CNN 2010-12-30

Well, the holiday glow has faded. The beauty of a pillowy snowfall has turned downright ugly. Problems are stacked as high as the snow drifts in the northeast. The blizzard¹ is gone. The horror stories are just coming to light.

Earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" we spoke² to an angry airline passenger who was stuck on the tarmac at New York's JFK Airport for more than eight hours. And get this. The ordeal³ just ended a couple of hours ago, long after the worst of the storm had passed.

It was terrible. Basically, what happened was we were running out of food and water and the pilot came on to say he was going to be -- he had been arguing with the folks at the airport to at least let the police come on board to deliver some food and water, and I guess he lost that fight.

Nobody came on and we've moved up to a gate and spent another couple of hours at the gate, thinking we were going to come off and never did. And apparently⁴ what happened was the customs folks went home at 1:00 a.m. and so everybody coming international kind of had to sit out there in the snow for, you know, all night.

Sounds fun, doesn't it? New York's Port Authority says the situation was unacceptable and it's investigating what went wrong.

And there are plenty of problems on the street. No surprise there. Here's a home video of what the northeast is dealing⁵ with as it digs out from as much as 30 inches of snow. Watch and listen.

Oh my god. Are you out of your mind?

Exactly what we thought. The New Yorker who shot that video from his apartment window says that was a city sanitation⁶ truck trying to free a snowbound front loader. The results, as you just saw there, were pretty disastrous⁷ for the parked SUV. The city calls the situation unfortunate but not unusual.

And here's the formal response. "An accident of that nature is generally followed up a supervisor⁸ who follows up by giving a comptroller's claim form to the damaged vehicle owner who completes it, returns it and the matter is generally settled in their favor. Again, this is unfortunate but not unusual during the snow season."

Try telling that to the owner of the SUV.

Here's the video of the storm -- a view of the storm, rather, as it descended⁹ on New Jersey¹⁰. Keep an eye on the spinning hands of the clock there, hour by hour, inch by inch. This time lapsed¹¹ photography captures the snow piling up. And watch this. Of course the real measure of the snow -- of the story is how the region is coping today.

That tops our look across the country this morning, and we begin on this frozen pond in Watonga, Oklahoma. Take a look at that. That is where the pilot of a local TV chopper found that calf¹² there, slip sliding away. Now, with the help of a friend, the helicopter pilot used the downdraft from the chopper blades to actually push the little guy out of harm's way. Isn't he cute?

Meet Bubba, a pit bull terrier that is constantly reaching new heights, if you will, for a Phoenix¹³ area roofing company by taking things, well, one step at a time. Yes, this dog is a self-taught ladder climber. Bubba's owner says his house-scaling dog is a good rooftop foreman.

And out west in Los Angeles, a suspected drug smuggler¹⁴ may want to consider the holiday, as in which one, before trying to hide the drugs. Get this. Border agents say they found a Florida man trying to conceal¹⁵ more than 14 pounds of cocaine¹⁶ in Easter egg candy two days before Christmas. He now faces a possible sentence of life in prison.

1 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

7 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

8 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

9 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

10 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

11 lapsed   

adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He had lapsed into unconsciousness. 他陷入了昏迷状态。
• He soon lapsed into his previous bad habits. 他很快陷入以前的恶习中去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

13 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

14 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

15 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

16 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。