美国有线新闻 CNN 2015-06-01

 Fridays are awesome¹. We have one more left in the school year and our show will resume on August 17th. First up, a significant legal ruling. It concerns President Obama's executive action on immigration. He announced it last November. The action would have allowed as many as five million living in the U.S. illegally to stay in the country without the threat of being deported². Most of those affected³ are the parents of children born in the U.S. As an executive action, this did not go through Congress. The White House says it's legal. But no executive action had involved that many people before. And 26 states challenged it in court.  

 

In February, a federal district court judge in Texas blocked President Obama's programs that would have reduced the threat of deportations. He said the president went too far and didn't follow the correct procedures for setting new rules.  

 

The Obama administration had pushed for its programs to continue while the legal cases played out. But a federal appeals court denied that request this week. The court says it thinks the president's lawyers will ultimately lose their case.  

 

Legal experts say it could take a year or longer for the president's immigration action to be resolved in court.

 

Originally called Freedom Tower, One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the U.S., rising at one site of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. One World Observatory⁴ opens today. A trip up to it costs 32 dollars, but the gravity of that is harder to measure.

 

The number tells part of the story: 1,250 feet above the ground, views stretching 50 miles on a clear day, almost a decade of rebuilding.  

 

And yet once you're up here even on a cloudy day, those numbers gave way to feelings which are quite frankly⁵ difficult to describe. The rumor⁶ has it that when it's clear, you can see the curvature of the Earth from this point and it's certainly true that you can feel the weight of recent history.

 

The construction of this building and the observatory are a fist pump for going forward, for moving forward, for saying: "There is a future and we embrace it".  

 

Dave Checketts is the man in charge of the day to day running of the observatory. Architect TJ Gottesdiener helped design the structure itself.

 

It pulls at you, when you're up there and you start, you look down, you can see the memorial. You have that sense of remembrance.

 

It's not just about the views. The 47-second elevator ride comes complete with the 500-year time lapse⁷ of New York skyline.

 

And now, you get a brief view of the World Trade Center on this side, just for, just a moment. And then it disappears.  

 

And then the view itself is revealed gradually, behind automatic screens.

 

In a city crowded with skyscrapers⁸, One World's Trade Center has serious competition.

 

How many visitors a year?

 

Last year, we have 4.3 million.

 

The Empire State Building's observatory brought in revenues of 111 million last year.

 

New York City is represented to so many people in the world by the Empire State Building.

 

Few would dispute One World Trade Center now shares that status. And with the predictive 3.8 million visitors a year to the observatory, it could well match that success.

 

For those involved in the project, though, it already has.

 

When I walked by the building now, it feels right.

 

And do you think when people stand and look from the 100 floor out, they'll get the same feeling?

 

I think they'll have a very powerful feeling, yes, I do. I think they'll feel like this was the right thing.Claire Sebastian, CNN, New York.

1 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

2 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

7 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

8 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。