美国有线新闻 CNN 2014-04-28

 A Supreme¹ Court decision concerning race and college admissions. It`s our first story today on CNN STUDENT NEWS. We are happy to have you watching.

 

Back in 2006, 58 percent of voters in the state of Michigan decided² that race shouldn`t factor into college admissions. That public colleges can`t give preferential treatment to people based on race, gender³ or where they are from. 

 

But last year, a lower court struck down the law saying it violates the U.S. Constitution`s guarantees of equal protection.

 

Well, this went to the Supreme Court, the final legal authority in the U.S. It ruled six to two that the lower court didn`t have the right to overturn Michigan`s law. So, it wasn`t a decision directly about affirmative action, but about who has the power to resolve the controversy<sup>4</sup>. Because of the ruling, Michigan`s law against preferential treatment can`t stay in place.

 

Yesterday, the high court also heard the case involving Aereo. It`s a company that allows subscribers to watch and record TV channels without having to get cable, which is more expensive. Aereo has thousands of TV antennas⁵. They captured the free over the air signals of TV stations, connect them to a DVR and then allows subscribers to watch them from a mobile device.

 

Now, it`s time for the nine justices of the Supreme Court to rule on whether Aereo is legal or not.

 

On Tuesday, the justices heard oral arguments in this case, which has been bubbling up for two years. Ever since Aereo came on to the market in New York City offering customers a new way to watch over the airwaves television stations via the Internet. Aereo charges $8 a month, and it disrupts the existing ecosystem⁶ for television in the United States. Because stations, local stations in New York City have gotten used to receiving retransmission fees from cable and satellite companies that want to rebroadcast their content.

 

While Aereo works around that system, it has its own array of tiny antennas that allow customers to watch TV without having to pay for cable or satellite and thus, without having to pay for those retransmission fees. All of the broadcasters say, this is a blatant⁷ copyright violation⁸. And here on Tuesday, we heard a vigorous debate about what Aereo really is. The broadcasters say it`s a gimmick<sup>9</sup> that should be essentially<sup>10</sup> ruled to be illegal and made extinct. Aereo says it`s - this is not about copyright at all. They say what they are doing is perfectly¹¹ legal because of the way they`ve set up the array of antennas.

 

Here in court, Aereo`s attorney argued they are just an equipment supplier. They just provide the same kind of technology that you could buy at RadioShack, but then they hook it up on the Internet so you can watch it from anywhere. The broadcasters` attorney on the other hand, argue that it is much more than that. That it is really a pirate cable-like system that is stealing their signals without permission and then providing them to customers and charging for it.

 

Most of the questions from the Justices revolved¹² around a couple of key points: one is about the idea of public performance. Aereo says what they are doing is a private performance, but the broadcasters say, under the copyright law, what Aereo does is a public performance of their copyrighted content.

 

Both sides come out here to the Supreme Court steps after the hearing to speak about what they saw happened.

 

They are obviously concerned about the consequences, both for the broadcast industry and for other technologies, but I think they also understand that there is fundamental difference between a service that provides content in the first instance and something that provides simply essentially a stored service.

 

We are cautiously optimistic based on the way the hearing went today that the court understood that when a person watching over the air broadcast television in his or her home is engaging in a private performance, and not a public performance that would implicate¹³ the copyright act. 

 

The justices will rule at some point in the next two months, and until then Aereo will remain in limbo¹⁴. 

 

Also in the news today, it`s been just over a month since a tremendous landslide¹⁵ swept over part of a community in Washington State. As the area was having of its most rain soaked months ever, a giant filled of land slipped, rushing downhill over homes and roads killing¹⁶ dozens of people. The search has been incredibly challenging.

1 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。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

5 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

6 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

7 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

8 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。

9 gimmick   

n.(为引人注意而搞的)小革新，小发明

参考例句：

• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。
• It is just a public relations gimmick.这只不过是一种公关伎俩。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

12 revolved   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The fan revolved slowly. 电扇缓慢地转动着。
• The wheel revolved on its centre. 轮子绕中心转动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 implicate   

vt.使牵连其中，涉嫌

参考例句：

• He didn't find anything in the notebooks to implicate Stu.他在笔记本中没发现任何涉及斯图的东西。
• I do not want to implicate you in my problem of the job.我工作上的问题不想把你也牵扯进来。

14 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

15 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

16 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。