EZCNN 易英网

Concerns About Drug Overdoses In America; Concerns About 5G Antennas Near U.S. Airports; Concerns About Carbon Dioxide.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: It`s time for CNN 10 on this January 20th, 2022. My name is Carl Azuz. It`s good to see you and we hope you`re doing well.

A new and bleak record has been set concerning drug overdoses in America. This month the U.S. Centers for Disease Control released estimates on drug
 

bleak [blik] adj. 冷酷的，严峻的

overdoses recorded between June of 2020 and June of 2021.

During that year long period, the health agency believes that more than 101,000 Americans died of a drug overdose. If our reporting on this sounds

familiar, it wasn`t that long ago we covered the previous record for U.S. overdose deaths. That had been set between the Spring of 2020 and the

Spring of 2021, and that was the first year long period when the number of estimated deaths exceeded 100,000.

So, the record we`re reporting on today accounts for almost 100,000 more deaths than the last one, and they amounted to a 21 percent increase over

the year before. Most of these fatalities came from synthetic or manmade painkillers like Fentanyl. It`s an extremely potent opioid that`s many

times stronger than other painkillers. Fentanyl was intended to be used for cancer patients or injured people in severe pain, but it`s also been

blended illegally with other drugs and sold to people who abuse them and its strength can cause an unintended overdose.

The U.S. government says illegal fentanyl has been seized in every state, but it`s not the only drug problem the country has. Illegal cocaine and methamphetamine

seize [siz] n. 没收；扣押；查封

cocaine [koˋken] n. 古柯碱

methamphetamine [͵mɛθæmˋfɛtəmin] n. 甲基安非他命

accounted for about 30 percent of the overdoses in the CDC`s latest report, and the deaths caused from those drugs had increased

as well.

So why is all this happening? Drug abuse was a problem in America long before the COVID pandemic hit, but health officials say the pandemic likely

made things worse as an increase in deaths occurred during the lockdowns in the Spring of 2020. Up next tensions involving airlines, wireless carriers

and the U.S. government. Here`s what`s going on.

Fifth generation wireless technology, better known as 5G is being rolled out nationwide. It promises faster internet connection speeds for

Smartphones and other computers. The Federal Aviation Administration has been concerned that 5G antennas near some U.S. airports could potentially
 

antenna [ænˋtɛnə] n.【无】【美】天线

interfere with certain planes altimeters which show how high they are off the ground.
 

altimeter [ælˋtɪmətɚ] n. 测高仪，高度计

Airline carriers in the U.S. and beyond are also worried about this. Wireless companies have said their technology is safe and that it`s been

deployed in other countries without problems. But the president of Emirates Airlines says U.S. antennas have twice the power of those in other

country, and that they`re positioned in a way that could affect flight control systems. Several international carriers have changed or canceled

flight plans to some U.S. airports. The FAA says 62 percent of U.S. commercial airliners have been cleared for low visibility landings near 5G

antennas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Major airlines call it the latest issue affecting your safety in the sky. They say new high speed 5G cell service could cause

errors in crucial information that pilots need to land. In a new letter to the Biden Administration, 10 airlines including Delta, American, and United

insist that could lead to as many as 1,000 flights diverted, delayed or cancelled each day. A situation, they call, economic calamity. Airlines
 

divert [daɪˋvɝt] v. 使改道

calamity [kəˋlæmətɪ] n. 灾难；大祸；大灾害

say that 5G signals can disrupt radar altimeters, instruments that bounce a radio beam at the ground to give a hyperaccurate reading of height.
 

hyperaccurate: almost perfectly accurate

Pilots like Captain Dennis Tajer of the Allied Pilots Association called the system essential when they need it most, in poor weather when it`s hard

to see the runway.

CAPTAIN DENNIS TAJER, ALLIED PILOTS ASSOCIATION: This one instrument if it gets bad data sends it to a collection of other systems, flight controls,

auto throttles, wind shear protection, stick shaker, I could go on over 17 items. Each of those if they get bad information in, they`re going to do bad things.
 

throttle [ˋθrɑt!] n. 节流阀；节流圈；油门

wind shear 風切;（飞机遭遇到的）乱流

stick shaker 自动震杆器

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this simulator of a regional airliner, I saw what happened when a radar altimeter fails. Automatic warnings could stop and

flight displays give confusing, mismatched readings.
 

mismatched 使成不相配的

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just go around it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And figure it out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Verizon and AT&T have now agreed to delay their rollout near certain airports. AT&T which owns CNN`s parent company, says airlines

and the FAA have not utilized the two years they`ve had to responsibly plan for this deployment. Verizon says officials figured out how to make 5G
 

utilize [ˋjut!͵aɪz] n. 利用

safe and fully operational in more than 40 other countries. Even still, United Airlines feels interference would impact operations at some of its

busiest destinations, Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

PROFESSOR EDUARDO ROJAS, EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY: It is really important, especially to make sure that the airplane doesn`t crash

to the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Professor Eduardo Rojas is researching 5G interference with radar altimeters at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.

