美国有线新闻 CNN 2012-09-28

 But first, what happens when leaders from around the world get together to discuss global issues? We are going to see because it’s going on this week. It’s the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. That’s the main body of the United Nations. All 193 U.N. members are involved, and it takes place at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. During the General Assembly world leaders give speeches in this hall you see right here. President Obama is scheduled to speak to the assembly this morning. Some of the topics that will probably come up during the General Assembly include Iran’s controversial nuclear program, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Europe’s debt crisis and the civil war in Syria. 

 

Next up, we are going to head across the United States and out, out into the Pacific Ocean. It’s where you are going to see the Hawaiian Islands and it’s also where you’ll see some debris¹ floating around. Like this, it’s a floating dock that a couple of fishermen came across. They estimated that it’s about 30 feet by 50 feet, the fishermen alerted the Coast Guard, because they were worried about other ships running into something this big without any lights to identify it, without any warning. The dock is part of the debris that was washed out to sea after last year’s tsunami² in Japan. So is this, this giant, bin³, normally used to hold seafood⁴, when it washed up in Hawaii, it was covered in mussels and barnacles. The researchers who pulled it out of the water said they expected this is just the start of the debris from the tsunami showing up in Hawaii. 

 

From the islands, we are going to head over the mountains in the Asian nation of Nepal. This country is home to eight of the ten tallest mountains on the planet that includes Mount Everest. Yesterday, rescue workers called off search efforts to find the victims of an avalanche⁵ on Mount Manaslu. At that point, officials had confirmed eight deaths, another 12 people were injured, and three were still missing. The avalanche happened early Sunday morning. Experts say it was probably caused by a piece of ice, one that was the size of six or seven football fields, falling from a glacier⁶. Officials said more than 200 climbers were on the mountain. 

 

I’m Johathan Mann with another political jargon⁷ buster. What is the electoral college? Established by America’s Founding Fathers, it’s actually a process, not a place. It’s even in the Constitution, described as a compromise somewhere between a voting Congress and a popular vote of the people. Each state has a number of electors, based on how many members it has in Congress. So, a state with a lot of people like California has 55 electoral votes, a small state like Delaware has just three. States award their electoral votes on the basis of the popular vote. In most states, it’s winner take off. But it takes some majority 270 of the 538 total electoral votes to win the presidency⁸. After the November election, members of the electoral college meet to cast their ballots⁹. The results are sent to Congress, which tallies¹⁰ the vote and then makes it official. 

 

Barack Obama of the State of Illinois has received for President of the United States 365 votes. 

 

By the way, the candidate who wins the popular vote doesn’t always win the election. In the year 2000, more Americans voted for vice¹¹ president Al Gore¹², but George W Bush had more electoral votes. So, he prevailed and won the presidency. You can’t win the White House without it, the electoral college.

1 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

4 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

5 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

6 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

7 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 tallies   

n.账( tally的名词复数 )；符合；（计数的）签；标签v.计算，清点( tally的第三人称单数 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• Cash on hand tallies with the figure in the accounts. 现款跟账上的数目没有出入。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He tallies his own marks. 他把自己的得分记了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。