CNN 2012-02-15

 Alright, it's true. The weekend is over and I'm sorry about that, but that does mean it's the start of the whole new week of CNN Student News - that's a good thing. I'm Carl Azuz, bringing you today's headlines from the CNN news room in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

If you've been on the Internet or on Twitter or if you've watched last night's Grammy awards, you know about the death of Whitney Houston. The pop superstar was found dead on Saturday. Officials are trying to figure out what caused Houston's death. She was 48 years old. Whitney Houston was a musical icon¹. The singer launched her career in 1980s. She sold more than 170 million albums and won six Grammy awards. And her success extended to movies too. In recent years, Houston made headlines because of her battles with drag addiction². There were reports she was making a comeback with new concerts and a movie in the works. There's more on Whitney Houston's life, death and musical legacy³ at cnn.com.

 

Is this legit? A presidential candidate who wins a political straw poll is awarded delegates. Not legit. Straw polls are unofficial votes that indicate general opinions.

 

The general opinion expressed by one recent straw poll is that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt⁴ Romney is the leading Republican presidential candidate. The poll was taken at the CPAC conference last week. That's the Conservative Political Action Committee. It's an annual meeting of political conservatives in Washington D.C. The straw poll doesn't officially affect the race for the Republican presidential nomination⁵. What is official are the results of Maine's Republican caucuses⁶. They wrapped up on Saturday and former Governor Romney came in the first place there as well. He got 39% of the vote. Representative Ron Paul was a close second with 36%. Former Senator Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who didn't do much campaigning in Maine, came in third and fourth places.

 

The Arab League is trying to figure out what it might do about the crisis in Syria. The group is considering sanctions or penalties against Syria. It's also  talking about sending military experts into the country to examine the violence there. Syria says it rejects any decision that the Arab League might make. Ivan Watson has the latest on the crisis.

 

Residents of the besieged⁷ Syrian city of Homs awoke once again at dawn on Saturday morning to another day of sustained bombardment from the Syrian military - that is routine - a deadly routine they have lived for, for the better part of a week, a routine that has killed hundreds of people and wounded hundreds of more at the hands, according to the US ambassador to Syria, of the Syrian military. Take a listen to what Ambassador Robert Ford⁸ had to say to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday night.

 

"We know who's shelling Homs and it is not the armed opposition⁹ groups. It's the government and that's why I wanted that picture put our Facebook account so that people can see there is the artillery¹⁰ and that's what's firing at Homs right now. The armed opposition has rifles and has machine guns and even has a few rocket-propelled grenades but it doesn't have artillery. Only one side in this has artillery."

 

The Syrian government has consistently argued since the beginning of this uprising nearly 11 months ago that it is fighting armed terrorists linked to al-Qaeda. That is how they have termed what started as peaceful protests around the country. Increasingly we are seeing signs that the opposition is resorting to the use of arms to fight back against the Syrian security forces. One Syrian opposition group claimed responsibility for killing¹¹ 10 Syrian soldiers in the northern province of Idlib as a result of an improvised¹² explosive device and an ambush¹³. Now Turkey has made an announcement, the Turkish foreign minister visiting Washington, that it is going to start a process, going to apply to the United Nations at its headquarters in Geneva to try to find some way to start sending humanitarian¹⁴ aid to Syria. The potential obstacles to trying to send aid in would be significant and would probably require the permission of the Syrian regime itself, which is accused of encircling cities like Homs and preventing fresh supplies of food and basic medicines. Ivan Watson, CNN, Istanbul.

1 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

2 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

5 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

6 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

7 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

8 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

9 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。

10 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

11 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

12 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

13 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

14 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。