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Millions Of Americans Shiver In A Winter Storm; New Computer Model Animates Plate Tectonics; AI Brings Assistance And Controversy To Online Classes.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Along with the temperature, records have fallen across the United States thanks to a winter storms that`s scraping across

the country. I`m Carl Azuz.

Thank you for taking 10 for CNN. Of the 48 states in the contiguous U.S., the government reported that snow was on the ground in 45 of them. That
 

contiguous [kənˋtɪgjʊəs] adj. 接触的；邻近的

happened on Tuesday morning. Only Florida, Georgia and South Carolina were snow free at that time. The snow covered more than 73 percent of the

country outside of Alaska and Hawaii.

That`s the most coverage the nation has seen since records of this started being kept in 2003. It`s fun for folks to play in, it`s not fun if they

have nowhere warm to go afterward.

That`s a big enough problem to cause states of emergency in places like West Virginia, Kentucky and Texas. More than 10 inches of snowfall has

piled up in the central part of the Lone star State. Below freezing temperatures were recorded in every part of the state. That`s put a record

amount of demand on the state`s electrical grid and then the power went out.
 

go out 不再燃烧或发光; 熄灭

Several million Texans couldn`t turn on the heat yesterday. Some retreated to shelters or ran their cars outside on streets and driveways to get warm.

Energy officials say limited natural gas supplies are part of the problem. So are frozen wind turbines. They generate an estimated 25 percent of the

state`s power but the ice storm caused some of them to shutdown or freeze up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Freezing temperatures and power outages are pummeling areas from Texas through the Plains states. More than a third of the country
 

outage [ˋaʊtɪdʒ] n.（水、电等的）中断供应

pummel [ˋpʌm!]v.（用拳头）连续击打；狠狠地击溃

reached temperatures below zero on Monday. Texas is receiving the brunt of the storm with millions across the state left with no power and no heat.
 

brunt [brʌnt] n. 冲击，撞击；最沉重（或强烈）的部分

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all see the current situation. I`m not going to sugarcoat it. The next few days are going to be very tough. There`s a
 

sugarcoat [ˋʃʊgɚ͵kot] v. 美化，粉饰…

high chance the power will be out for the -- for these folks until the weather gets better which will not be for a couple of days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The city of Abilene that has a population of more than 100,000 residents was forced to shut off water last night due to power

outages. The lacking infrastructure for these conditions is a major concern for hard hit areas with some families freezing in their homes.
 

lack [læk] v. 缺少；不足

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s like a walk-in freezer. It`s like 34 to 36 degrees I would say.
 

walk-in [ˋwɔk͵ɪn] adj.（壁橱等）大得能走进去的

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It depends on which room you`re in, 40 degrees at the lowest end to 55 at the highest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Harris County, power outages nearly spoiled more than 8,000 corona virus vaccine doses. Moderna advised the county that
 

spoil [spɔɪl] v. 损坏；糟蹋

3,000 of those doses could go back into storage and the rest were distributed throughout the county. Historic lows in Dallas, Oklahoma City

and in Kansas City, the coldest since 1989.

The wind-chill factor reaching temperatures as cold as -32 degrees. In Tennessee, authorities reported two fatalities from the storm on Monday.
 

wind-chill factor 风寒指数

Tennessee [͵tɛnəˋsi] n. 美国田纳西州

fatality [fəˋtælətɪ] n.（因意外事故的）死亡；死者；死亡事故

In Kentucky, the governor is warning that another storm is on its way. He tells residents not to run your gas ovens to generate heat and be careful

using generators and camp stoves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, I can`t stress the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning which is absolutely avoidable. Those are casualties we don`t
 

carbon monoxide【化】一氧化碳

want to see. We did not make it through almost a year of a pandemic to lose people to a snow or an ice storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which scientist work gave rise to the theory of plate tectonics? Charles Richter, Inge Lehmann, Alfred Wegener or Ian Malcom.
 

plate tectonics 地表板块构造论；板块构造学

tectonics [tɛkˋtɑnɪks] n. 构造学

Wegener`s theory of continental drift led to the theory of plate tectonics.
 

continental drift 大陆漂移学说

Wegener`s book on continental drift was published in 1915. It was not well received in the scientific community. But over the decades as more

discoveries were made, the theory of plate tectonics gained acceptance in the 1960s` and that helped explain Wegener`s theory of continental drift.

