美国有线新闻 CNN 2014-02-25
时间:2018-12-02 作者:英语课 分类:CNN2014年(二)月
英语课
It’s Friday. Thank you for spending ten minutes for every week’s student news. Let’s look at what difference is here for us today.
We mentioned yesterday that opposing groups in Ukraine looked like they were headed toward a truce 1, hopes for that crumble 2 yesterday, and violence got worse between protestors and police. The protestors say police had snipers firing at them, and that 100 people had been killed. The government is not saying how many were killed, but it says demonstrators were kidnapping police officers. This all goes back to the Ukrainian president’s decision last year to sign a trade deal with Russia. It would help Ukraine’s economy. But some Ukrainians want a deal with European Union instead and the divisions deepened.
We have to look at where Ukraine is located, because this really is a historical divider between Russia and the west Europe. Right, Max?
Yes historians think the country’s name actually means border line, so the sense of being in between is really bid in Ukraine’s identity.
That is only about 900 miles driving down the Sochi where the Winter Olympic is going on right now. Let’s talk about the make up of this country now.
Yes, about the size of Texas and it is 45 million people. So it’s big.
Ok. Now why did all of this large? It really goes back to something that happened in November with European Union.
Yes. Ukraine was considering a deal for greater economic integration 3 with European Union and a lot of Ukrainians like this because they thought this was a good deal. They liked the idea of being part of Europe. But they did not get that.
They got a different deal indeed. What happened?
So what happened is Ukraine surprised everybody by taking a deal with Russia instead, for about 15 billion dollars in bonds and cheaper natural gas.
And so those who oppose, who wanted the European Union deal vented 4 their intention even more also on the president.
Yes, president Victo who have been seen by a lot of Ukrainians as corruptive 5, he has been ousted 6 in 2004 previously 7. He seems has very close relationship with Russia in the name of language. So when he took this deal people thought, wow, he is so bringing our country to Moscow.
In many ways, when this comes down to is a historical division. This has always has been two countries in one space and now that is coming to the head.
Yes, that’s right. If you look at this map, this purple western half, this actually mostly speak Ukrainian. That’s where Kiev is, and that’s where most of the protestors are. In eastern half, people mostly speak Russian. That’s where ? is form. People are a little more fancier about their old ties with Russia. So what you are seeing paly out is this identity crisis Ukrainian’s had since its independence. Are we European country or are we facing more ties with Russia?
Of course there was a big poll from both sides from the Europeans and from the united states, another saying it needs to be freed form the other one. And form the Russian side because in their mind, this was the region that was their part of Soviet 8 union that produce one quarter of the country’s agriculture products. It is a huge trading partner for Russia.
Parents, brothers, children, sisters, divided for more than 60 years. It is like they have lived in one step away from each other, but the line has separated them. It is between north and south Korea, countries whose governments have been on odds 9 since the Korean War and people are not able to travel freely between them. Reunions between dozens of south and north Koreans are going ahead even though North Korea had threatened to cancel them earlier this month.
Kin-sung Yu is 96 years old, the oldest person of this reunion. Her father and she worked 100 miles from north to South Korea at the start of the Korean War. Her sister was too young to join her. They are finally reunited more than 60 years later. These reunions are so rare, and these picks so lively, even illness could not keep them away.
90 year old Kim-sung Pong was transported in an ambulance and attended the reunion hooked up to an IV strip, determined 10 that the bad flu is not ruining the only chance to see his son and daughter.
CNN reporter quote him say, “Even if I die now, if I have seen my family I would die in peace. “
Every single story is heartbroken and starts to remind her of the pain of people divided. The Korean War ended in stalemate in 1953. Without any regular forms of communications between the two Koreas, families have gone decades without contact, even these contact was monitored. North Korean officials stood by every table, listening to every conversation. Her son, the overwhelming emotion has simply been too much. Tens of thousands of Koreans have been a part of this reunion, those who will have been picked already had disappointment last December when the meeting was canceled at the last minute.
1 truce
n.休战,(争执,烦恼等的)缓和;v.以停战结束
- The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
- She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。
2 crumble
vi.碎裂,崩溃;vt.弄碎,摧毁
- Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
- Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂,意志永不动摇。
3 integration
n.一体化,联合,结合
- We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
- This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。
4 vented
表达,发泄(感情,尤指愤怒)( vent的过去式和过去分词 )
- He vented his frustration on his wife. 他受到挫折却把气发泄到妻子身上。
- He vented his anger on his secretary. 他朝秘书发泄怒气。
5 corruptive
使堕落的,使腐败的,腐败性的
- Wickies [Wikis] are web sites designed for Corruptive(cooperative) Work. 为了合作而设计的网站百科全书。
6 ousted
驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 ); 革职; 罢黜; 剥夺
- He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
- He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。
7 previously
adv.以前,先前(地)
- The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
- Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
8 Soviet
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃
- Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
- Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。
9 odds
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别
- The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
- Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗?
10 determined
adj.坚定的;有决心的
- I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
- He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。