CNN 2012-01-19

 As you might expect, many South Africans hope to avoid being part of their unemployment statistic¹ by going to college. But there are a lot more students who wanna enroll² and who are actually qualified³, and there aren’t spaces for them at the schools. That equals a dangerous situation in Johannesburg on Tuesday. One woman died and more than a dozen other people were hurt after a stampede happened on the university of Johannesburg campus. Thousands of people have lined up in the gates to try to get an admission spot; some slept out overnight. Even after the ambulances left the scene of the stampede, hundreds of people were still lined up hoping for a chance to enroll. 

 

Moving from South African to the Middle Easter Nation of Syria, international journalists like our own Nic Robertson have been allowed into Syria for the 1st time in a month. Protesters there have been fighting with Syrian government forces and these journalists are giving us a rare first-hand look at the tension and the conflict. 

The level of anger and passion here is absolutely palpable, we are just a few miles from the central Damascus and there is a crowd here perhaps several thousand people. Area / prevent police coming in here. 

It is a rare opportunity to meet the people who went over through Syria President Bashar al-Assad. Situation is very bad; we only want to be like you, like the western people. We want the freedom; we want to be free people. I’m afraid when I’m talking to you. You know why? Because I’m gonna leave this scarf and going to my home, and I’m not so 100% sure that I’m gonna be safe because if not today if not tomorrow, if there are arrestee. The defiance’s possible, because two arranged jacketed Arab league monitors are here. If you are here, without saying, you don’t, you will never gonna see any protester. 

Even so, protesters told us they did not trust the Arab league missions. They absolutely desperate to show us the level of suffering, and they say they can’t go to the hospitals, because if they do, the government hospitals they fear being arrested. When the monitors leave, so do we. Within minutes, they are stopped. We are a half miles from that anti-government rally on here. There are pro-government supporters now walking in the road, a small group try to show the monitors that they support Bashar al-Assad. It appears to an impromptu⁴ demonstration⁵, very surprising because clearly they knew this was the way the monitors who are going to crawl. And it’s not the only pro-government rally in town, at least two others. Here a huge PA system lost the president message. Government troops are dancing with the crowds, the most striking difference between this pro-government rally and the opposition⁶ rally over the scene. Here is the celebration scalable atmosphere. At the opposition rallies, there is absolutely real fear in people’s eyes that terrified their situation. Here they say they trust the president. Mr. Bashar is a good man, but if you don’t want to see, you can’t see. That’s real here. For now, al-Assad remains⁷ in control for the most part. But it’s hard to imagine the supporters and opponents could be kept apart much longer. Nic Robertson CNN, Damascus, Syria.

 

A tragic⁸ anniversary today for the Caribbean Island Nation of Heidi, it was exactly two years ago when a powerful earthquake struck their nation. Heidi is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. Many people there were struggling before the devastating⁹ quake hit, the impact enormous. More than 300,000 people died, another 300,000 were injured, 1.5 million Haitians were left homeless. Many of them set up tent cities like you see in this file video. Experts estimate that one third of Heidi’s total population, a third of an entire country’s population was affected¹⁰ by this quake. Country organizations and individuals jumped in an action, recovery started out with relief efforts like the emergency workers in this video from 20: 10. Two years after the quake, the recovery has transitioned into rebuilding. Relief organizations are working to help the Haitian people; you can be part of this. Go to the spotlight¹¹ section on our homepage at cnnstudentnews. com, click the Impact Your Word in and find out how you can make a difference.

1 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

2 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

3 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

4 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

5 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

6 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。

7 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。

8 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。