CNN 2011-11-09

 First up, Greece is forming a new government, its current leader is not expected to be a part of it. Greece has a political system made of a lot of different political parties. A member of several of those parties are putting together a coalition¹, kid of a political team. It’s only gonna last for few months before next year’s elections. During that time the coalition will try to keep Greece from going bankrupt. We reported on Greece’s massive debt problem, also on concerns on how struggling economy can send shockwaves around the Europe. Greece is likely to get financial help from other European countries, but that help comes with conditions, Greece will have to raise taxes and make even deeper cuts on government spending. Greek citizens have been protesting against doing that. Later last week, Prime Minister G P barely survived a vote of confidence by members of the Parliament. Now he’s helping² put together this coalition, and officials say he has agreed to set down after that’s done. So there’re still questions about who might lead this coalition.

 

The U.S. unemployment rate, 9%, it drop 1/10 of a percent in October, it’s been at or above 9% since April. This is why we talk about it so often. The rate is one measure of how the U.S. economy is doing. A lower rate, generally signals better times, because more Americans who want jobs, have them. Now take a look at this. Before the great recession started in December in 2007, the U.S. unemployment rate had been covering around 4 to 5%, anything above that was considered relatively³ high unemployment rate. So the fact that it’s been around 9% since 2009 gives you an idea of how differ the U.S. economy is now, but it was before the recession hit.

 

If you’re in California, news of 5.6 magnitude earthquake might not rattle⁴ you. It’s a different story in O, this was the strongest earthquake on record in O. It happened late Saturday night, no major injuries were reported, but there was some structural⁵ damage like you see right here. Some parts of this road just // during this earthquake. This was actually the second earthquake that hit O on Saturday, one with the magnitude of 4.7 struck earlier in the morning.

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

5 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。