CNN 2011-04-26

Hey there, everyone, happy Monday and thanks for turning in the CNN Student News. I'm Ben Tinker, filling in today for Carl Azuz who's got today off. As we kick off this last week of April, we are going to get things started today, in the Middle East.

There is a deal being discussed in the nation of Yemen that would remove that country’s president from power.That something protesters have been pushing for for weeks. They have been marching through the streets, demonstrating and in several cases, those demonstrations¹ have turned violent with fighting between protesters and security forces. The protests are centered around this man, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who’s been in power for more than 30 years. This deal, which is put together by a group of countries in that region, says that President Saleh has to step down within thirty days. It also gives him and anyone who served his government complete immunity² from prosecution³. Thousands of Yemeni people are angry at the deal, especially because it offers immunity to Saleh. They also want him to step down immediately but as if Sunday afternoon, president Saleh had not signed the deal and government representatives insist he won't unless the opposition⁴ groups agree to it.

From Yemen, we move west to North African country of Libya and the city of Misrata. The battle to control that city has gone on now for 7 weeks. Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting between Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and the rebels who want him out of power. Over the weekend Libyan officials said they stopped their operations in Misrata, but a rebel spokesman calls that a flat-out lie. CNN senior international correspondent Nick Roberson who’s been covering the conflict in Libya explains how we’ve got to this point and what some of the potential outcomes might be.

Well, Libyans have Muammar Gaddafi leading the country for almost 42 years and there’s been a push to see democratic change there. Although Libya is on Tunisia’s borders and the revolution in Tunisia really sort of came to its initial conclusion with the oust⁵ of President Ben Ali who took exile in Saudi Arabia. That really sparked the revolution that dental place in Egypt on the other side of Libya. So really it was these two events on both sides of Libya that then gave the confidence to the opposition.

People want democracy and people want the chance now to choose their own political leaders, to have political parties in some cases, to have a voice in their own futures⁶.

They went from being a sort of unarmed civilians⁷ against government situation that we saw in Tunisia and in Egypt into more even armed rebel revolt against the government which is where it is today. You have the rebels in Benghazi. In the east you have Gaddafi and he ceded⁸ power and with the support of a lot of the principle tribes in the country. In Tripoli and you have a siege around the town of Misrata where rebels are surrounded by government forces and are being shelled.

It’s reaching a stalemate of sorts ,but behind the scene, there are political back-channel talks that are going on. The Foreign Minister who's talked about possibility of an interim⁹ solution, being an interim government to last for six months before elections.But at the same time Britain France and Italy are talking about sending advisors¹⁰ for the rebels which potentially will stiffen¹¹ positions, stiffen the Libyan government’s position and make it harder to potentially to reach any kind of deal.

Two potential futures, one is that there is a ceasefire troops on the ground to monitor a ceasefire, an interim government and ultimately elections. There’s been a lot of blood-led in so far. It’s gonna be hard to ,sort of ,walk away from this situation right now without further bloodshed. The other scenario is that the both sides dig in deeper refuse to negotiation ,and that becomes a much wider spread civil war in the country

1 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

2 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

3 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

6 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 ceded   

v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Cuba was ceded by Spain to the US in 1898. 古巴在1898年被西班牙割让给美国。
• A third of the territory was ceded to France. 领土的三分之一割让给了法国。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

10 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

11 stiffen   

v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬

参考例句：

• The blood supply to the skin is reduced when muscles stiffen.当肌肉变得僵硬时，皮肤的供血量就减少了。
• I was breathing hard,and my legs were beginning to stiffen.这时我却气吁喘喘地开始感到脚有点僵硬。