VOA慢速英语:Oil Spill in US Puts Attention on Pipelines, Waterways

短语讲解：

1. Workers shut off the Exxon Mobil pipeline, and the company continues to clean up the spill.

shut off停止, 关掉
例句：The current has been shut off.
电流切断了。
clean up打扫; 清理
例句：Let me clean up the broken glass before someone walks on it.
我来把碎玻璃扫掉, 以免有人踩到。

2. What we have learned so far has been hindered by the rapid flow of the river right now.

so far到目前为止；迄今为止；到这点为止
例句：I can only trust him so far.
我至今还信赖他。

3. In May, Ms. Hassett says, local officials ordered a temporary shutdown to check on the pipeline.

check on查对, 核实, 检查
例句：We're checking on how their food was.
我们常去查看他们的伙食。

4. They were concerned with heavy rains and rising waters.

be concerned with参与,干预; 关心…，涉足
例句：Her latest documentary is concerned with youth unemployment
她最近的一部纪录片是关于青年人失业问题的。

5. The Yellowstone River is critical for irrigation for example.

for example 例如, 譬如
例句：I know many women who have a career and a family—Kehr for example.
我知道有许多妇女能事业家庭兼顾——凯尔就是其中之一。

6. Whereas the oil industry may find it business as usual to have a certain number of spills, it is really not acceptable, especially in this day and age.

as usual像往常一样
例句：I got up at six that morning as usual.
像往常一样那天早上我六点起床。
a number of一些
例句：A great number of problems have arisen.
出现了许多问题。

7. It shouldn’t be best practices to have spills in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, in the Yellowstone River in Montana and potentially in the future in the Ogallala aquifer which would be crossed by this new proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

in the future今后, 将来
例句：He does not care in the least what will happen in the future.
他对以后发生什么事一点也不在乎。