CNN 2012-08-18

 We’re going to start in the air. Flight from New York to London usually takes around seven and a half hours. The U.S. Air Force is working on a type of vehicle that could make that trip in less than one hour. Yesterday, they took this thing out on a test flight. We have this animation¹ that shows how it was supposed to go. This plane is carrying the X51A Wave Rider. You can see it there underneath² the wing. The idea was for the Wave Rider to drop off(脱离) the other plane and then show what it’s made for(制造目标). Wave Rider is a hypersonic aircraft. That basically means it’s fast. 4,500 miles per hour fast. It’s six times the speed of sound. The goal for yesterday’s test was for the Wave Rider to go that fast for 300 seconds. It’s not the vehicle’s first test flight. Some of the previous ones didn’t go very well and they had to be shut down(关闭) early. 

 

 

 

Cars have been doing better and better in crash tests for years. But on this one, eight out of the 11 car models that were tested, failed. Here is what’s different about this test: the car is hitting the barrier with just a quarter of the front bumper³. It’s called a small overlap⁴ impact(小部分接触撞击), and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the group that’s running this test, says it’s the most dangerous kind of frontal car crash. Most of the car companies that did poorly on this test pointed⁵ out that their vehicle still meet all federal safety standards and that they’ve done well with other tests. But the companies also promised to do better on this specific test with future models.

 

 

 

More than 60 wild fires are burning across parts of the Western U.S. California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington and Idaho are all dealing⁶ with this right now. The flames you are seeing here are from a pair of fires in California. Officials said those were about 30 percent contained on Tuesday. But in Washington State, one official described the fire conditions as extreme. Dozens of houses have been destroyed, hundreds of people have been told to leave their homes, to get away from the flames. Authorities are working to get help from the National Guard to fight these fires.

 

 

 

17 months, that’s how long violence has been going on in Syria. It started out as protest against the country’s government. People were calling for Syria’s president to leave office. But in the time since then, it’s erupted into a civil war with deadly fighting between forces from the military and the opposition⁷. Some of the recent violence has been in the city of Aleppo. It’s the largest city in Syria, and Ben Wedeman looks at what life is like for some of the people who live in the middle of a battleground.

 

 

 

The line between live and death in Aleppo is perilously⁸ thin.

 

 

 

Salam aleikum!

 

 

 

Just one block away I met Hanadi who insists she and her family of six will not leave. 

 

 

 

I asked her where the front line is, but she brushes off the question saying she has become accustomed to the shelling.

 

 

 

Her son, one-and a half year old, Abdul Hani, seems confused and squeezes my hand tightly.

 

 

 

A two minute walk down the street an apartment building was hit in an air strike.

 

 

 

This building, or rather what’s left of this building, which really isn’t much, is in an area where civilians⁹ are still living. And, of course, among the ruins we found a French book, and somebody’s studying English, "The Life of William Shakespeare."

 

 

 

A rocket slammed into another building in the nearby Sikkari district wounding two, raining rubble¹⁰ into the street.

 

 

 

All the while government helicopters hover¹¹ menacingly overhead, and jets dropped bombs on rebel-controlled neighborhoods.

 

 

 

The trappings(服饰、马饰；外观) of daily life in this city under siege have disappeared. Even the simple act of crossing the street requires a strong heart and fast feet; the sniper’s bullet is just a crack away. 

 

 

 

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Aleppo, Syria.

1 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

2 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

3 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

4 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 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。

7 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 perilously   

adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地

参考例句：

• They were perilously close to the edge of the precipice. 他们离悬崖边很近，十分危险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It'seemed to me that we had come perilously close to failure already. 对我来说，好像失败和我只有一步之遥，岌岌可危。 来自互联网

9 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

10 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

11 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。