CNN 2011-03-14

Fridays are always awesome¹ here on CNN Student News. And we thank you for spending part of your Friday with us. Hi, everyone. I'm Natisha Lance, sitting in today for Carl Azuz.

First up, we're talking about hearings on Capitol Hill that caused controversy² even before they started. The House Homeland Security Committee is holding these hearings to look into the radicalization of American Muslims. Basically, the idea that a group like al Qaeda could recruit U.S. Muslims and turn them into terrorists. Some critics called the hearings an unfair attack on loyal Americans. But Representative Peter King, who's the chairman of the committee, says that the goal is not to condemn³ Islam as a religion or American Muslims as a group. But he says the hearings are designed to limit the threat of terrorism. And he also believes they're important to America's safety.

Let me make it clear today, that I remain convinced that these hearings must go forward and they will. To back down would be a craven surrender to political correctness and an abdication⁴ of what I believe to be the main responsibility of this committee: to protect America from a terrorist attack.

One of the people who testified during yesterday's hearings was Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress. He acknowledged that some Muslims are responsible for violent actions. But he said you can't blame an entire community for the evil of some individuals. He got especially emotional talking about a Muslim paramedic and police cadet who died trying to help others during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American who gave his life for other Americans. His life should not be identified as just as a member of an ethnic⁵ group or just a member of a religion, but as an American who gave everything for his fellow Americans.

Bullying⁶ has been a big topic in the news recently. And yesterday, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama hosted the first ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention. Parents and students got together to talk about the effects of bullying and how to stop it in school and online. Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent, has more on that event.

President Obama using this first-ever White House anti-bullying summit as a forum⁷ to try to bring attention to this very, very difficult issue and say, look, for too long there have been students all around the country who have just accepted it, that they were going to get picked on, that they were going to be bullied⁸, be the subject of assaults and violence and that it was sort of a rite⁹ of passage for kids. The president says that given all these tragic¹⁰ incidents where some kids have committed suicide over bullying, he says it's time for all of this to end, for schools to have higher standards. And he and the first lady have used various social media tools like Facebook to bring that message directly to students, to report some of these bullying incidents, for example. The president used his forum at the White House to say that even he as a kid was bullied.

As adults, we all remember what it was like to see kids picked on in the hallways or in the schoolyard. And I have to say, with big ears and the name that I have, I wasn't immune. I didn't emerge unscathed. But because it's something that happens a lot, and it's something that's always been around, sometimes we've turned a blind eye to the problem. We've said, "Kids will be kids." And so, sometimes we overlook the real damage that bullying can do, especially when young people face harassment¹¹ day after day, week after week.

So the bottom line is, the key moving forward is going to be, will there actually be some action to back up some of the talk at this summit. Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

The showdown in Wisconsin may be over. The anger is not. This started with Republican Governor Scott Walker's budget proposal that would limit negotiating rights for workers' unions. Fourteen Democratic state Senators fled the state so that there wouldn't be enough people there to pass the bill. On Wednesday, Republicans took out all the parts of the bill that had to do with the budget. Voting on non-budget bills requires less people, so the reduced negotiating rights passed. Protesters at the capitol yesterday started pounding on the windows. That forced police to put the building in lockdown! They closed the capitol and forcibly removed anyone inside who wouldn't leave. One entrance was re-opened later in the day.

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 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

3 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

4 abdication   

n.辞职；退位

参考例句：

• The officers took over and forced his abdication in 1947.1947年军官们接管了政权并迫使他退了位。
• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor.因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

6 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

8 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 rite   

n.典礼，惯例，习俗

参考例句：

• This festival descends from a religious rite.这个节日起源于宗教仪式。
• Most traditional societies have transition rites at puberty.大多数传统社会都为青春期的孩子举行成人礼。

10 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

11 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。