CNN 2010-07-02

The stakes are huge and the passions are high and the hearings are sure to be contentious¹. Let's take a look at some of the issues that will likely to dominate the proceedings².  CNN's Josh Levs joins us now with a preview, Josh.

 

Hey there, Kyra. Look, we know Elena Kagan has got a lot of support on Capitol Hill. We also know she's got her detractors particularly among some Republicans.  And the way that these hearings works for Supreme³ Courts posts, these hearings are largely dictated⁴ by the critics out there who have some issues they want to raise.  We've got a taste of may be to come this morning from one of those lawmakers.

 

She has the least experience of any nominee⁵ in 50 years. She was a Clinton operative for quite a number of years. The point person on efforts to restrict gun rights. The point person on blocking partial birth abortion⁶.  At Harvard, she barred the military from the recruiting offices, demean them in violation⁷ of law, and her legal brief was rejected 8-0 by the Supreme Court. There are a number of things here that caused us to believe and any American to be concerned that she would be an activist⁸ judge.

 

All right. Let me just touch on a few issues now and then we'll show you where you can find some more information. One of the things we're going to be hearing a lot about is military recruiting.  Now, during her time at Harvard, she did, uh, launch some efforts against military recruiting on campus over concerns involving "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." She also supported some other schools in their efforts to combat a federal law that basically was pushing them to allow military recruiting or risk losing federal funding. So that's one thing we're likely to hear.  Some things about abortion is an interesting one. There's not a lot about this in her professional background, but there's something that she wrote way back when she was an undergrad at Princeton that we might be hearing about. And I have a quote here, she would have classed as a deriding⁹ conservatives at the time as quote, "these avengers of innocent life."  But, you know what? Later in the Clinton White House, she took what a lot of her supporters say is a very pragmatic approach on the issue of late-term abortions¹⁰, so they point to some documents that were recently released. So we'll take a look at what happens with that.

 

And one more to mention right here, campaign finance reform, because this is an instance when she argued before the Supreme Court. Now she ultimately lost this battle, but she launched these efforts are before the Supreme Court defending the government restrictions¹¹ on a corporate¹² refinancing of campaigns.  So this is a really good example of her involvement with the Supreme Court when she was there arguing.  This is just a handful of what you'll find at CNN.com/politics right now. If you want to learn more about some these issues and we'll be following this every step of the way throughout the hearings, Kyra.

 

All right, Josh. Thanks.

 

One person is dead and at least four more people injured after suspected tornado¹³ touched down in a Michigan campground. It happened last night in Clyde Township some 60 miles north of Detroit.  Police say the twister tore through the Ft. Trod campground around 7:00 p.m. local time. Plenty of trailers got tossed. Some ripped apart. St. Claire County officials can't confirm if it indeed was a tornado. Eyewitnesses¹⁴ disagree.

 

My dad came up and he said you could actually see the tornado coming down and going up. Coming down and going up. And he’d actually seen the spinning.

 

When I went out towards the west window and looked out that way. And all I saw the funnel¹⁵ cloud coming right down almost right over the top of our hill over there.

 

Well, the National Weather Service will be checking to determine whether if it was indeed a tornado or just straight-line winds

1 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

2 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 dictated   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• He dictated a letter to his secretary. 他向秘书口授信稿。
• No person of a strong character likes to be dictated to. 没有一个个性强的人愿受人使唤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

6 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

7 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

8 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

9 deriding   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls are deriding that boy's foolishness. 姑娘们在嘲笑那个男孩的愚笨。 来自互联网

10 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

11 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

12 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

13 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。

14 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

15 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。