VOA标准英语2010年-BP Has Some Success in Plugging Oil Le

BP oil company has announced its first major success in containing a massive oil leak in the Gulf¹ of Mexico. Engineers inserted a metal tube into a broken pipe on the sea floor, to siphon oil into a ship on the surface.

BP engineers implemented² the fix after other efforts failed over the past three weeks. BP Vice³ President Kent Wells says the method will reduce the amount of oil spewing into the water. "What we've done is the oil and gas have been leaking out through the end of the riser. And what we've done is submit a tool in the end of the riser to start to extract some of that flow and bring it directly to the drill ship so it never enters into the Gulf of Mexico," he said.

BP says a more complete solution is needed. The next step is to try to pump mud and other materials to the sea floor and block the well. "Our anticipation⁴ is that it will be another seven to ten days to complete all of the preparations that we need to exercise this option and then at that point, we'll pump the kill mud and hopefully have this well killed, and well shut off, and the flow shut off," he said.

Cleanup work continues across parts of Louisiana and other states hit by the oil. Scientists worry the crisis will spread, as the oil moves with underwater currents in the Gulf.

Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi says much of the oil is under the surface, where it cannot be monitored. "The oil, as you can see, has depth. It's not only the size of Manhattan in area, but it is several hundred meters in depth," he said.

The crisis has halted fishing in eastern parts of Louisiana. But fishing waters remain open in western parts of the state, for now. Clayton Marena is watching and worrying about the future. "Hopefully, they get it capped off and we don't have to worry about it over here. It hadn't made it over here yet. Hopefully it won't," he said.

Speaking Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano addressed the crisis.

"I think we need to just say, look, we are at the middle of this crisis. We are not at the beginning. We've been at it for a month. But we're not near the end, as well. And in my view, our job is to just keep moving. Keep assembling, deploying⁵, preparing, cleaning," she said.
 

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 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

5 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。