CNN 2011-03-07

Today's awesome¹ edition of CNN Student News is dedicated² to the students and teachers of M.D. Roberts Middle School in Jonesboro, Georgia. Thanks for stopping by CNN Center yesterday! I'm Carl Azuz, and I'm here to bring you the headlines.

First up, Mexican President Felipe Calderon travels north of the border for a two-day visit to the U.S. He's scheduled to meet with American business leaders, leaders in Congress, and he's meeting with President Obama, the two leaders getting together yesterday at the White House. They talked about immigration policies, organized crime and violence along the U.S./Mexico border. And of course, they discussed trade. Mexico is America's third-largest trading partner. And it's the second-largest market for American products that get sold outside the U.S.

And it wasn't just the presidents who got together on Thursday. First lady Michelle Obama and the first lady of Mexico went to a D.C.-area elementary school as part of the "Read Across America" efforts. And one thing about the school they visited: it's bilingual. The students learn in English and Spanish.

The North African nation of Libya is anything but stable. The Libyan military dropped more bombs on towns that are under control of anti-government rebels. These air attacks have some U.S. officials pushing for a no-fly zone. Now, a no-fly zone is when airplanes -- both military and civilian³ -- are not allowed to fly over an area without permission. Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court says it's investigating Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for alleged⁴ crimes against humanity. The court says if Libyan troops commit crimes, Colonel Gadhafi could be held responsible. That's what's going on now. Michael Holmes takes a look back to give us some background on Libya, its leader Gadhafi, and how this situation got started.

You had these people for 42 years being angry, upset, disenfranchised. And what they saw happen in those other countries emboldened⁵ them to speak out.

What we're seeing happen in Libya is really just sort of a replay of what we saw happen right throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It started with some common denominators: high unemployment, massively young populations who are unemployed⁶, over-educated in some cases, in some of the countries. Unable to have a say in what's going on in their own countries; disenfranchised from the system. And when we've seen them speak out in the past over the 42 years of Gadhafi's rein⁷, we've seen those protests, if you like, or uprisings put down in brutal⁸ fashion, with thousands of people being killed over the years.

At the moment, it would appear that Gadhafi's goal is just simply to survive. I mean, he seems to have adopted a "head in sand" attitude that none of this is going on. He denied there'd even been protests in Tripoli; said everybody loves him. He seems to be in survival mode at the moment. He is clearly encircled. Clearly, his future is not bright.

The tribal⁹ nature of Libya can't be understated. It is, like a lot of the Middle East, very tribal. And he has been able to control the mood of the tribes, if you like, basically paying them off or threatening them. Gadhafi himself is from a very small tribe. He was born in a tent in the desert. But he's been able to, through patronage¹⁰ and fear, keep it under control. What we've seen lately is even the tribes starting to turn against him and say, "Well, we don't back him anymore." Saw that first in the east. We're now seeing that in parts of the west, as well. The tribes turning against him has been very significant, as, of course, have been the defections from the military, when people, soldiers have basically switched sides. It's taken a lot of the sting out of his ability to strike back. What we have seen, though, he still can strike back. He's had jets bombing places in his own country. He's had soldiers on the street shooting at his own people.

1 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

5 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

7 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

8 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

9 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

10 patronage   

n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场

参考例句：

• Though it was not yet noon,there was considerable patronage.虽然时间未到中午，店中已有许多顾客惠顾。
• I am sorry to say that my patronage ends with this.很抱歉，我的赞助只能到此为止。