CNN 2011-09-03

 First up today, an ultimatum¹ from the group that appears to be taking control of Libya’s government. The head of the National Transitional Council says that towns that are still loyal to long-time Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi have until this Saturday to surrender peacefully. Otherwise, he says, rebels will attack them.

 

As of Tuesday, there was still no news of where Moammar Gadhafi might be hiding. But several members of his family, including his wife, two sons and one daughter, have escaped across Libya’s western border to Algeria. One of that country’s officials said Gadhafi’s family was allowed into Algeria on humanitarian³ grounds.

 

Turning our attention now to the war in Afghanistan, today is the last day of August, and the month wraps up with a tragic⁴ milestone⁵ in the conflict. This has been the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the war there started. 

 

According to CNN estimates, 66 American troops were killed in Afghanistan during August. Nearly half of those deaths were on August 6th, when 30 service members died after their U.S. helicopter was shot down.

 

The U.S. first sent troops in Afghanistan in October 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the U.S. Nearly 10 years later, this is now the longest military conflict the U.S. has ever been involved in.

 

CNN has put together something called "Home and Away". You can find a link to it in the "Spotlight⁶" section on cnnstudentnews.com. The interactive⁷ is focused on all of the U.S. troops who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

It lets you connect them with their hometowns in the United States, and it gives people the chance to share memories and messages about these men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.

 

Is this legit?

 

Hurricanes, cyclones⁸ and typhoons are all the same type of storm.

 

This is true. The events are given different names in different parts of the world.

 

Those storms can all bring the kind of devastation⁹ that many Americans are struggling through after Hurricane Irene. Yesterday, millions of people didn’t have power. In some parts of Vermont, residents were stranded¹⁰. 

 

Some of that state’s famous covered bridges, like you see here, were just wiped out by floodwaters that rushed through Vermont. And this is a time-lapse video from NASA. It’s satellite imagery of Irene. 

 

You can see the storm work its way through the Caribbean, then it moves off the coast of Florida and, at that point, it turned north and started making its way up the East Coast, all the way up through New England. 

 

Officials say it’s going to take a while to figure out how much damage Irene caused. They are giving some estimates, though. The government says the damage from wind alone will be more than a billion dollars. And the Small Business Administration estimates $10 billion in damages.

 

Despite all the destruction, Irene ended up not being as powerful as forecasters expected. CNN’s John Zarrella looks at the science behind predicting these storms.

 

Max Tucker owns a bar and grill¹¹ just outside Philadelphia. It flooded. Tucker says, no way did the government overreact to Irene.

 

I think we all got really lucky. It could have been a lot worse. I’d rather be safe than sorry, and I think -- I think they did -- they did what was necessary. I think always better safe than sorry.

 

This is where the information comes from that helps keep you safe rather than sorry, the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

 

Here, the science of forecasting is digested, regurgitated, all that science, everything that supercomputers were computing¹² told forecasters Irene would be a major hurricane when it hit North Carolina.

 

At least in the guidance we were looking at, there was no indication of anything that would cause the storm to weaken. So we thought we would have a category 3 storm at landfall.

 

Instead, Irene was a category 1, the weakest. So what happened? Simple. Hurricane forecasters say they’re pretty good at telling where a storm will hit. But technology and science aren’t there yet when it comes to forecasting how strong a storm will be.

 

Despite all the modern-day advances, they just don’t fully² understand what makes these storms tick. And in every storm, Read sees a curve ball.

 

In this case, it was one where it went downhill. In Charlie, just a few years ago, it was one that went uphill. Neither case did we see that coming, and that’s my measure of the fact that we have a long way to go.

 

Aside from the might of the wind, Read says the forecast was on the money, heavy rainfall, storm surge up the east coast, and inland flooding. For portions of the northeast, the rain was a one in 100-year event.

 

In Vermont, is anyone saying there was an overreaction?

 

I do not think that there’s any blame to go around. I think that, frankly¹³, those that got hit had their hearts broken and understand how serious this storm was.

 

It’s estimated overall damage could reach $10 billion or more. If that happens, Irene will rank as one of the top 15 costliest¹⁴ hurricanes ever. John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

1 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 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。

4 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

5 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

6 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

7 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

8 cyclones   

n.气旋( cyclone的名词复数 )；旋风；飓风；暴风

参考例句：

• The pricipal objective in designing cyclones is to create a vortex. 设计旋风除尘器的主要目的在于造成涡旋运动。 来自辞典例句
• Middle-latitude cyclones originate at the popar front. 中纬度地区的气旋发源于极锋。 来自辞典例句

9 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

11 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

12 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

13 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。

14 costliest   

adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• At 81 billion dollars, Katrina is the costliest natural disaster in American history. “卡特里娜”飓风造成了近810亿美圆的损失，是美国历史上最严重的自然灾难之一。 来自互联网
• Senator John Kerry has proposed a tax on the costliest health plans sold by insurance companies. 参议员约翰？克里(JohnKerry)已经提议对保险公司销售的高价值的保险计划征税。 来自互联网