CNN 2011-12-17

 This is Wednesday, I’m Carl Azuz and this is CNN Student News. I wanna shout out a big thank you to our friends for //and  High for getting us going today.

First up, we headed to Washington DC. Congress set to start its holiday break at the end of this week. Lawmakers are looking to tackle a few issues before they leave town. One of them is the payroll¹ tax cut. We told you about this before. This tax cut let Americans keep more money from their paychecks, but it's going to expire at the end of this year if Congress doesn't act to extend it. Everyone seems they want to do that but there are some debates about how to pay for it. The House of Representative voted yesterday to pass a Republican plan that will extend the payroll cut. But experts don't expect it to pass in the Senate where Democrats² hold the majority. And even if it does, President Obama say he will veto the bill because it includes other things besides the payroll tax cut. So things will get pretty tense over this issue in Washington.

A national law against using a cellphone while driving, there is not one now but there could be if the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board gets what it wants. This would prevent every driver in America from texting or making non emergency phone calls. You couldn't use your hands free, though passengers could still use their cellphones. There currently night states, plus the district of Colombia where it is illegal for drivers to use a handheld cellphone. Nevada’s ban starts in January that would make ten states. And there are currently 35 states, plus the dictrict of Colombia, where it is illegal to text while driving. We don't know wether the NTSB's recommendation will become law.  There are many American drivers who do use the phones so it wouldn't be a very popular idea in many places. And it will be up to states to ultimately decided³ if they wanna act to the Board's suggestion.

Just the facts.

The Kyoto Protocol⁴ is the cilmate change agreement. Its goal is for countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions⁵ which may affect climate change. The Kyoto Protocol was established in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. More than 190 countries have signed on the agreement. Some of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters are part of it.

That includes China who is exempted⁶ from the Kyoto Protocol and also includes the US. 

American leaders didn't sign on for several reasons. One of them is that meeting the Protocol standards would be tremendously expensive. That's the same reason why Canada is now dropping out of Kyoto. The country's government made the announcement on Monday. Canada's Environment Ministersaid in order to meet its requirements, either every single vehicle in the nation would have to be taking off the road or the country would have to pay 14 billion dollars in penalties. Canada is the first nation that signed on the Kyoto to now back out of it.

When it comes to next year's US presidential election, Democratic party has already known its likely nominee⁷, President Obama. That's why there has been so many focus on the Republican candidate who wanna be the person who faces off against President Obama.You saw that on yesterday's//of 2011political headlines. Now Dan// looks what it's like when the president runs for a reelection.

You have to campaign because your competitors are there. President could sit back in the White House and let them tell their storyor the president can go out to actually drive the bus and define what it is that he has done for the country. 

A president's campaign is a sort of two ways. He might have an event that has to do with the economy. And then he holds a big fund raiser in //cities in the places in Ohio, California and inNorth Carolina. So he campaigns through fund raisers and he campaigns also through events, where he can talk about what he has done for the country. 

It's unclear how many states he will cover, but I think when the campaign sit back, they'll look at the  key battle ground states. They'll look at places like Nevada or Arizona, they’ll look at North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania even Florida, and so you will see the president spending  a lot of time in those states because those of states could make a difference.

Huge advantages. You have the// of presidency⁸. When he speaks, he gets the media following him. The president has Ait Force One so he didn't travel around the country on this bigger plane with all of  the resouces that come with that. The money is split between the campaign and taxpayer⁹ dollars. It depends on what it is that trip is designed to do.

Disvantages. You have the president now who is no long a clean slave. It is hard for people to point their fingers at the president. In the last compaign and say, this is what you didn't do, we have it here on the record. But nothing really holds up right now when the president has the record he has to run on. He has to defend what it is that he did or didn't do.

1 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

2 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》

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

5 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

6 exempted   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His bad eyesight exempted him from military service. 他因视力不好而免服兵役。
• Her illness exempted her from the examination. 她因病而免试。

7 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。