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Special Runoff Election In Georgia; Congress To Certify The Electoral College Votes On January 6th; Olympics Update; Pompeiian Discovery.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: It`s January 5th. The election day in one particular U.S. state but it has ramifications for the whole country. So
 

ramification [͵ræməfəˋkeʃən] n. 分枝；分派；纵横交错；延伸性影响

that`s where we start today`s show. I`m Carl Azuz. U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence, U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden and

U.S. Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris, they`ve all been spending time in Georgia.

On Tuesday, voters there are deciding who will fill two U.S. Senate seats and that will determine which political party controls the Senate for the

next two years. A party needs a simple majority of 51 seats to have control of the 100-member Senate. After the November 3rd Presidential Election,

Republicans were projected to hold 50 seats.

Democrats were projected to hold 48. Georgia had two seats to fill on Election Day but none of the state`s candidates won enough votes then to

clinch a spot in the U.S. Senate. So Tuesday`s runoff there has been proceeded by weeks of fierce campaigning, relentless political ads,
 

runoff [ˋrʌn͵ɔf] n. 决赛；决选投票

relentless [rɪˋlɛntlɪs] adj. 不间断的，持续的；坚韧的，不懈的

unceasing robocalls and barrages of text messages as both political parties have poured millions of dollars into the Peach State trying to influence the outcome of the vote.
 

unceasing [ʌnˋsisɪŋ] adj. 不停的，不断的

robocall 自动语音电话

barrage [bəˋrɑʒ] n. 齐射式攻击；猛烈的攻击

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The road to socialism does not run through Georgia.
 

socialism [ˋsoʃəl͵ɪzəm] n. 社会主义

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re living out a moment of crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We win Georgia. We save America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elections are a matter of life and death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Georgia law requires that any candidate running for state, local or Federal office wins at least 50 percent of the vote. That

didn`t happen on Election Day so now these races are headed for a runoff in January leaving the make-up of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance.

The rematches will determine who controls the power on Capitol Hill. If Republicans can manage to win one or both of the seats, Republicans will
 

rematch [ˋrimætʃ] n. 复赛

maintain control of the U.S. Senate and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will remain the majority leader.

If Democrats however can win back both seats, they`ll manage to create a tie in the U.S. Senate. That can only be broken by the Vice- President

handing Democrats control not just the U.S. House but also the entire Congress. The two Republican Senators running David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler

are running against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

Two Democratic underdogs who are hoping to find the same success Biden found in Georgia during the General Election. If Loeffler wins, she`ll add
 

underdog [ˋʌndɚˋdɔg] n. 竞争失败的人；处于劣势的一方

to the Republican ranks and the record-breaking number of Republican women on Capitol Hill. If Warnock wins, he`ll become the first black Senator from

the state of Georgia. All eyes are on Georgia and January 5th.

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AZUZ: Another date coming up on the U.S. political calendar is January 6th. That`s when Congress is set to count Electoral College votes which American

states certified last month. This is normally a ceremonial exercise but at least 12 Republican Senators and 140 House Republicans plan to oppose
 

certify [ˋsɝtə͵faɪ] v. 证明，证实

counting electoral votes for President-Elect Biden, what they want to do is hold a 10-day emergency review of votes in some U.S. states.

Objections like this have been made before. In 2005, dozens of Congressional Democrats challenged Ohio`s results in the 2004 election.

They said widespread voting problems were to blame and that`s what President Trump and some of his Republican allies say was the problem this

time around.

But 15 years ago, Congress still moved ahead on certifying President George W. Bush as the winner of the 2004 election and analysts say that`s all but

certain to happen this Wednesday for President-Elect Joe Biden. President Trump`s challenges to the 2020 results have not succeeded in changing the

outcome in any state.

Certified results from Georgia showed Biden winning there with 11,779 more votes than Trump. In a phone call on Saturday with Georgia`s secretary of

state, President Trump said he wanted to quote, "find 11,780 votes" one more than his opponent won by because President Trump says he actually won

the state. But Georgia`s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the president`s data was wrong and that the truth would come out. As far as

Georgia`s Senate races go, we`ll keep you update on what happens this week.

