CNN 2011-02-01

Political protests in Egypt, the aftermath of an attack, and a music megastar who's using his fame to raise awareness¹ about a disease. All of it is coming up in this Wednesday edition of CNN Student News. Hello, everyone. I'm Carl Azuz.

The place: Washington, D.C. The event: An annual address to the nation steeped in history, and the response to it. U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, both took to the airwaves last night. CNN Student News brings highlights tomorrow. If you wanna watch the complete speeches, CNNStudentNews.com! You'll find 'em in the "In Depth" box. Click on "State of the Union."

Now, while we're on the subject of State of the Union, we are breaking down the history of the speech for you right now. First stop: U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 3. "The president shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient²."

Now, that's what the Constitution requires; there are a lot of things that are traditions that are not required by the Constitution. For one, this address does not need to be annual, though a yearly speech dates back to George Washington. It doesn't need to be in person. In fact, our third president, Thomas Jefferson, had the speech delivered in writing to Congress. And the State of the Union doesn't need to be made at a congressional session of both Houses, though that's what we see every year, and what we saw last night. Here's why the State of the Union address is delivered in late January or early February: the 20th Amendment³. It was ratified⁴ in 1933, and it specifies⁵ that congressional terms start on January third and presidential terms start on January 20th. So, it's when everyone is seated in office that the speech is given in late January or early February.

A little history for you: President Coolidge was the first president to broadcast the speech over the radio; that was back in 1923. His nickname was "Silent Cal," but he wasn't silent then! President Truman was the first on TV with the speech in 1947. And this is around the time it started being called "State of the Union" instead of the president's annual message to Congress, as it was known before that. And in 2002, President George W. Bush became the first president to deliver the speech on the web.

The members of Arizona's congressional delegation⁶ were all planning to sit together for last night's State of the Union address. But they were going to leave one chair empty in honor of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She was one of the victims of a shooting we told you about earlier this month. She's recovering from her injuries, and she's getting a lot of support.

1 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

2 expedient   

adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计

参考例句：

• The government found it expedient to relax censorship a little.政府发现略微放宽审查是可取的。
• Every kind of expedient was devised by our friends.我们的朋友想出了各种各样的应急办法。

3 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

4 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

5 specifies   

v.指定( specify的第三人称单数 )；详述；提出…的条件；使具有特性

参考例句：

• The third clause of the contract specifies steel sashes for the windows. 合同的第三款指定使用钢窗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The contract specifies red tiles, not slates, for the roof. 合同规定屋顶用红瓦，并非石板瓦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。