CNN 2012-04-25

 First up, election day in France, its voters cast their ballot¹ to that country's presidential election, just like the United States and other countries around the world. The economy and jobs, 2 of the big political issues leading up to the selection, according to French Television, Exit poll showed the current president Nicolas Sarkozy came in 2nd yesterday, to Francis Hollande, but neither candidate got at least 51% of the vote, in fact, neither got more than 30%, and according to French law, if no candidate wins absolute majority, the top 2 candidates have a runoff election, that means Sarkozy and Hollande will face off again on May 6th. 

 

One year, according to the owner of the coastal² Concordia, that's how long it will take to remove the cruise ship from the waters nearly Italian island. The salvage³ process will start in May, first, Concordia will have to get back to floating estate, and then the ship will be toed to port, you might remember coastal Concordia ran into a rock and then turned down its side back in January, the pictures were amazing, there were more than 4,000 people on board the ship, 32 of them were killed, the ship's captain is facing possible criminal charges in connection to the wrack⁴, although he claims that the rock that the ship struck wasn't on his charge to the area.

 

 

Today's first shoutout goes out to Mr Rainey's civics class, at Lake NONA Middle School at Florida. Which of these Middle Eastern countries is the smallest? You know what to do, is it Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar or United Arab *, you've got 3 seconds, go. Bahrain is the smallest of these nations, it's only a fraction of the size of Rode Island, that's your answer and that's your shoutout.

 

 

That small nation is dealing⁵ with some major political unrest right now, some of the recent anger is focused on a formula-won race that happened Bahrain's capital over the weekend, this race, the Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled twice last year, because of violence surrounding protests against the government, the protesters want changes made their country's government, cancelling the race is estimated to of cost Bahrain hundreds of millions of dollars, there were concerns that this year's race might be cancelled too, oppositions⁶ called for more protests around the race, you can see here of what happened, tires and trash were lit on fire blocking some roads leading to the race track, some protesters called the race a publicity⁷ stun⁸, they said it was being used to make Bahrain look more unified⁹ than it actually is, despite the protest though, the race did happen, and the Bahrain official called it a huge success. 

 

 

Here is a quick quiz for you, what annual event takes place every year on April 22nd, it's Earth Day, the tradition started back in 1917 with 20 million Americans getting involved, now according to the Earth Day network, more than a billion people all over the world participate Earth Day's activities. The goal to raise awareness¹⁰ about environmental issues, at the same year, Earth Day was created, the US government passed the clean air act, and establish the environmental protection agency. Here are some Earth Day related statistics from that agency, in 2010, each person in the United States generate nearly four and a half tons of solid waste, trash everyday. Around 34% of that waste gets recycled. 

 

 

81% of the Americans switch from regular bulbs to energy efficient reflexive bulb, 70% go with reusable grocery bag instead of paper and plastic, and 1.2 millions American homes use solar power, 22nd is Earth Day, but all of April is financial literacy month, last week, we talked about taxes, the thinnest the government's collecting ordered in fund,the goods and services that they provide, while Chistina Romen is going on a break down where that tax money goes in the US. Your government took 2.3 trillion dollars of your money in fiscal¹¹ year 2011, so what are you getting for all that tax money, well, for starters, it's enough, the federal government spent 3.6 trillion dollars, meaning they had to borrow 1.3 trillion, don't worry, you pay taxes, you will be paying me interest, but again, where did all that money go? let's start with medical care, medicate, and the children's healthy insurance program, that's the biggest slice the pie, the blue right here. Social security claimed that one fifth of the total budget, that's yellow right up there, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq costed 159 million dollars last year about a fifth of total spend on defense¹², now spending on safety net programs designed to keep Americans out of poverty actually drop last year. And interest on our debt, that amount to about 6%, that's the purple wage, 6 cents of every dollar, now there remaining 19% split on infrastructure¹³, science, medical research, education, benefits also for retired¹⁴ federal employees and batteries, that's how your tax dollars are spent. 

1 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

2 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

3 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

4 wrack   

v.折磨；n.海草

参考例句：

• Periodic crises wrack the capitalist system,and they grow in size and duration.周期性的危机破坏着资本主义制度，这种危机的规模在扩大，时间在延长。
• The wrack had begun to stink as it rotted in the sun.海草残骸在阳光下腐烂，开始变臭了。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 oppositions   

（强烈的）反对( opposition的名词复数 )； 反对党； （事业、竞赛、游戏等的）对手； 对比

参考例句：

• That's fine because all perihelic oppositions of Mars are spectacular. 但它和最近的几次区别不大，因为火星所有的近日对冲都很壮观。
• He tried his best to bear down all of his oppositions. 他尽全力击败一切反对意见。

7 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

8 stun   

vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹

参考例句：

• When they told me she had gone missing I was totally stunned.他们告诉我她不见了时，我当时完全惊呆了。
• Sam stood his ground and got a blow that stunned him.萨姆站在原地，被一下打昏了。

9 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

11 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

14 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。