Chris Hogg reports that many of the demonstrators are besieged⁵ in a camp in central Bangkok.

What the army seems to be doing is that they seem to be doing the live firing as a way of harrying⁶ the protesters and stopping them from being able to build a new permanent structure, new barricades⁷, and there's still some distance away from the protesters. But by firing these rounds, it stops them being able to operate effectively and perhaps to build up a new encampment.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Bangkok.

German bank officials are increasingly worried Greece may not be able to pay back billions of dollars in debt. The concerns come after another volatile⁸ week for global stock and currency markets. Thomas Marzahl reports from Berlin about some of the latest takes on the situation.

The chief economist⁹ of Germany's DekaBank says it would "be very difficult for Athens to repay its debt in an orderly fashion". Ulrich Kater told German business daily Handelsblatt that Greece probably needed years of austerity, but that would hamper¹⁰ its prospects¹² for economic growth and undermine its competitiveness. Kater is the latest official to speak out over the debt crisis that has seen the euro fall to its lowest level in a year and a half, and stock markets take a beating. Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Deutsche Bank, last Thursday publicly raised the prospect¹¹ of a Greek default. Less than a week ago, the EU and the IMF agreed on a nearly one-trillion-dollar emergency loan package for ailing¹³ European economies, but the measures seem to have so far failed to impress investors¹⁴. For NPR News, I'm Thomas Marzahl in Berlin.

Parts of Puerto Rico are reeling from a 5.8-magnitude earthquake. It struck overnight, centered about 67 miles from the capital San Juan. There were no immediate¹⁵ reports of injuries, but some homes have been damaged in northern and western Puerto Rico. The quake also caused a rockslide on a highway.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

There're no arrests made, but a Canadian fighter jet had to scramble¹⁶ to escort a passenger plane to Vancouver's International Airport. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, sources say a bomb threat on the plane turned out to be a false alarm.

Cathay Pacific flight 839 was en route from Hong Kong to Vancouver when the threat was made. Sources have told local media outlets¹⁷ that two threats were called in from a pay phone in Vancouver from someone who said there was a bomb on an outgoing Hong Kong-Vancouver Cathay Pacific flight. Canadian authorities immediately scrambled¹⁸ CF-18s to escort the plane to Vancouver Airport. The plane landed without incident. Luggage and passengers were thoroughly¹⁹ screened. So too were passengers waiting in Vancouver to board the same Cathay Pacific plane back to Hong Kong. Police say the threat was taken very seriously, but investigators²⁰ found nothing of concern on board. Passengers on flight 839 were not told about the security threat during the flight, but some of them noticed the fighter jets, one reported to be scared because a CF-18 was flying very close to the jetliner. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk.

"What do you get when you do 100,000 hours of community service?" For George Washington University's graduating class, an appearance by First Lady Michelle Obama. She agreed to be their speaker after putting the challenge to students, faculty²¹ and staff. On the grounds of the National Mall, Mrs. Obama got a warm reception and left with an honorary doctor of public service degree.

"Dr. Obama. I like that. I think I'll have everybody at home start calling me that."

There're about 5,000 graduates and their families in attendance on the National Mall.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.
 

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 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

3 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。

4 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

5 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

6 harrying   

v.使苦恼( harry的现在分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰

参考例句：

• The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment. 税务局一直在催她补交税款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is increasingly active in harrying the government in late-night debates. 他越来越活跃，在深夜辩论中不断攻击政府。 来自辞典例句

7 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

8 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

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 hamper   

vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子

参考例句：

• There are some apples in a picnic hamper.在野餐用的大篮子里有许多苹果。
• The emergence of such problems seriously hamper the development of enterprises.这些问题的出现严重阻碍了企业的发展。

11 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

12 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

13 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

14 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

15 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

16 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

17 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

20 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。