ROJAS: It`s one the most critical systems in the -- in the aircraft and helicopters. Especially because it helps to land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Fullerenes or Buckytube are forms of what? Exhaust pipes, carbon molecules, aluminum or drainage basins. Named for
 

fullerene [ˋfʊlərin] n. 富勒烯（完全由碳组成的中空分子，有球状、管状等）

buckytube [ˋbʌkɪ͵tjub] n. 巴克管；碳管; a carbon nanotube

American architect R. Buckminster Fuller, these are the names of carbon molecules.

Can carbon capture technology significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air and improve the global environment? There are more than

two dozen plants around the world that pull CO2 out of the atmosphere and bury it underground. But a study and a report last year found they don`t make a

meaningful impact in reducing the world`s CO2 emissions and that the technology isn`t worth the money spent on it. Still, supporters of carbon

capture say it`s one step towards reducing carbon dioxide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iceland prides itself on its use of renewables. The government says that about 85 percent of its total energy supply comes from

a mix of hydropower and geothermal sources. That`s the highest proportion of renewable power for any nation in the world, but it`s also using this
 

geothermal [͵dʒioˋθɝm!] adj. 地热的

renewable energy to capture and store CO2.

Carbon capture and storage or CCS is one of the many technologies the IPCC says could help reduce global warming and avert climate catastrophe, and to
 

avert [əˋvɝt] v. 防止，避免

catastrophe [kəˋtæstrəfɪ] n. 大灾，大祸，大灾难

do that these giant fans are sucking CO2 directly from the surrounding air just like a giant vacuum cleaner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The methods that Carbfix has developed is to mineralize CO2 so essentially to turn CO2 into stone and for that we need a certain
 

mineralize [ˋmɪnrəl͵aɪz] v. 使矿化

kind of rock, volcanic rocks such as basalt.
 

basalt [bəˋsɔlt] n.【地】玄武岩

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This geothermal power station is where SNAEBJORNSDOTTIR is working on the mineralization process, and these igloos are where it
 

mineralization [͵mɪnərələˋzeʃən] n. 矿化作用

igloo [ˋɪglu] n. 圆屋顶的小屋

happens. The pipes here channel CO2 mixed with water, underground to a depth of around 800 meters or more than 2,600 feet.
 

channel [ˋtʃæn!] v. 输送，传送

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These rocks are very permeable. So, they act, kind of, like a sponge. They have lots of pores and fractures for the CO2 channel fluid

permeable [ˋpɝmɪəb!] adj. 有渗透性的；可穿过的

to flow through. It has been estimated that over 100 kilos of CO2 can be stored in each cubic meter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The CO2 comes from two sources. One is the geothermal plant itself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Geothermal is, of course, green energy but it still emits some CO2. This plant emits about three percent of what a fossil fuel burning plant of

similar size would emit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second source of CO2 is the atmosphere, and this is where the fans come in. The Orkaplant named after the Icelandic word for

energy is run by a Swiss company called Climworks. They say it`s the world`s largest direct air capture facility. It captures around 4,000 tons

of CO2 a year, but the global energy demand for 2021 alone is predicted to emit 33 billion tons.

Also, this method of carbon capture and storage is incredibly energy intensive, especially at the capture site. And some critics argue that the

process will delay industries from making the switch away from fossil fuels. Looking beyond Iceland, carb fixes have created a worldwide data

base to show where other basalt formations could be used to store CO2, and it`s also creating a plan for a fleet of specially designed ships to

transport it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Is it a beauty mask or is it lunchmeat? That is the question for today`s 10 out of 10 segments. Oscar Myer is famous for bologna packages

that look like this. But look closer, this here container holds a slice of skincare. The meat company says this is for your face not your sandwich.

It`s a hydrogel mask being sold online that`s intended to improve your skin and it`s advertised as beauty inspired by bologna.
 

hydrogel 水凝胶

If your "pore" skin is feeling a bit deprived, why not step up to a counter where "lunch and care" collide. You`ve arrived. Let`s "face" it, when you

can take some meat and place it on your "noggin" while your "hoggin" on the meal on which they base it. It`s like "food and poker"to come together in

a plan, which makes it "about face" that places "skincare" plan into a sandwich.

Can you beat it? You can`t eat it for meat. It`s just a phony. But those hungry to feed their "face" will say it`s no bologna. Never thought I`d

rap about lunchmeat. That is almost a wrap for today`s show. Want to give a shout out to Fairhope High School in Fairhope, Alabama, thank you for

watching. I`m Carl Azuz.

END