时间:2018-12-19 作者:英语课 分类:CNN2013年(四)月


英语课

Hi, welcome to the Thursday edition of CNN’s Student News. I’m Carl Azuz. Today we’re going to start at the U.S. Supreme 1 Court, and if you watched our show on Tuesday you know the court’s nine justices are hearing two cases this week about the issue of same-sex marriage. Yesterday, the focus was on a federal law. It’s called the Defense 2 of Marriage Act, or DOMA. It was passed in 1996 and what it says is that for federal purposes, so we’re talking about U.S. government purposes, marriage is defined as only between one man and one woman. That legal definition can impact things like taxes and benefits. For example, same-sex couples who get married in a state where that’s legal, don’t get access to the same federal benefits as other couples. 
 
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments about a law in California that bans same-sex marriage. So this week we focused on two cases - same general topic, but different legal focus. The court’s rulings aren’t expected for a few months, but we want to give you an idea of what it was like inside the Supreme Court. What you’re about to hear is from Tuesday’s hearings on the law in California.
 
Outside of the marriage context, can you think of any other rational basis, reason, for a state using sexual orientation 3 as a factor in denying homosexuals benefits?
 
Your honor, I cannot. I do not have any - anything to offer you. 
 
I’m curious - when did it become unconstitutional to exclude homosexual couples from marriage?
 
The label marriage means something. Even our opponents ….
 
Sir, if you tell a child that somebody has to be their friend, I suppose you can force that child to say this is my friend, but it changes the definition of what it means to be a friend. And that’s, it seems to me, what supporters of Proposition 8 are saying here. All you’re interested in is the label and you insist on changing the definition of the label. 
 
Traditional marriage has been around for thousands of years. Same-sex marriage is very new. I think it was first adopted in the Netherlands in 2000. So there isn’t a lot of data about its effect. 
 
If you’re over the age of 55, you don’t help us serve the government’s interest in regulating procreation through marriage. So, why is that different?
 
Your honor, even with respect to couples over the age of 55, it is very rare that both parties to the couple are infertile 4. And the traditional … 
 
I can assure you, if both the woman and the man are over the age of 55, there are not a lot of children coming out of that marriage.


1 supreme
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
  • 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 defense
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
3 orientation
n.方向,目标;熟悉,适应,情况介绍
  • Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
  • The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。
4 infertile
adj.不孕的;不肥沃的,贫瘠的
  • Plants can't grow well in the infertile land.在贫瘠的土地上庄稼长不好。
  • Nobody is willing to till this infertile land.这块薄田没有人愿意耕种。
学英语单词
abnormal phoneme
aestuum
alternative carriage
anal operculum
antiarachnolysin
backstair
banana kicks
barenboim
be under review
BISCS
bow mechanism
bursae iliopectinea
Chladni
chromium tungstate
compound oil
concentrated evaporator
conical gauge
conpsoromic acid
convergence region
countryish
debit credit mechanism
delayed time-base sweep
disarmings
discredits
distinctiveness ratio
electropositive
erewhile (s)
extended field
filament blend yarn
Flumezin
foreappoint
forest goats
formation signal
frontal-contour chart
Gaius Julius Caesar
Galton's delta
gastrique
generalife
Gentianopsis holopetala
get ... on
gnathoscope
Guy's pill
Huschke's valves
hyperegy
integrated tug-barge
it feels like
kalioun
karagandas
Kievites
KING (Kinetic Intense Neutron Generator)
layman management
line control word
lobotess
lobularities
luci
magnesium carbonate
Makhāmīr, Jab.al
microwave dryer
mimoplocia notata
MIRAPINNIDAE
modern drama
nandrolone phenylpropionate
nonimplant
Olovyannaya
one quadrant convertor
optical parallelism
overhead
p-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid
pendler
PHLA
placida dendritica
predicator
production engine
provisional acceptance
purophobia
requisite book
reverse-commutes
rule with an iron fist
Sikkim holly
siliceous geyserite
solid error
solid lubricant
solubility parameter
spermatozoon (pl. spermatozoa)
spray chemical
stationary tangent
Stenshuvud
subdivision rules
taxation theories and principles
the Demerara
thinkos
tidal zone biology
timber drying
tropical air mass
true income
undilating
US Coast Guard
Wii Sports
wolf jaw
xterra
yard craft