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Last U.S. Military Plane Leaves Afghanistan; Wildfires Threaten Homes In California; China Limits Online Gaming For Minors.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Always great to have you watching CNN 10, as we kick off a brand new month of down the middle coverage. My name is Carl

Azuz and today`s first story concerns the last U.S. military plane to leave Afghanistan.

It happened just before midnight on Monday on the eve of the August 31st deadline set by the Biden Administration. It signals the end of the longest

military conflict America`s been involved in, and for the U.S. it was a troubled ending. After announcing in April that it was time for American

troops to come home, U.S. President Joe Biden suggested that hundreds of thousands of Afghan troops were prepared to defend their country.

That`s not what happened. In early August, Afghanistan`s military and government collapsed and the nation`s former rulers, a militant group

called the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in a matter of weeks. The Taliban was the group that the U.S. led an international effort to remove

back in 2001.

At that time, the Taliban was allowing terrorists to live and train in Afghanistan, and it was those terrorists who carried out the September

11th, 2001 attacks on the U.S. After more than 19 years of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, President Biden said in terms of manpower and

cost, it no longer made sense for American forces to stay there.

But Afghanistan was not considered to be stable enough for U.S. and other military forces to leave, and after the last U.S. plane departed the

country on Monday the Taliban declared victory over the United States. They celebrated at the airport from which thousands of Americans and tens of

thousands of U.S. allies had been evacuated since July.

The U.S. military said it did not have enough time to evacuate all Americans from Afghanistan. The U.S. State Department has said between 100

and 250 Americans who wanted to leave are still in the Asian country, and we don`t know what`s next for Afghanistan.

The last time the Taliban were in control, they imposed a strict interpretation of Islam and they instituted the death penalty for people
 

impose [ɪmˋpoz] v. 强制实行

institute [ˋɪnstətjut] v. 制定

who did not follow Islam. The Taliban punished people brutally for breaking the law. They banned television, music and non-Islamic holidays, and they

severely restricted the rights of women. The group says it will not rule as oppressively this time around, but some analysts say the Taliban hasn`t
 

oppressively [əˋprɛsɪvlɪ] adv. 难以忍受地；压迫地；苛刻地

really changed.

10 Second Trivia. Which of these U.S. states was admitted to the union first? California, Colorado, Washington or Arizona. Of these states,

California was admitted first and that happened in 1850.

CAL FIRE, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection describes wildfires as quote, "a natural part of the state`s landscape",

but it also says California`s fire season, which typically strikes in summer and early Fall has been starting earlier and ending later in recent

years.

Droughts are also common in California. There`s one affecting the state right now, and when you combine that with ongoing wildfires events like

this are possible. This is the Caldor Fire, now the 17th largest wildfire in California`s history. It`s affected more than 191,000 acres south and

southwest of Lake Tahoe.

Tuesday afternoon, firefighters had this blaze 16 percent contained which means they`ve stopped it from spreading in 16 percent of the area it takes
 

blaze [blez] n. 火灾；熊熊燃烧

up. It`s part of an ongoing challenge for the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY VICENTE, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: I just grabbed my dog, ripped my phone out of the wall and ran out the door. I was out of there within 10 minutes.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It`s been a week now since Gary Vicente had to quickly leave his home in northern California. The Caldor Fire destroyed

nearly the entire town of Grizzly Flats and now there`s fear the worst is yet to come, leaving thousands of evacuees in limbo. The fire bearing down
 

limbo [ˋlɪm͵bo] n.【宗】地狱的边境; 被遗忘状态

bear down 击败

on the iconic Lake Tahoe area, a popular tourist haven known for its stunning mountains and emerald blue waters. Today, it`s obscured by smoke.
 

emerald [ˋɛmərəld] adj. 翠绿色的

obscure [əbˋskjʊr] v. 使变暗；遮掩

CAPTAIN KEITH WADE, CAL FIRE SPOKESPERSON: This fire has shown the potential with the terrain and the weather we`ve been experiencing and the

fuel load from the drought that it has almost a mind and a behavior of its own.

SIMON: The Caldor Fire has scorched more than 126,000 acres and leveled at least 461 single homes in less than two weeks. The urgency to stop its

advance so great, that California`s Forestry and fire chief says it`s become the number one firefighting priority in the nation.

VICENTE: The hardest thing has just been the depression of not knowing whether I was going to lose everything or not.

SIMON: Gary and dozens of other evacuees are taking refuge in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Where are you sleeping at night?

