美国有线新闻 CNN 2014-04-30

 Ten minutes of commercial-free news for middle and high school classrooms. I'm Carl Azuz, we appreciate you watching. First story is about a trip across the Pacific.

 

President Obama headed to four countries over the next week. He started in Japan, from there he will fly west to South Korea. The third leg of the trip will taken him near the Equator to Malaysia. And then he will visit the Philippines before heading back home to the U.S.

 

The president arrived in the Japanese capital of Tokyo yesterday. Japan's prime minister took him to dinner at a world famous sushi restaurant. There is a formal state dinner scheduled for today and throughout this trip, president Obama has some formal diplomatic challenge on his plate. One includes questions of how the U.S. can shift the attension to Asia when it's been so focused on Syria, Ukraine and the Middle East.

 

That's interesting. Right in the midst of the Ukraine crisis, in which the U.S. has tried to take a lead in finding a diplomatic solution there. Here comes this very important Asian trip where some of the countries to be visited have very similar territory worries even dispute with China. That's not so easy to espouse¹ the values of national sovereignty and territory integrity in one part of the world and not address it at another. In fact, one Japanese newspaper asked President Obama about it even before he landed, about these disputed islands between Japan and China in the east China sea and the president didn't try to walk some middle ground, he definitely said he sides with Japan on this as the rightful administrator² of those islands and said that the U.S. opposes efforts to undermine that. Then you look at the Philippines and Malaysia, they have their own issues with China. So, this is sure to be a topic that comes up again and at times it is a sensitive one as this trip progresses. Michelle Kosinski, CNN, Tokyo.

 

For the first time in history, two popes, leaders of the Catholic Church are being canonized at the same time. Canonization is when someone is declared the saint. It's a formal recognition by the Catholic Church that says someone lived a holy life, is in heaven, and that he or she deserves to be honored and imitated by the Catholic faithful. There have been 266 popes in all, 83 of them have been canonized. That includes Pope John the 23rd, who led the Catholic Church between 1958 and 1963, and Pope John Paul the second who led between 1978 and 2005. They are being declared Saints this Sunday.

 

And there's an air of expectation and excitement in Vatican City, sea of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Overnight, it seems that tourists' shops around Vatican Square are packing a new lines of ^& books. Their focus, two former popes. And sales are booming.

 

Usually we sell more small images, cards with the prayer or also the rosaries with the images. They are sold very well. 

 

Never before have two popes been turned into Saints on the same day, and Catholic and non-Catholics alike are curious, not only about Pope John, the 23rd and John Paul 2nd themselves, but also why they should become Saints, and why the unprecedented³ double canonization.

 

Part of it goes back 50 years to the second Vatican Council called by John the 23rd to modernize⁴ the church. The young bishop⁵ Karol Wojtyla who was to become John Paul II was a part of those meetings too. But in the end, the council left the church divided between those who wanted more reform and those who wanted to stick with tradition.

 

Those who knew both men will tell you that Pope Francis is now trying to heal that rift⁶ by canonizing two coucil participants who have come to represent those opposing views.

 

The Pope is going to bring together in one ceremony the father of the council and the son who put it into action.

 

Others will tell you that the reason for creating two new Saints is because they share Catholic values that make them apt role models for our times.

 

But there's another, perhaps less spiritual reason, call up reflected glory in the most literal sense of the term. But Pope Francis who has already become one of the most popular popes in modern church history to associate himself with two of his predecessors⁷ who are also admired can only enhance his reputation. Perhaps strengthen the church.

 

In fact, Francis, John 23rd and John Paul II are three church superstars coming together for one conanonical moment certain to unite Catholic and perhaps renew their faith. So, while the Catholic Church already has thousands of Saints and adding two more might not seem like a such a big deal, but double canonization of two popes takes on a historical, theological and popular significance. many church fathers hope will give new energy to a most ancient organization. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Rome.

1 espouse   

v.支持，赞成，嫁娶

参考例句：

• Today,astronomers espouse the theory that comets spawn the swarms.如今，天文学家们支持彗星产生了流星团的说法。
• Some teachers enthusiastically espouse the benefits to be gained from educational software.有些教师热烈赞同可以从教学软件中得到好处的观点。

2 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

5 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

6 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

7 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》