时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:CNN2012年(十二)月


英语课

 Permanent observer or non-member observer state, now they might not sound like much of a difference between those two terms, but if you ask some Palestinian officials, the different is huge. Yesterday, the United Nations voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinian authority. Palestinian officials had been pushing for this. They think it will give them some leverage 1 in negotiating with Israel, but Israel and the United States have been against this upgrade, they argue that it won’t have much of an effect on efforts to create Middle East peace deal. 


 
When you hear about drones, unmanned aircraft you might think about them flying over Afghanistan. These are remote controlled vehicles, and they are used a lot by the U.S. military in the fight against terrorism. But drones could start popping up in the skies over the United States. Lisa Sylvester looks at the capabilities 2 and the concerns that might come along for the ride. 
 
Right now, only groups with special FAA permission like the U.S. Customs and Border Protection can operate drones in the United States, but that is going to change, Congress has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to find a safe way to expand the use of drones, or unmanned aerial system domestically. 
 
“The bottom line is by 2015, the FAA has to have a comprehensive plan to open the air space to both public and private UAS.”
 
Think of the potential for crop dusting to news traffic reports to surveilling land to monitoring forest fires. There is a big industry pushing the federal government to open up the skies arguing these unmanned air craft systems are safer and less expensive. 
 
Unmanned aerial vehicles or drones can be as large as fighter jet or only just a couple of feet long, and people have actually been flying unmanned vehicles or even model airplanes for years, but with certain restrictions 3. They can’t fly them above 400 feet, or in certain areas like airports without running into problems with FAA. That brings us to one of the problems the FAA is trying to solve, how to ensure safety if the sky suddenly become a lot more crowded. 
 
“Some of the larger concerns are the construction of the aircraft. Who’s piloting them? The actually bandwidth, also, taking a look at some of those social issues, which we’ve all started to look into as far as privacy.” 
 
It’s the privacy peace that Representative Edward Markey is most concerned about, could prying 4 paparazzi hound celebrities 5? When can drones be used by law enforcement to gather evidence? And what about the information gathered by the drones? 
 
“Is it possible that this is just going to be a rampant, 
 
eyes in the sky gathering 6 information about Americans with no rules, whatsoever 7.”
 
During the 2012 U.S. presidential election, Barack Obama and Mitt 8 Romney only came face to face four times, they had their three debates and a fundraising dinner. On election night, President Obama suggested another get together. 
 
“In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.”
 
That meeting happened yesterday. The former opponents got together for lunch at the White House. Now, we don’t know exactly what was said, there were no news media allowed. But a White House statement said President Obama and Governor Romney talked about America’s role in the world. And they promised to stay in touch with each other.

1 leverage
n.力量,影响;杠杆作用,杠杆的力量
  • We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
  • He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力,他的计划失败了。
2 capabilities
n.能力( capability的名词复数 );可能;容量;[复数]潜在能力
  • He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大,自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
  • Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为,标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
3 restrictions
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
4 prying
adj.爱打听的v.打听,刺探(他人的私事)( pry的现在分词 );撬开
  • I'm sick of you prying into my personal life! 我讨厌你刺探我的私生活!
  • She is always prying into other people's affairs. 她总是打听别人的私事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 celebrities
n.(尤指娱乐界的)名人( celebrity的名词复数 );名流;名声;名誉
  • He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
  • a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目
6 gathering
n.集会,聚会,聚集
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
7 whatsoever
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么
  • There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
  • All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样,你就怎样对人。
8 mitt
n.棒球手套,拳击手套,无指手套;vt.铐住,握手
  • I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日,我送给他一只棒球手套。
  • Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。