[page]中英文本[/page]
We said it yesterday: Fridays are awesome, and that's especially true for the students at All Saints Cathedral School in the Virgin Islands, who got this week's social media question right. I'm Carl Azuz. Let's go.
First up, two rocket launches with two very different reactions. We've talked about North Korea's failed launch last week. Yesterday India ran a successful test of a long-range missile. Other nations, including the United States, criticized North Korea for its launch. But other than some mild disapproval from China, no one said much about India' s missile test.
The difference? India is an ally of the U.S. and it has a better reputation in the international community than North Korea does. Jim Clancy has more on India's test.
The Agni-V missile blasted through the clouds from an island off India's east coast early Thursday, heading skyward on what India called a successful first flight. The Agni,which means "fire" in Hindi, can carry a 1-ton nuclear warhead and is believed to have a range of 5,000 kilometers, putting major cities, including Beijing, within striking distance.
India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, calls the launch a major milestone.
The successful launch of Agni-V missile is a tribute to the sophistications and commitment to national causes on the part of India's scientific and technological community.
The launch was flagged in advance, but India did not attract the kind of international criticism that North Korea received for its failed rocket test last week. The launch puts India in a very small club of countries.
Only the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. -- along with Israel -- are believed to have such long-range weapons.
Indian leaders say the missile is meant as a deterrent only.
As we all know, I mean, there are -- we live in a very challenging neighborhood, so I think the weapons capabilities that the nation can build are of vital importance.
Analysts say they believe the launch puts India's nuclear armed neighbors -- namely China and Pakistan -- on notice. Chinese officials acknowledged the launch, but downplayed any sense of rivalry between the two nations.
A tragic and shocking event at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, happened exactly 13 years ago today.
Two students carrying guns and bombs went into the school and opened fire. They killed 13 people and wounded 23 others. The gunmen then took their own lives.
A memorial for the victims of that attack at Columbine opened in a park near the school in 2007, this shooting made school safety a nationwide priority and it led to programs and policies that aimed to stop future attacks before they happened.
Today also marks the two-year anniversary of this explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
Eleven of the 126 people who worked on the rig were killed. The explosion led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history, more than 200 million gallons of oil leaked out into the water. Some of it washed up on Gulf Coast shores. It took 85 days to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf, and nearly four months to completely seal the underwater oil well.[qh]昨天我们就曾说过:周五太棒了,而且对于维尔京群岛全圣徒大教堂学校赢得本周社会媒体问题的学生们来说尤其如此。我是卡尔•阿祖兹。让我们开始今天的节目。
首先,两次火箭发射伴随而来的是两种截然不同的反应。我们上周一直在谈论朝鲜发射失败。而昨天印度成功试发射了一枚远程导弹。其他一些国家,包括美国在内,指责朝鲜的发射。但是除了来自中方的一些温和的反对外,没有人谈论关于印度的导弹试验。
区别在哪里?印度是美国的盟友,而且相比朝鲜，这个国家在国际社会有良好的信誉。吉姆·克兰西有更多印度测试的详细报道。
在周四早些时候，“烈火”5导弹从印度东部海岸的一个小岛突破天际,印度称其为成功的第一次发射。阿戈尼,在印度语中意即是“火”的意思，它可以携带1吨重的核弹头,被认为是拥有5000公里的射程,可以将很多国家的城市都列入其攻击范围内。
印度总理辛格称发射是一次重要的里程碑。
“烈火”5导弹的成功发射证明了印度的科学和技术在国际问题上的成熟和承诺。
发射被提前,但是印度没有引来国际性的批评,而朝鲜由于上周发射失败而遭到批评。此次发射使印度成了国家俱乐部中的一员。
只有英国、中国、法国、俄罗斯和美国-还有以色列这样的常任理事国被认为可以拥有这样的远程武器。而印度领导人称导弹意味着唯一的威慑力量。
我们都知道,我的意思是,我们在一个非常具有挑战性的环境下生存,所以我认为,这个国家武器能力的建立是十分重要的。
分析家们称他们相信,这次发射把印度的核武器邻居——也就是引起了中方和巴基斯坦的注意。中方官员承认此次发射,但对这两个国家之间的竞争没有引起关注。
就在13年前的今天，科罗拉多州的哥伦比亚高中发生了一场悲剧。
两名携带枪支和炸弹的学生进入学校后开火。他们杀死13人,23人受伤。然后持枪歹徒结束了自己的生命。
在2007年悼念此次事件受害者的纪念仪式在哥伦比亚学校附近的公园里开始。此次枪击案使学校的安保举措上升到了全国性质的阶段，相关政策出台以避免未来诸如此类的袭击事件再次发生。
今天也标志着墨西哥湾“深水地平线”钻井平台爆炸2周年纪念。
在平台上工作的126人丧生。爆炸导致了美国历史上最严重情况的泄露,超过2亿加仑的油外泄入到大海。有些冲到海岸。花了85天来阻止油流入进海湾,近4个月的时间来完全密封在水下的油井。
注：听力文本来源于普特
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[page]词语解释[/page]
1. criticize v. 批评，挑剔
They criticize their opponents under the cover of patriotism.
他们借口爱国来抨击反对者。
2. ally n. 同盟国，同盟者
Britain was an ally of America in the World War I.
英国在第一次世界大战中是美国的同盟国。
3. reputation n. 好名声，声誉
He spotted his reputation by lying repeatedly.
他因反复说谎而败坏了自己的名声。
4. blast v. 爆破，摧毁
A trumpeter sent out a warning blast.
号兵吹出告警的号声。
5. deterrent n. 威慑力
Punishment is a strong deterrent to crime.
处罚对犯罪有强大的威慑作用。
