NPR 2010-06-20

BP's Tony Hayward is the object of more outrage¹ today after the Associated Press reported the CEO took today off. Instead of overseeing efforts to stop the oil spill in the Gulf² of Mexico, Hayward watched a yachting race in England, which included his own 52-foot sailboat named Bob. BP officials say it was the first time that Hayward had taken a break since April 20th when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing³ 11 workers. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told ABC Hayward has gotten his life back. BP today restarted one of the systems that has been capturing oil in the Gulf. An equipment's failure had shut it down for about ten hours.

The Chinese central bank said today it will allow its currency exchange rate to be more flexible. That would mean instead of being pegged⁴ to the dollar, the yuan could appreciate in value. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.

Without offering many details, the People's Bank of China said over time it would allow its currency to appreciate relative to the dollar. That is something President Obama's administration has supported. A stronger yuan would make Chinese products more expensive relative to American-made goods, which would improve the market for domestically made products. But the bank's statement, which comes a week before the G20 and G8 summits on economic issues, is by no means a certainty. On Friday, a Chinese vice⁵ foreign minister said the value of the Chinese currency was not up for international discussion. And five years ago, China issued a similar statement, saying it would allow its currency value to rise, but then a few years later, repegged it to the dollar. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

A new report from the United Nations says security in Afghanistan worsened over the first four months of this year. It shows that roadside bombings nearly doubled during that time. NPR's Corey Flintoff reports from Helmand province in Afghanistan.

The report from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon only covers the first quarter of this year before many of the additional troops ordered by President Obama had arrived. Still, it paints a disturbing picture. It says roadside bomb attacks were up by more than 94%, compared with the same period last year. Suicide attacks occurred at a rate of about three per week with half of them in the southern part of the country. The report also says that insurgents⁶ increased their attacks on Afghan government officials, with assassinations⁷ rising by 45%. Figures are not yet available for May and June, but US military officials say the number of Taliban attacks could be expected to rise during the summer fighting season. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake is in Kyrgyzstan to meet with officials on the ethnic⁸ unrest there that has killed as many as 2,000 people. He urged there be an international investigation⁹ to determine the reasons for the violence, and he urged them to make it safe for hundreds of thousands of refugees to come home.

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In the Midwest, there are tens of thousands of people still without electricity after severe thunderstorms yesterday. About 50,000 of them are in Michigan alone. Tim Petrosky is a spokesman for the local utility. He says it may take a while to restore power to everyone.

"Throughout the night, we had almost 100,000 customers without service. We've been working throughout the night, and we will continue to work through today, tomorrow and even until Monday to restore service to those customers."

Power outages were also reported in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. One death was reported after a tree fell on a car near Dexter, Michigan.

At least 88 people are dead in southern China after flash floods triggered by more than a week of exceptionally heavy rain. Another 48 people are missing. Officials say nearly 1.5 million people have fled their homes. The BBC's Vivien Marsh¹⁰ reports widespread damage in nine provinces.

Television pictures from the southern provinces of Fujian and Guangdong showed rescuers wading¹¹ through raging brown water. People elsewhere waited for help, stranded¹² on the rooftops of submerged buildings. In Fujian alone, landslides¹³ killed 25 people. China's second largest waterway, the Pearl River, which runs through the southern manufacturing region, has surged past warning marks. Several of the provinces that are now under water only recently suffered their worst drought in a century.

The BBC's Vivien Marsh reporting.

Police in Turin, Italy have confiscated¹⁴ some 70,000 balls of mozzarella after consumers noticed that when they opened the packages, the cheese turned blue. The mozzarella was actually made in Germany for an Italian company.

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.
 

1 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

2 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。

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 pegged   

v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的过去式和过去分词 )；使固定在某水平

参考例句：

• They pegged their tent down. 他们钉好了账篷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She pegged down the stairs. 她急忙下楼。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

7 assassinations   

n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most anarchist assassinations were bungled because of haste or spontaneity, in his view. 在他看来，无政府主义者搞的许多刺杀都没成功就是因为匆忙和自发行动。 来自辞典例句
• Assassinations by Israelis of alleged terrorists habitually kill nearby women and children. 在以色列，自称恐怖分子的炸弹自杀者杀害靠近自己的以色列妇女和儿童。 来自互联网

8 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。

9 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。

10 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

11 wading   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The man tucked up his trousers for wading. 那人卷起裤子，准备涉水。
• The children were wading in the sea. 孩子们在海水中走着。

12 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。

13 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。

14 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。