美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-03-26

 Fridays are awesome¹, as are you for spending part of your Friday with CNN student news. We talked a lot this week about president Obama's trip to the Middle East, he's talked about a lot of issues during his time in the region. Yesterday, he was mostly focued on one issue, possibility of a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict between those groups goes back decades. There are two areas kind of the center of it, Gaza and the West Bank. In recent years, the fighting has involved Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian rockets. In fact, two rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel, the group that took credit for that said it fired the rockets in response to president Obama's visit. Negotiations² between Israelis and Palestinians had been on and off for years. Once suggestion has got a lot of attention, it's called a two-state solution. It's something that Palestinian and Israeli leader say they support.

"I hereby assert again that we are already in order to provide for the requirements of lanuching peace process and achieving the two-state solutions."

"Let me be clear, Israel remains³ fully⁴ committed to peace and to the solution of two states for two peoples."

This week, president Obama pushed for peace negotiations to get going again, he supports the two-state solution also. Yesterday, he made his case for it, first to Palestinians, then to Israelis.

"Like people everywhere, Palestinians deserve a future of hope, and their rights will be respected, put simply, Palestinians deserve a state of their own."

"The only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and a Democratic state is through the realization⁵ of an independant and viable⁶ Palestine."

We also talk this week about Cyprus. It's an Island Nation in the Mediterranean⁷ that's having serious economic problems. Cyprus is part of the European Union, the EU, that group is responsible for some of its members' economic policies. So, Cyprus asked the EU for help. The group said, sure, but as part of the bailout, the EU wanted the Cyprus to raise nearly 6 billion Euros, that's nearly 7.5 billion dollars. The first idea, a tax on bank deposits did not go overwhelm, Cypriots started pulling their money into banks. The country's government voted against the idea, so onto the next plan, that also involves a bank deposit tax, but not on as many people. There are some other factors involved as well. What happens in Cyprus could have affects across the European Union and other country. So right now, a lot of people are watching how the situation unfolds there.

1 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

6 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

7 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。