美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-03-20

 Hi, everyone, I'm Carl Azuz, thank you for joining us for a new week of CNN student news. Today we're going to start with something that actually started just more than two years ago.

Unrest in the Middle Eastern nation of Syria began with protests, turned into a civil war. In 2011, some Syrians were protesting their president Bashar al-Assad, they wanted him out of power, Assad and his government responded with force, Syrian military started fighting the protesters. Eventually, the Opposition¹ got armed and began fighting back.Syrian officials called the rebels terrorists.

Two years later, Bashar al-Assad is still president,the fighting hasn't stopped. International aid groups accuse both sides, the Syrian military and the rebels of abusing human rights. More than 70,000 Syrians are reported to have been killed, now we say reported because it's not possible to confirm that number, or to confirm some of the accounts of violence, that's because Syria hasn't given CNN or any other international news organizations free access inside the country.

The violence in Syria involves one country, what about tension between two nations. Diplomacy², trying to work things out peacefully is usually the preferred strategy. But governments have to prepare for the possibility of conflict. Chris Lawrence has more on that when it comes to the U.S. and North Korea.

If a nuclear missile is ever fired in the United States,this is the best hope to stop it. Thirty interceptor missiles, which commit launch from ground silos in Alaska and California. Now the Pentagon is deploying³ up to 14 more. The reason that we're doing what we'redoing, and the reason we're advancing our program here for homeland security is to not take any chances, is to stay ahead of the threat.

North Korea tested a long range missile in December, it conducted its third nuclear test in February. And just this month, threaten a preemptive nuclear strike on the U.S..That caught the Pentagon's attention. But as far back as the State of the Union speech, president Obama said the U.S. would, "strengthen our missile defense⁴ and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats."

But Republic Congressional sources say the president's action have been anything but firm. 2011, the administration boss bought one Alaskan missile field, arguing intelligence show there wasn't enough of a threat, a short-sighted move, said the Congressional sources, quote,"The lintel didn't change, this is way where we expect North Korea to be,and that is in position of a missile that could travel nearly 5,000 miles, in theory, since North Korea has never successfully launched a long range ICBM.

"I think what you see here is mainly apolitical signal to North  Korea, that no one is going to be intimidated⁵ by their December launch and the subsequent nuclear test."

The existing interceptors have had technological⁶ problems, and haven't performed as planned. The Pentagon is testing a new missile, and won't buy the additional 14 until officials are sure they can fly.

"We spend ten billion dollars a year on missile defense. We spend about 250 billion over the last few decades. We still don't, aren't anywhere close to a system that can actually protect the United States from a determined⁷ adversary⁸, yes, I'm saying, we're wasting our money."

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

3 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

4 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。

5 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

7 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

8 adversary   

adj.敌手，对手

参考例句：

• He saw her as his main adversary within the company.他将她视为公司中主要的对手。
• They will do anything to undermine their adversary's reputation.他们会不择手段地去损害对手的名誉。