CNN 2009-02-20

Good morning, hope you’re doing well. Happy Thursday, from CNN center in Atlanta, I’m Reggie Aqui, Thanks for checking in. Here is a quick look at what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

 President Obama is heading to Canada. This is his first international trip as head of state. Mr. Obama will talk about trade and energy issues. The war in Afghanistan is also expected to come up. Canada has about 2,800 troops in Afghanistan, but Parliament has voted to pull them out by 2011. This is gonna be the first meeting between the president and Canada’s prime minister.

President Obama has laid out his foreclosure plan that could help nine million homeowners and boils down to two basic solutions: First of all, it will help more homeowners refinance and take advantage of new low interest rates; Second, incentives¹ to lenders to modify loans and help at risk borrowers. Critics wanna know how it’s gonna help the ninety percent of mortgage  holders² who are not in the fault.

And the latest jobless claims numbers remain unchanged from the week before. 627,000 people filed for unemployment benefits last week. This comes just a day after the FED said unemployment could hit 8.8 percent this year.

Well they finally have it done. California state lawmakers  approved a massive  budget aimed at closing a multibillion-dollar deficit³. Lawmakers have been working all night long on that budget, which includes a package of tax increases, spending cuts and borrowing to close the deficit. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was preparing to shut down hundreds of state projects, if that deal couldn’t be reached by today.

The Southeast is cleaning up from a night of severe weather and it's left at least  one person dead. A number of funneled⁴ clouds were spotted⁵ last night and the National Weather Service reports several tornados⁶ touch down. One was tracked to cross South  Georgia and into the Florida Panhandle. Just east of  Atlanta huge hail and wind gust⁷ caused the most damage. One county reported a hundred homes damaged in those storms.

And that’s a quick look at what's happening right NOW IN THE NEWS. Please stick with us here for more of these updates, throughout the day.

 boil down to:if a long statement, argument etc boils down to a single statement, that statement is the main point or cause

1 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

3 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

4 funneled   

漏斗状的

参考例句：

• The crowd funneled through the hall. 群众从走廊中鱼贯而过。
• The large crowd funneled out of the gates after the football match. 足球赛后大群人从各个门中涌出。

5 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

6 tornados   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And the national weather service reports several tornados touch down. 国家气象中心报告预测龙卷风将来袭。 来自互联网
• They had stock footage of lightning, tornados, and hurricanes. 他们存有关于闪电、龙卷风和飓风的电影胶片。 来自互联网

7 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。