美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-01-30

The U.S Senate, the U.S Secretary of State and an attack on the U.S facility in Libya, put all that together and things can get intense, that's exactly what happened on Capitol Hill yesterday. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee helps make U.S foreign policy, how do U.S interacts with other countries. Yesterday that committee had a hearing on last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi Libya. The U.S ambassador and three other Americans were killed in the attack, some senators asked if the attack could have been prevented or if the response could have been better. At times, the mood of the hearing was angry.

 

"Again, again, we were misled that there was supposely protest, and then something spraying out of that, an assault spraying out of that. And that was easily ascertained¹ that was not the fact. And the American people could have known that was within days, and they didn't know that."

 

"With all due respect, the fact is that we had four dead Americans. Was it because of protest? Was it because of guys out for a walk one night they decided² they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make, it is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator."

 

The State Department is responsible for U.S officials and U.S facilities in other countries, like the one in Benghazi, Libya. Secretary of State Clinton has taken responsibility for how her department handle the attack, but at least one Senator said Secretary Clinton's answers during yesterday's hearing were unsatisfactory.

 

It's not the most famous ceiling in the world, we've nominate the Sistine Chapel³ for that, it is a high one though, 64 trillion dollars, that's U.S debt ceiling which is the limit on the amount of money the government can borrow. It's one of the checks in balances in the U.S government, before World War I, Congress had to give an approval each time the government borrowed money. That would have become really time consuming during the war when a lot of borrowing was going on to pay for it. So in 1970, Congress just set an overall limit and basically said don't go over that. It's never really stop the government from borrowing though, the reason, everytime we've gotten close to the limit, Congress has just voted to raise it. We're at that limit again now, but yesterday the House of Representatives voted to allow more borrowing at least until May. If that passes the Senate and the president signs it, you can expect the debate at the next deadline.

 

Today's shoutout goes out to Mr.Fletcher and the students at Williston Central School in Williston, Vermont. Good luck with that current events games.

Now who wrote the words of "The Star-Spangled Banner"?

Was it Benjamin Franklin, Francis Scott Key, Besty Ross or John Philip Sousa? You've got three seconds, go.

 

During the war of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote the words that were become the America's National Anthem⁴. That's your answer and that's your shout out.

 

Oh say, can you see controversy⁵  If you watched Monday's presidential inauguration⁶, you heard the Beyonce sing "The Star-Spangled Banner", but did you see her sing it live, you might have heard about this accusation⁷ already. Was Beyonce live or was she lip-synching? We're going to play an excerpt⁸, a clip from that performance for you right now, check this out.

 

Beyonce: "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air. Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."

 

So, live or lip-syncing, the U.S Marine⁹ band which provided the accompanying music said it's not in a position to know for sure. The owner of the company that ran the audio board said I don't think it's a question that I should answer. And Beyonce's representatives aren't saying anything. It's not unheard of for singers to use recordings¹⁰, every inauguration performer does a pre-recorded backup just in case. But the other singers at the inauguration sang live. So this is where the controversy and Beyonce's critics come in. If she did lip-synching, why did she do it and why won't she say so? Here's another question people are asking, does it really matter?

 

If you've got an opinion, we want to hear it, go to our blog, cnnstudentnews.com. Tell us what you think.

1 ascertained   

v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The previously unidentified objects have now been definitely ascertained as being satellites. 原来所说的不明飞行物现在已证实是卫星。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I ascertained that she was dead. 我断定她已经死了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

4 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

5 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

6 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

7 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

8 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

9 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

10 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