Research on this continues today. This is an animated computer model that shows the movement of tectonic plates. The giant theoretical chunks that

compose the Earth`s outer crust. Geologists are using this to examine how plates might have interacted along their boundaries. It`s the first model

of its kind and researchers hope it will help geologists understand the history of our planet.

Meantime, technology is trying to understand the expressions of your face. An artificial intelligence tool is gaining usage at a time where more

people are learning and working online. Critics don`t like the idea of laptop cameras, for instance, tracking users faces especially when it comes

to students. But applications for this could go well beyond the online classroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our faces say a lot about us. Whether we`re happy, angry or sad, facial expressions are a big part of how we communicate with

each other. But what about when we can`t see each other`s faces? For teachers around the world, it`s become a problem including in Hong Kong.

When Mosta Kim Chu`s (ph) classes went online, he struggled to stay connected to his students through the screen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Standing in front of the classroom I always observe the reaction and then the face, the emotion of students. We cannot see face to

face teaching at this moment and we -- we don`t understand their progress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One solution is helping Chu (ph) to read the room. Artificial Intelligence to analyze the student`s emotions as they learn. It

comes from a local startup, Find Solution Ai (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We developed Motivation Ai (ph) especially to help kids using emotion detection to observe how they learn and motivate them to

learn in a better way. We can motivate them by giving some easy questions. We will also give them some video chucks to guide them when they are not

understanding something new. So it`s like a teacher sitting next to the kid but the teacher`s not there. It`s the software.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lam (ph) says the software works via your webcam or camera. Measuring the position of your eyes, eyebrows, mouth and other

features to detect for six emotions, happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise.

For example, if the corners of your mouth are raised, this would tell the AI that you are happy. While a wrinkled nose, would signal disgust and the

AI is pretty good at it Lam (ph) says.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the accuracy for the emotion detection that we scored around 85 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But can just six facial expressions really convey a range of feelings? According to experts the answer, like emotion is

complex.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So there are what we call primary emotions. So you can tell somebody`s angry or sad or happy from any culture pretty easily.

Then the others what we call secondary emotions that can be harder and can be culture-dependent and can be gender-dependent.

We`re not able to recognize secondary emotions with such high accuracy. Machines can already do that better than some human beings. We would like

to train the machines to be not just as good as humans but it should be better than the average human.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Find Solution Ai (ph) is one of the number of developers racing to advance the technology. Already, Lam (ph) says the

number of schools using its learning platform has more than doubled since the pandemic began. As users grow, so do concerns around privacy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the classroom, we need to get a consent. Right? To be part of this program, to be monitored in terms of facial expressions.

More importantly, we need to explain to them how we use their data.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lam (ph) says Fine Solutions AI software doesn`t store videos or photos and parents and students can always chose to turn

off the camera. This feature could give the start-up an edge as global demand grows for machines that can read our emotions. It`s a business that
 

edge [ɛdʒ] n. 优势；优越条件

set to reach $56 billion by 2024. With benefits not just for the virtual classroom but also the virtual workplace from employee wellbeing to online

meetings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: During the webinar or during the video conferencing, you want to know if that person is engaging or they just turn on
 

webinar 网络研讨会（由web和seminar拼缀而成）

the camera but that person is not literally there. So that is reason why we also expecting to move forward to other industry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Face-to-face communication is still a way off for many people but a solution in the meantime could be staring us right in the face.
 

off [ɔf] adj. 较远的; 不合时令的

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: So just how big a drawing can one person do with a marker? That was the challenge for an art teacher in Philadelphia and this is the work she

drew. It apparently set a record for the largest drawing ever made by an individual.

It`s size 6,450 square feet. It`s features, sky and sea with city buildings in between. It`s total time to complete, 63 hours. The work is

made up of the kind of doodles you might have done in class. Just a wee bit bigger.
 

doodle [ˋdud!] n. 乱写

a wee bit 一点儿; by a very small amount or to a very small degree

wee [wi] adj. 极小的，很小的

So I guess it was a pretty "Sharpie" idea to "Cray-all-over" the room. Because in making her "mark" she met the "mark" while "marking" up the

floor in a "marker" break record attempt that is pretty "remarkable".

We`ll just have to see how "permanent" it is. Shout out today goes out to Rising Sun High School. It is in the picturesque sounding town of Rising Sun, Maryland.
 

sound [saʊnd] v. 听起来

They did the one thing you can do to get a mention on CNN 10. They subscribed and left a comment on our most recent show at

YouTube.com/CNN10. I`m Carl Azuz.

END