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New NASA Mission Arrives at Mars and Attempts a Difficult Landing; Explanation of Cold-Weather Terms Like Ice Jams and Ice Pancakes; Italy`s Mt. Etna Erupts

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: I`m Carl Azuz announcing a major scientific discovery today on CNN 10. Friday`s are awesome. OK. That`s a bit of fake

news but NASA`s newest voyage of discovery isn`t. A rover that launched last July 30th was scheduled to arrive on Mars yesterday and scientists

were hoping that the Perseverance mission would help them figure out if life was ever present on the red planet.
 

perseverance [͵pɝsəˋvɪrəns] n. 坚持不懈；坚忍不拔

The mission`s cost is $2.7 billion. It was scheduled to last two years. If all goes as planned during that time, the Perseverance rover is set to

travel 15 miles studying Mars` climate and geology and collecting samples of Martian soil that could one day be brought back to Earth.

If another mission succeeds in sending a spacecraft to pick them up. But we`re getting ahead of ourselves. The rover first had to undergo an

extensive check out period, a kind of booting up on Mars. It had to unfold and download software. It`s got to deploy a $23 million drone helicopter
 

boot up 启动

whose purpose is to find out if powered chopper flight is possible on Mars. And before any of that can happen, Perseverance had to make a safe landing
 

chopper [ˋtʃɑpɚ] n.【俚】直升机

on the red planet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A preview of a perilous descent on the red planet after months traveling through space. It`s what NASA describes as seven minutes
 

perilous [ˋpɛrələs] adj. 危险的；冒险的

of terror. The U.S. space agency`s Perseverance mission plunges into the Martian atmosphere at over 19,000 kilometers an hour. It breaks with

tremendous force lurching downwards as it endures temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius. Then it deploys a parachute and at just the right
 

lurch [lɝtʃ] v.（船）突然倾斜

deploy [dɪˋplɔɪ] v. 使展开；使疏开

moment, it releases a rover retrorocketing towards a treacherous terrain.
 

retrorocket [ˋrɛtro͵rɑkɪt] v. 减速火箭; 反推进火箭；制动火箭（宇宙飞船或航空器上的一种火箭，其发射方向与宇宙飞船或航空器的飞行方向相反，从而使之减速）

treacherous [ˋtrɛtʃərəs] adj. 不牢靠的；危险的；变化莫测的

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It all has to happen in about seven minutes and it all has to happen autonomously.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the most difficult maneuvers that we do in the space business. You know, almost 50 percent of the spacecraft that
 

maneuver [məˋnuvɚ] n.（船、飞机等的）机动动作

have been sent to the surface of Mars have failed and so we know we have our -- our work cut out for us.
 

cut out 不再起作用

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the daring landing succeeds, NASA`s Perseverance rover will touch down at Jezero Crater. The site of a Martian lake more

than 3.5 billion years ago. There Perseverance will help prepare for human life in the future and search for signs of ancient life from the past. It will also

collect rock samples that will hopefully return to Earth for the very first time. The two year mission is unlike any other made possible by discoveries
 

unlike [ʌnˋlaɪk] adj. 不同的；不相似的，相异的

from NASA`s four other rovers on Mars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our journey has been from following the water to seeing whether this planet was habitable to finding complex chemicals. And now we`re at the advent of an entirely new phase
 

follow [ˋfɑlo] v. 注视；密切注意

advent [ˋædvɛnt] n.（事件、發明或人物的）出現，來臨，到來; arrival that has been awaited (especially of something momentous)

returning samples, an aspirational goal that has been with the science community for decades.
 

aspirational [͵æspəˋreʃən!] adj.（生活形态等）梦寐以求的

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perseverance also promises new perspectives of the red planet. The rover has microphones and 23 cameras can share sights and
 

promise [ˋprɑmɪs] v. 給人以……的指望；有……的可能

sounds never seen or heard before. Also along for the ride, a drone-sized helicopter named Ingenuity. It will be the first to try flying on another
 

ingenuity [͵ɪndʒəˋnuətɪ] n. 心灵手巧；独创性；足智多谋

planet. The new technology may help direct the Perseverance rover or even be a scout for future probes as NASA`s latest mission to Mars charts new realms of exploration.
 

scout [skaʊt] n. 侦察兵；侦察机

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AZUZ: But as you heard a moment ago, getting the rover down safely is the tricky part. Mars is about 127 million miles away from Earth right now. It

takes 11 minutes for radio signals to travel from Earth to Mars and the Perseverance rover landing process was set to happen over seven minutes.

That`s why it had to happen autonomously without scientists manually making adjustments on its way down. Yesterday evening, NASA said that Perseverance

appeared to land safely on the red planet. Various spacecraft at NASA and the European Space Agency had in orbit over Mars were set to fly over the

rover and check up on its health. CNN.com will have the latest info on the mission`s status.

