CNN 2011-02-16

Gotta say thanks to the students at Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland for that. As a former drummer, I can tell you were right on rhythm! I'm Carl Azuz. Today's commercial-free subjects include economics, social studies and health. Let's go ahead and get started.

First up, economics, as President Obama presents his ideas for the federal government's 2012 budget. You or your family have to make budgets, looking at how much money you earn versus¹ how much you spend. The government does the same thing, but with a lot more zeroes. In fact, this budget request from the president, which is just for 2012, is for $3.7 trillion; more money than most of us can even imagine.

The goal of a budget is to make sure you don't spend more than you make. But that's exactly what the U.S. government is doing right now, which is why we have what's called a deficit². President Obama says his new budget will cut that deficit by $1 trillion over the next 10 years by making some pretty big cuts to a lot of government programs, and by making more money from increasing some taxes. But there are critics on both sides. Some Republicans argue that the president's proposed cuts won't do nearly enough, and some Democrats³ say that President Obama wants to cut too much.

Another important thing to keep in mind. What the president released is a budget request. He doesn't actually decide on what the budget is. That's the job of Congress, and it can choose to accept, reject or modify the president's plan.

Going global now, with headlines of political protests in two different countries. First, Iran, where tens of thousands of people marched through the capital yesterday. They were speaking out against the Iranian government. Security forces were out on the streets too. At times, they allowed the protesters to march, but there were also reports of fighting between police and protesters. This YouTube video shows tear gas being used to break up a protest. It's hard for CNN to verify some of the reports coming from Iran because the country makes it hard for journalists to cover these kinds of protests. And the Iranian government slowed down the internet in what seems like an attempt to limit how much information gets out.

The other country we're looking at where people are calling for change in their government is Algeria. This is a north African nation that's home to nearly 35 million people. As you can see from these pictures, protesters and security forces faced off against each other this past weekend. Yesterday, Algerian officials said they're going to lift a "state of emergency" that Algeria has been under since 1992. Some experts say that decision might be an attempt for Algeria to avoid uprisings like we've seen recently in Egypt and in Tunisia.

1 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

2 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》