10 Second Trivia. Where would you find the most populated city in the world? Japan, Brazil, India or China. Greater Tokyo, the capital of

Japan has a population of about 38 million people.

Friday, July 23rd is the planned kick off date for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. They`re still being called that even though it`s 2021 and the

same pandemic that postponed the games in the first place is threatening to cancel them altogether. To be clear, that hasn`t happened yet.

The show is scheduled to go on this summer in Japan but there are new strains of coronavirus that have cropped up around the world and they`re
 

crop up 出现或发生(尤指意外地)

causing new headaches in the efforts to fight the disease. It`s common for viruses to mutate or change.
 

mutate [ˋmjutet] v. 产生突变

At least one of the new COVID strains or variants is believed to spread faster than the original one but it`s not believed to be more deadly. The

survival rate for the new and older strains is estimated to be more than 99 percent.

Health officials don`t know yet if the newly approved emergency vaccines work against the new strains. But as they race to find answers and

treatments for all variants of coronavirus, concerns about the disease in Japan are bringing some Olympic sized questions.

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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It`s just 200 days now until the postponed Tokyo Olympics are set to kick off and that mammoth tasks of planning the
 

mammoth [ˋmæməθ] adj. 巨大的，庞大的

games in the middle of the pandemic is only getting harder. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that he`s considering declaring a state of emergency as

the country grapples with soaring COVID-19 cases.
 

grapple [ˋgræp!] v. 努力解决（问题等）

The governors of Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures have already urged the prime minister to do so. The country`s reporting thousands of new COVID
 

prefecture [ˋprifɛktʃɚ] n. 府；专区；县

cases a day bringing the national total to nearly a quarter million. The country has also detected several cases of a new potentially more

contagious variant of COVID-19 prompting the government to ban entry for travelers through the end of the month.

But even though this state of emergency wouldn`t have any legal enforcement, Japanese officials have been reluctant to take any steps that

would harm the economy. Olympic organizers have already said that the games will be simplified with pared back opening and closing ceremonies.
 

pare [pɛr] v. 消减，缩减; to reduce, as in quantity or size

Officials said that they`ll decide in the Spring how many foreign fans, if any, can attend. Despite high confidence from the President of the IOC that

fans will be able to come, the success of the Olympics really hinges on how fast the world can get vaccinated. In Japan, vaccination is not set to
 

hinge [hɪndʒ] v. 决定于[W][（+on/upon）]

begin until February far behind some countries.

But the stakes are very high this year for the games to go forward as planned. Olympic organizers have said that if the games do not go as

planned this summer the games will simply be cancelled not postponed again. Japan has sunk an impressive amount of money into these games.
 

sink [sɪŋk] v. 投资于……[（+in/into）]

These games were already set to be the most expensive summer games on record. And now because of the postponement and because of COVID-19

prevention measures, that cost has only increased by billions more to now $15.4 billion. Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.

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AZUZ: For 10 out of 10, this method of Christmas tree recycling is sure to get your goat. At a farm in Massachusetts, it`s like Christmas morning for

the animals who love to eat the old trees. It`s not just the Nigerian Dwarf goats on the property who enjoy the special treat.

It`s the chickens too who apparently pick off the needles for a snack. This all started when the family who owns the farm tried giving their tree to

the goats. And after that, well they didn`t need to "needle" their friends and neighbors to "goat" them into a recycling program that people weren`t

"chicken" to join.

It`s like a barnyard "eat-a-long" that`s tough to "bleat" and no one thinks it`s a "baaaaad" idea. It`s just terrible. Before we go today, we want to

give a shout out to our friends in Medford, Massachusetts. All those students watching at Medford High School, you guys are awesome.

We pick these schools from the comments of our most recent show at YouTube.com/CNN10. I`m Carl Azuz. Have an amazing rest of your day.

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