美国有线新闻 CNN 2014-03-14

 What caused a passenger jet to disappear in Asia? There are a lot of theories but so far few answers. That mystery leads on today's CNN student news. 

Malaysia airline flight 370 took off early Saturday morning form Kulum lupour Malaysia. It was carrying 239 people to Beijing, China. But it vanished from Radar¹ and tracking records that around 35000 feet. There was with no distract signal. The weather is clear. With nothing found until last night, rescuer expended² their searching area, they are looking for clues in the gulf³ of Thailand between Malaysia and Vietnam. As they are searching from air and sea, Interpol is investigating on the ground. This is an international organization tied with police from more than 180 countries. And it was investigating whether people on the flight with stolen passports might have anything to do with its disappearance⁴. 

 

It is one of the biggest mystery in the disappearance of the Malaysia airline flight 370. Now the Interpol reveals that two international passenger boarding international flight with stolen passports. Even more surprising, they were in plain sight among the name listed in Interpol’s lost and stolen documents data base, one since last year, the other since 2012. Both stolen in Thailand. And apparently⁵ the two people using the passports are Italian and Austrian citizen bought their tickets together. 

When you book your ticket, the airline is not able to actually make inquiry⁶ to the Interpol all or even the local police about whether you are wanted or whether your passport has been reported stolen. The country the government does. And according to the Interpol last year alone, passengers were able to board airplane without having their passport screened in the airport databases more than one billion times. The database in airport headquarters contains an astounding⁷ 14 billion records of stolen travel documents. 

 

You know the member countries, the 190 members that belong to Interpol, and not charged for any fee in database. So if the country has sufficient resources or technique capability⁸ to wire into Interpol’s private virtue⁹ network, that’s running 24 hour a day. You know they certainly  will be able to access to that data base and check it. It depends on the will of the country. It is up to the country to set up and do it. The Interpol secretary general said now we have a real case, the world is speculating whether the stolen passport will be terrorists. Well Interpol was arguing why only a couple of countries worldwide are taking care of making sure persons possessing stolen passports are not boarding international flights. 

 

Edward Snowden says he has no regrets about leaking classified documents to the public. Yesterday he asked people in the south by west conference in Texas, to help fix US government surveillance. Snowden is a controversial man. He is a former worker for the National Security Agency, the NSA. He is now living in exile in Russia. Because the US wants him to face charges back home. It says Snowden broke the law when he leaked secrete¹⁰ information about the NSA, specifically, that the spy agency collects American citizen’s phone and internet information. US government says its program help protect Americans by preventing terrorist attack. Snowden supporters see him as a whistle blower who is protecting Americans’ right of privacy. He was telling us at the press conference yesterday. That was the first time he directly addresses to American public since he fled the country. He asked developers in south by west to make security networks for users, so no one including the government can easily access public information. 

1 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

2 expended   

v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽

参考例句：

• She expended all her efforts on the care of home and children. 她把所有精力都花在料理家务和照顾孩子上。
• The enemy had expended all their ammunition. 敌人已耗尽所有的弹药。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

5 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。

6 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

7 astounding   

adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)

参考例句：

• There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
• The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊，所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

9 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

10 secrete   

vt.分泌；隐匿，使隐秘

参考例句：

• The pores of your body secrete sweat.身上的毛孔分泌汗液。
• Squirrels secrete a supply of nuts for winter.松鼠为准备过冬而藏坚果。