VICENTE: I`m sleeping in the bed of my pick-up truck and the local community`s been fantastic. Somebody came by and donated an air mattress. I

don`t have to have the ridges grinding against my back.
 

ridge [rɪdʒ] n.（狭长的）隆起部

SIMON: At least nine large fires are burning in California, forcing the evacuation of more than 37,000 people. President Biden on Tuesday approving

Governor Gavin Newsom`s request for a presidential disaster declaration. Ninety-two large wildfires are burning across the U.S., seven states under

air quality alerts.

In northern California, all these dots of purple showing where the air is hazardous to breathe. Over the state line in nearby Reno, the city this
 

hazardous [ˋhæzɚdəs] adj. 有危险的

week recorded its all-time worst level. People advised to stay indoors. Schools cancelled.

CRAIG PETERSON, TAHOE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Some of the symptoms are going to be burning, watery eyes, scratchy throat, burning chest.
 

scratchy [ˋskrætʃɪ] adj. 痒的

SIMON: And as far as the air quality is concerned, I can tell you first hand it`s been absolutely terrible. We`ve seen index levels literally fly off the charts,
 

off the charts 处于极高水平的

and it`s supposed to be this way at least through the end of the week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: There`s a new law in China concerning online gaming. If you`re under 18 years old, you can`t play at all during the week and on weekends and

public holidays, minors can only play for one hour per day. China`s communist government has strict control over the everyday lives of its
 

minor [ˋmaɪnɚ] n. 未成年人

citizens and the nation`s media.

It requires people who play video games to log in using their real names, so the government knows who`s playing when. This isn`t the first time it`s

put restrictions on video games, but it does make its limits more strict. It may still be possible for minors to play offline games, but critics have

said the law unfairly presumes that gaming is bad and that it will prevent China from being competitive in online gaming. So why is the government doing this?
 

presume [prɪˋzum] v. 假设；推测，认为

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN JIANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now this is not even the Chinese government`s first attempt to limit playtime for minors. Back in 2019, they

already limited playtime for people under 18 to 90 minutes each day and three hours, at most, during public holidays.

They have also long required real name registration and log-in for all video games, but all of these restrictions apparently not enough according

to officials. Because they have received so many complaints from parents who say gaming addiction has severely affected their children`s ability to

learn, to study, their mental and physical health, as well as causing social problems.

So the authorities trying to frame their latest decision as addressing people`s concerns of protecting children`s welfare. Now the enforcement is
 

frame [frem] v. 制定；设计；构想出

mostly going to be carried out by gaming companies which have pledged to strictly follow the latest regulations, but they also added that minors

account for only a very small portion of their user base as well as revenues.

There are, of course, plenty of supportive and even cheering voices online with parents. Some even outside of China applauding this decision as a move

long overdue, but this kind of nanny state approach, of course, is very much controversial.
 

overdue [ˋovɚˋdju] adj. 迟来的

nanny state【主英】对人民管头管脚的政府，婆婆政府

South Korea, for example, is in the process of abolishing gaming curfew for teenagers because the lack of effectiveness, and some people also say this

latest move is another example of the ruling communist party here trying to reinsert itself into every aspect of people`s private life for political

and ideological reasons especially for the younger generation.

Just in the past few weeks the government here has banned after school private tutoring and they`re also cracking down on so-called celebrity

worshiping culture among the young people, and now, of course, these gaming restrictions. So, leaving some people asking sarcastically what are young

Chinese people now supposed to do during their spare time? Steven Jiang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: It`s probably not as easy to top a pizza without gravity. Then again, that`s something only these folks would have to worry about. This is a

pizza party recently held at the International Space Station. The video was posted by an astronaut with the European Space Agency.

The event might look, kind of, cheesy but pizza is part of a variety of foods available to space travelers. Though we`re sure the longer trips make
 

cheesy [ˋtʃizɪ] adj. 漂亮的；第一流的

them hunger for a home cooked meal. After all, there`s not "mushroom" on the station to "pepper" the pantry with all the "pepperoneeds" and
 

pantry [ˋpæntrɪ] n. 食品贮藏室，食品储藏柜

"supreme" preferences of its astronauts, or for a large oven to be "bacon" that all up.

And besides, with zero gravity, how do they keep it down? Hey, speaking of pizza parties. We hear the students of Cardston High School in Alberta,
 

Alberta [ælˋbɝtə] n. 埃布尔达（加拿大西部的一省）

Canada get one if they get mentioned on the show. So time to pick out toppings ya`ll.

For a chance to get your school mentioned on CNN 10, please subscribe and leave a comment on our most recent show at Youtube.com/cnn10. And if you

click the notification bell, you`ll know exactly when each show posts, sometimes the early bird gets the worm. I`m Carl Azuz.

END