美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-02-10

 Hi, this is Trei Dudley, the Boys and Girls Club National Youth of the Year, and you are watching CNN student news.

See if you fill in the blanket here, Colin Powell, then Condoleezza Rice, followed by Hillary Clinton. We're talking about former U.S Secretaries of State, and the next in line for that job is John Kerry. On Tuesday, the U.S Senate confirmed Kerry is the next Secretary of State, the vote was 94 to 3, here is little background on Mr.Kerry. He's been Senate Kerry for nearly 30 years, he was first elected to the U.S Senate in 1984. He wanted to be president Kerry, but he lost the 2004 election to George W.Bush. He was lieutenant¹ Kerry when he served in the U.S Navy during the Vietnam War. Now he's going to be Secretary of State Kerry, if you think you might not know about that job. It goes all the way back to Thomas Jefferson, the first Secretary of State. The person who has the title is fourth in line to the presidency², and most importantly, the Secretary of State is the country's top diplomat³. That means he or she is responsible for representing the president's policies to other countries in the world.

Alright, our next story today, there has been a lot of talk about the issue of guns in America since last month's school shooting in Newtown Connecticut. That conversation continued yesterday on Capitol Hill, it included the Senators, it included the head of the National Rifle Association, and it included a former Congresswoman who herself was a victim of gun violence. 

"Too many children are dying, too many children."

"Newtown and Tucson are terrible tragedies."

"It's time to throw an immediate⁴, blanket of security around our children."

"Why is there a risk when responsible people fail to stand up for laws?"

"The death in Newtown should not be used to put forward every gun control major that's been floating around for years."

"Stand up for the laws, we'll keep guns out of their hands, of those who use them to commit murder."

"About a third of our schools right now have armed security already because it works."

"We must do something."

Alright, next today, I want you to pick your map of United States, starting in the upper midwest, so we're thinking Michigan and Illinois, and then move, go all the way down to the southeast to George and Alabama. That is how far a severe weather system stretched yesterday, about 1000 miles. In northern Georgia, it caused this, what you see in the middle of your screen there is a tornado⁵, you can even see it moving a little bit. It crossed over I-75, a major highway, an emergency officer said in one area the storm flipped⁶ over around 100 cars. By the time the tornado was gone, this is what left behind. The officials described the damage as significant, a motel, a manufacturing plant, several other buildings, all of them damaged by the severe weather. And check this video from Tennessee, flooding caused by the storms, the winds knocked down trees and powerlines. The owner of this barn in Indiana thinks lightening caused it to catch on fire. There were tornados⁷ confirmed in Indiana and in Kentucky. If you go to the spotlight⁸ section on our homepage, that's cnnstudentnews.com, you're going to find a video on tornados, it explains how they formed and where they are most likely to hit. We hope you'll check it out.

1 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

2 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。

3 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

6 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

7 tornados   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And the national weather service reports several tornados touch down. 国家气象中心报告预测龙卷风将来袭。 来自互联网
• They had stock footage of lightning, tornados, and hurricanes. 他们存有关于闪电、龙卷风和飓风的电影胶片。 来自互联网

8 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。