CNN 2009-11-23

Hello, I am Fredricka Whitfield. Here are the top stories we are following for you right now.

US Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell is blasting what he calls the Democrats¹' arrogant² approach to health care reform. The Senate passed a procedural measure to proceed with debate just last night. Appearing on CNN's State of the Union today, McConnell said the Democrats' proposed health care overhaul³ is not what the American people want.

Well, we don't often ignore the wishes of the American people. They are literally⁴ screaming, many of them, telling us, please don't pass this. Don't pass this bill. If the majority is hell-bent on ignoring the wishes of the American people, they have 60 votes in the Senate. You would think that they might be able to do this. But I believe there are a number of Democratic Senators who do care what the American people think, and are not interested in this sort of arrogant approach. Everybody should, sort of, shut up and sit down, get out of the way. We know what's best for you. We are here in for the American people. They don't want us to pass it.

Students at the University of California Santa Cruz have ended their three-day occupation of the administration building. They left on their own after campus police warned them if they didn't, they'll be arrested. The students were protesting a 32% tuition hike. Demonstrations⁵ were also held at other UC campuses throughout the past week.

And people in northwestern England are cleaning after a massive flooding. Government forecasters say more than a foot of rain fell in a 24-hour period in some areas. More than one thousand homes were actually flooded and hundreds of people were actually rescued.

Stormy weather is forecast for parts of the US as well while millions of people are traveling for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Here's CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider.

Thanks, Fred. For those of you that will be traveling for today, we do have some trouble spots to tell you about and basically they are in two corners of the country, the northwest and the southeast. In the northwest, we will be watching for snowy conditions up into the cascade⁶. And wet, windy weather as well affecting cities like Seattle and Portland. And then down in the southeast, watch out for rain along the Gulf⁷ Coast, specifically, into Louisiana, parts of Georgia, Florida, all looking at a wet and windy conditions for those of you that are hitting the roads a little bit earlier. But on Wednesday, the busiest travel day of the year, everything changes. We start talking about cold weather, and even the threat for snow. That's right. Wind and snow for the Great Lake possibly on Wednesday, wind-rain mix. And that will definitely affect travel conditions for cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. Elsewhere across the country on Wednesday, we will be looking at warm conditions in the southwest, mild temperatures in the southeast and a chance for rain down in South Florida.

 

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

3 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

6 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

7 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。