NPR 2010-09-11

Firefighters are steadily¹ working to put out smoldering² homes in San Bruno, California outside San Francisco, where an explosion last night killed at least four people and injured dozens more. At least 38 homes have been destroyed. San Bruno Fire Chief Dennis Haag says fire crews have gone through most of the residences, looking for possible victims.

"(As mentioned by the lieutenant³ governor, we have completed) 75 percent of the property, on initial search with the rescue dogs. The other 25 percent of the residences are still too hot to enter. So, we still have to process — go through a cooling process before we let the dogs go in."

Authorities suspect a ruptured⁴ natural gas line caused the explosion. More information is expected to come out during a town hall meeting tomorrow.

In Colorado, firefighters are up against high winds as they tackle a stubborn blaze near Boulder⁵, but Kirk Siegler of member station KUNC says crews are starting to gain the upper hand.

High winds are in the forecast through tonight with gusts⁶ upwards⁷ of 30 miles an hour expected. If winds get stronger than that, crews will be forced to ground four heavy air tankers⁸ dropping fire retardant on the flames, but fire information officer Terry Krasko says over all firefighters are making good progress.

"Things went very very well last night. There were no new structures lost."

Almost 170 homes have been destroyed since the Fourmile Canyon⁹ fire first ignited on Labor¹⁰ Day. The cause of the blaze remains¹¹ under investigation¹². For NPR News, I'm Kirk Siegler in Boulder, Colorado.

President Obama's tapping long-time adviser¹³ Austan Goolsbee to take over as chairman of the White House Economic Council, but as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, president stopped short of naming a director for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Many consumer advocates want the president to choose Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren for the new post. She came up with the idea for an agency to protect consumers from potentially costly¹⁴ credit cards and mortgages. Mr. Obama said only that he met with Warren this week.

"She is a tremendous advocate for this idea. It's only been a couple of months, and this is a big task standing¹⁵ up this entire agency, so I'll have an announcement soon about how we're going to move forward."

Mr. Obama spent much of the news conference defending his economic policies, arguing that they're moving the country in the right direction, albeit¹⁶ slowly. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

Ahead of the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, the president's tone at today's news conference seemed to become more impassioned as he denounced protests against Islam.

"We need all the allies we can get. The folks who are most interested in a war between the United States or the West and Islam are al-Qaeda."

The president said a Florida pastor¹⁷'s plan to mark 9/11 by burning copies of the Koran must be taken seriously because it could cause what he called "profound damage" to American troops. Pastor Terry Jones suspended those plans.

This is NPR.

Transportation regulators are coming out with proposed new rules designed to minimize pilot fatigue¹⁸. Addressing the issue, pilot fatigue has been a top concern for FAA and the Department of Transportation for more than a year. More details from NPR's Yuki Noguchi.

On the night of February 12, 2009, air traffic control lost sight of a Continental¹⁹ Connection flight bound from Newark to Buffalo²⁰, New York.

"This aircraft was five miles out, and all of a sudden we have no response from that aircraft."

The airplane came down in a residential²¹ area, killing²² 45 passengers, four crew members and a person on the ground. The National Transportation and Safety Board concluded that pilot fatigue may have contributed indirectly²³ to the crash. That inspired the proposed new rules, which are mending more rest opportunities and limited the amount of duty time for pilots. The FAA said the rules were drafted with the help of industry and labor. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

More than 230,000 Japanese centenarians are officially missing. The government says Japan's eldest²⁴ citizens are still listed as living, but tens of thousands of them are believed to be dead. The Justice Ministry²⁵ launched a review of records in August amid rising concerns of fraud. One of the most prominent cases involved a 111-year-old man believed to be the oldest in Tokyo. When authorities went to his home to congratulate him, they found mummified remains. His relatives are accused of fraudulently receiving his pension for years.

Here's an update from Wall Street: The Dow was up 48 points at 10,463 at last check, NASDAQ up six at 2,242.
 

1 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

2 smoldering   

v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The mat was smoldering where the burning log had fallen. 燃烧的木棒落下的地方垫子慢慢燃烧起来。 来自辞典例句
• The wood was smoldering in the fireplace. 木柴在壁炉中闷烧。 来自辞典例句

3 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

4 ruptured   

v.（使）破裂( rupture的过去式和过去分词 )；（使体内组织等）断裂；使（友好关系）破裂；使绝交

参考例句：

• They reported that the pipeline had ruptured. 他们报告说管道已经破裂了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wall through Berlin was finally ruptured, prefiguring the reunification of Germany. 柏林墙终于倒塌了，预示着德国的重新统一。 来自辞典例句

5 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

6 gusts   

一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作

参考例句：

• Her profuse skirt bosomed out with the gusts. 她的宽大的裙子被风吹得鼓鼓的。
• Turbulence is defined as a series of irregular gusts. 紊流定义为一组无规则的突风。

7 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

8 tankers   

运送大量液体或气体的轮船[卡车]( tanker的名词复数 )； 油轮； 罐车； 油槽车

参考例句：

• They should stop offloading waste from oil tankers into the sea. 他们应当停止从油轮上往海里倾倒废弃物。
• The harbour admits large tankers and freighters. 这个港口容得下巨型油船和货轮。

9 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

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 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。

13 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

14 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

17 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

18 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

19 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

20 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。

21 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

22 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。

23 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

24 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

25 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。