CNN 2012-04-28

 First up, the race for the White House rolls on with yesterday's primaries in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island. We mentioned yesterday that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt¹ Romney is now the Republican Party's presumptive nominee². It takes 1,144 delegates to officially win that nomination³. And even if Governor Romney won every delegate in every primary Tuesday, he wouldn't reach that number. The earliest he could hit the delegate milestone⁴ is in late May. Couple other big campaign moment on the horizon: one, the selection of a vice⁵ presidential nominee. There's a lot of talk now about whom Governor Romney might pick as his running mate. Two, the national party conventions: that's when Governor Romney and President Obama will officially be named as their party's presidential nominees⁶. For more in-depth coverage⁷ on the 2012 election and to check out results from yesterday's primaries, go to the Spotlight⁸ section on our homepage and click on the CNN Election Center link.

 

Today's Shoutout goes out to Ms. M government classes at Rancho High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. What government agency is responsible for safeguarding U.S. borders? You know what to do. Is it the Justice Department, Homeland Security Department, Interior Department or Defense⁹ Department? You've got three seconds, go.The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for securing America's borders. That's your answer, and that's your Shoutout.

 

Our next report today is from Suzanne Kelly, and it's about one specific border, the one between the United States and Mexico. It's patrolled by different agencies that are part of Homeland Security, like Customs and Border Protection, or CBP. The agents use different tools to do their jobs. Sometimes that means using advanced technology. Other times it requires some equine assistance.

The terrain¹⁰ here is really pretty unforgiving. I mean we just came down about a 200-foot drop a few minutes ago. And this tells you what they're up against. Now post 9/11, CBP has taken sort of an all-threats environment stance. That means it doesn't matter whether these groups are people trying to come here illegally, drug runners or potential terrorists. The threats and the environment in which they have to chase them down is just the same.

These guys patrol this area day and night. And they are looking for signs,it's this ancient art of sign cutting, they call it.

 

What we are looking for is footprints, any impressions, anything in the dirt that would indicate somebody walking through here. So what we do in this case is we always want to look into the sun. We want the to use that sunlight to reflect off the ridges¹¹ on the ground or the impressions in the ground. And that's going to help define what we are seeing.

So I'm seeing -- and I'm not trained to do this -- but I'm seeing footprints here.

Yes, ma'am.

The bottom of a tennis shoe?

Exactly. Tennis shoe.

 

This is the Joint¹² Operations Information Center, really, the nerve center for CBP and everything they've got eyes on. They have got eyes on the ground here. They are watching the ports of entry. They have got eyes in the air.And then over here, the guys who watch it 24 hours a day gather all of this information together and figure out what to do next.

 

That one single human intelligence source was reporting that they were using vehicles in order to beat us on the border.

The terrorism threat is the most important thing the CBP focuses on. It's the greatest threat to our nation. And all agencies and all departments need to be focused on their portion of how to stop that threat.

 

All right. So now, we are at the Davis Mountain Air Force Base. And we're going to get a very up close look at the aerial assets that the Border Protection uses. What do you need the Black Hawk¹³ for along the border.

 

There are some places that we take them that would take probably 24 hours to get to. Sometimes we have to actually hover¹⁴ on one wheel, when we kind of jump out

Hover on one wheel? Because we can't land.

 

If patrolling on horseback is the more traditional approach to keeping a border secure, this is the future. This is a Predator¹⁵. It's got a 66-foot wingspan, weighs just a touch over 8,000 pounds. But here is the real payoff: it has a $2.5 million camera. It can take pictures day or night. And it's also equipped with an infrared¹⁶ sensor¹⁷. That's a big deal because it can direct people on the ground exactly to the location of a target.

 

It is very difficult to seal any part of the border 100 percent guarantees. We don't offer any guarantees in the Border Patrol.

 

It's on your shoulders, sits the responsibility of making sure there's not another 9/11 in this country.

That's true.

Is that you look at your job?

Every day. Every day I want to put on this uniform.

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 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。

3 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

4 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

7 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

8 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

11 ridges   

n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊

参考例句：

• The path winds along mountain ridges. 峰回路转。
• Perhaps that was the deepest truth in Ridges's nature. 在里奇斯的思想上，这大概可以算是天经地义第一条了。

12 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

13 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

14 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。

15 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

16 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

17 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。