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Violent Crimes Rises In Several U.S. Cities; International Tensions Simmer Regarding Ukraine; Astronaut Applies Lessons From The ISS To Life On Earth.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz. It`s good to see you as always. A dramatic increase in violent crime is challenging American

cities from coast to coast. In early December, ABC News reported that at least 12 U.S. cities saw more murders in 2021 than they`d ever seen before.

That number rose to at least 13 cities after Milwaukee, Wisconsin joined the list. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Portland, Oregon, Louisville,
 

Louisville [ˋlʊɪ͵vɪl] n. 路易维耳市（美国肯德基州）

Kentucky, Austin, Texas, Albuquerque, New Mexico, the problem was all over the map.
 

Albuquerque [ˋælbə͵kɝkɪ] n. 阿布奎基（美国新墨西哥州中部一城市）

Experts and government officials have cited several reasons for it, problems rippling from the COVID pandemic, underfunded and understaffed

police forces, not enough crime fighting resources. The U.S. government has set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for law enforcement and
 

set aside 拨出

community programs aimed at curbing crime, and state, city and community officials have promised action locally.
 

curb [kɝb] v. 控制，遏止

There were cities whose murder rate actually decreased last year according to the Washington Post. They included Boston, Massachusetts and Dallas, Texas.

Pharmacies in those cities and all across the country are expecting shipments of facemasks from the Federal government. Specifically, these

are N-95 masks, health officials say they give the best protection against the spread of disease, 400 million of them are being distributed. The

Biden Administration says it`s the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history. There`s no charge for them, though

critics say this is a government program and would be funded by tax revenue.

Some health officials have said the Biden Administration needs to do more to make COVID tests and masks available, but it`s been too focused on

vaccines. President Joe Biden says the N-95 masks are an important tool to stop the contagious Omicron variant of COVID.

There are indications that it`s slowing down in some places. Infections and hospitalizations are decreasing, and while it`s infected both the

unvaccinated and the vaccinated, some health experts are hopeful that Omicron might leave people with immunity to COVID in the future.

Across the Atlantic, the future is uncertain for the nation of Ukraine. There`s been a conflict taking place there in the eastern part of the

country since 2014. People who want closer ties to neighboring Russia have been fighting against the Ukrainian government which wants closer ties to

other European countries.

Russia supports the side that wants independence. NATO, an alliance of European and North American countries, support the Ukrainian government.

So, you can see how there`s international interest in what happens here. Russia has gathered tens of thousands of troops near its western border

with Ukraine, and though Russia says it has no plans to invade the Ukrainian government and its allies are concerned that Russia will.

The U.S. has sent weapons and military equipment to the Ukrainian government. In December, President Biden said he had ruled out sending
 

rule out 把...排除在外

American troops into a potential conflict there. But last week, the U.S. leader said if Russia moved against Ukraine the U.S. would send troops into

the region, and this week America told non-essential staff and family members at a U.S. embassy in Ukraine to leave.
 

non-essential 非必要的

All sides involved have been holding meetings to try to calm down the situation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says everything is under

control but at the same time his government is also building up its military presence in eastern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPL)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Ukrainians don`t want to contribute in any way, shape or form to panic. They`re worried that the local

population here will get nervous if they see that the U.S. is starting to evacuate some non-essential personnel and family members.

They`re worried that that projects an image potentially that they`re really is Russian aggression expected imminently. But while everyone is waiting
 

imminently [ˋɪmənəntlɪ] adv. 迫切地；紧急地

for the diplomatic process to play out and -- and hoping that bears some fruit, there`s no question that very real preparations are being made on
 

play out: to happen or turn out

all sides for the possibility of a military conflict.