10 Second Trivia. What is America`s coldest city outside of Alaska? Grand Forks, North Dakota, Fargo, North Dakota, International Falls, Minnesota or
 

Minnesota [͵mɪnɪˋsotə] n. 美国明尼苏达州

Marquette, Michigan. Once you get outside Fairbanks, Alaska, the coldest city in the U.S. is Grand Forks, North Dakota.
 

Alaska [əˋlæskə] n. 美国阿拉斯加州

A historic blast of Arctic air is finally moving out of the United States after unleashing a series of ice and snow storms across the country. For

those who are ready for winter to end, the good news is that forecasters expect the jet stream to lift to the north and what that means is that
 

jet stream【气】急流，高速气流

lift [lɪft] v.（云，雾等）消散

millions of Americans could feel warmer temperatures by the weekend.

But the hard hit state of Texas is still reeling with many people still without electricity and/or running water following a series of deadly
 

reel [ril] v. feel very confused or shocked and unable to act

winter storms there and more cold, snowy weather could still be ahead for the northern Plain states, the Upper Midwest and northeast which is typical

this time of year. There are some fascinating and frozen side effects to all this. Here`s CNN Contributor Tyler Mauldin.

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TYLER MAULDIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I`m sure you`ve heard all about blizzards and the polar vortex Carl but what about ice pancakes, bytes or jams.
 

blizzard [ˋblɪzɚd] n. 大风雪，暴风雪

polar vortex 极地涡旋

Well, it’s a thing and I`m suddenly hungry too. But these are unappetizing and can cause some real serious issues during the winter. An ice jam occurs when
 

unappetizing [ʌnˋæpə͵taɪzɪŋ] adj. 引不起食欲的；引不起兴趣的；索然无味的

ice jam 冰块拥塞

pieces of floating ice build up and block the flow of water in rivers and streams.

In turn causing the water to back up potentially leading to flooding. For example, earlier this month the National Weather Service in Detroit had to
 

back up 后退

issue a flood warning because an ice jam was causing water to flood homes and businesses which could only be broken up by the Canadian and U.S. Coast Guards.
 

break up 打碎, 拆开

Ice pancakes tend to only be seen in the Arctic but when the temperature drops below zero in the lower 48 for a few days, like what we`re dealing

with this week. Well we can see it too. It occurs when a body of water starts to form ice. Chunks of ice will bump against each other creating elliptical shaped discs
 

elliptical [ɪˋlɪptɪk!] adj. 椭圆形的

with round edges giving each one a flat, round appearance hence the name, ice pancakes. Ice balls are more common than

pancakes. You can actually see these every winter near shorelines of colder climates.
 

shoreline [ˋʃorlaɪn] n. 海岸线；岸线地带

These form by getting caught in the crashing waves near the edge of a beach forcing them to continually spin over and over and over leading to a more
 

get caught: to become involved in a situation, often without wanting to

spherical look. Lastly and this one is probably my favorite, ice volcanoes. Ice volcanoes form over lakes by waves forcing water or slush to erupt high
 

slush [slʌʃ] n. 融雪；泥泞

in the sky through mounds of ice. It made for quite the scene last year off of Lake Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: While we`re on the subject of volcanoes, but talking about the hot kind now. Once probably the world`s oldest continuously active volcano

erupted this week. Mt. Etna once again put on a fireworks show in the Italian island of Sicily.
 

put on 演出(戏剧); 举办(展览等)

Sicily [ˋsɪs!ɪ] n. 西西里島（地中海之最大島嶼）

Lava fountain sprayed, magma flowed. Ash rained down on the surrounding region. There were no reports of serious injuries or damage but imagine
 

lava [ˋlɑvə] n.【地】熔岩

magma [ˋmægmə] n.【地】岩浆

waking up at 1 o`clock in the morning and thinking it`s raining outside when what you hear is actually ash falling on your roof. That`s how our

friend Sean McCarthy (ph) described it. He teaches with the Department of Defense Education activity in Sicily and he sent us these pictures

yesterday. Close up views of the magnificent Mt. Etna.

Super swim brothers. Kind of sounds like an underwater version of Super Mario Brothers but on the Bismarck High School boys swim team in North

Dakota, 12 of the 26 athletes are brothers as in brothers. Specifically we`re talking about Braxton (ph), Issac (ph), Austin (ph), Garrett (ph),

Bennett (ph), Bryce (ph), Jackson (ph), Connor (ph), Josiah (ph), Micah (ph), Blake (ph), and Max (ph). It`s like cheaper by the dozen in the pool

and the competitive spirits high because none of these guys wants to lose to his brother.

Does that threaten their "brotherly" love? They`re still their "brother`s" keeper and while the goggles might have them wondering "O, Brother Where

Art Thou". They`re still there to help each "Brother Bear" the "brothersome" burden of competition saying "Brother Let Me Be Your Shelter"

with the "Bond of Brothers" flowing strongly through this "Band of Brothers". Oh brother. Today`s shout out goes out to QSI International

School of Chisinau, Moldova. Thank you so much for watching and for subscribing to your You Tube channel. Have a great weekend everyone. I`m
 

Moldova [molˋdovə] n. 摩爾多瓦共和國

Carl Azuz for CNN.

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