NATO has just announced that it will be sending additional resources, ships, fighter jets to deployments of NATO in eastern Europe. That has

already been greeted by the Kremlin with a negative tone saying that this is increasing tensions. The Kremlin also grousing about what they called
 

greet [grit] v. 对……作出反应

grouse [graʊs] v.【口】发牢骚，抱怨

"informational hysteria" and accusing the Ukrainians of building up military personnel and hardware along the border with the Donbas Region
 

hysteria [hɪsˋtɪrɪə] n. 歇斯底里；毫无来由的情绪激动；情绪爆发

which is where those pro-Russian separates are based.
 

separate [ˋsɛpə͵ret] adj. 分开的; 单独的

It would come to no surprise to many though that of course, the Ukrainians are building up their presence along their border there, because that is

exactly where many fear some type of incursion may occur if and when it does so. So I think it`s a sense of people still hoping that the
 

incursion [ɪnˋkɝʃən] n. 侵略；入侵

diplomatic efforts might bear some fruit but preparing in the meantime for the worse as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these inventions was developed for the space program in the 1960s`? Floppy disk, Memory Foam, Explorer 1

Satellite or Carbon water filter. American engineer Charles Yost developed memory foam for NASA astronauts in the 1960s.

Freeze dried foods, portable hand vacuums, scratch resistant lenses, smoke detectors, not all of these inventions were created for space exploration,

but they all saw improvements under space programs that eventually made their way to store shelves. Flash forward a few decades, the International

Space Station cost $150 billion to build and it takes several billion dollars to maintain it every year. Critics say it hasn`t yielded enough

scientific advancements to justify its cost, but a European astronaut has been working to apply the research it has conducted to modern life on

Earth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS PESQUET, ASTRONAUT, EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY: When you look at the Earth from the space station it`s absolutely magical. It glows in blue and
 

glow [glo] v. 发光

it`s the most beautiful scenery you could possibly imagine. When you take a step back and you see the Earth in its entirety, you understand that it`s
 

entirety [ɪnˋtaɪrtɪ] n. 全部；全体

just an oasis in the cosmos.
 

cosmos [ˋkɑzməs] n.（有和谐体系的）宇宙

All -- all around there`s nothing, no light. It`s blackness, emptiness and there`s this -- this blue ball with everything we need to sustain human

life and life in general which is absolutely fragile, and it makes you want to cherish the Earth. I`m Thomas Pesquet, an astronaut for the European

Space Agency. I`m coming back from my second mission to space all on board the International Space Station. So permanent laboratory that orbit`s the

Earth.

Just like us on board the space station, the Earth is a space ship and -- and we are its crew. It flies around the Sun. It has limited resources.

It has some protection means but they can be overcome. You don`t control the amount of resources that you have on board but you have to manage them.

What you can control, the way you care about the space ship, the way you maintain it, because you want the flight to be as long and peaceful as

possible.

I am an ambassador for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, but during my mission on the space station we had a lot of
 

Food and Agricultural Organization 粮食及农业组织

research done on plants because space is a harsh environment for plants. By studying plants in the environment in space, then we can study how they can

resist to a draw to water scarcity and then we can feed all those results to research being made on Earth and create some more resistant crops.
 

draw [drɔ] n. 平局，平手

scarcity [ˋskɛrsətɪ] n. 缺乏，不足；匮乏

Crops that will resist to climate change. We`ve also worked a lot on all our packaging just like on Earth. We`re trying to limit the production,

the use of plastic, the production of waste and so we came up with edible packaging which is just a -- such a fantastic and simple concept. We need

foam to protect everything from shocks during launch into space. So, what we did is we turned that foam into food like gingerbread. Now our
 

gingerbread [ˋdʒɪndʒɚ͵brɛd] n. 姜饼

packaging is at the same time a source of food. It reduces the need to send cargo up. It reduces the production of trash. It`s -- it`s

brilliant.

So hopefully that technology can also transfer to packaging on the ground and then we can reduce all our environmental footprint every time we go buy

something in a supermarket. If we set ourselves on the right path, there`s nothing we cannot do. We built that unbelievable facility in space. We`re

using it every day. Peaceful cooperation between countries that we`re not always friends and so if we can transfer that model to the way we deal with

the environment, I think we`ll get there. I`m optimistic for the future. If we can make a space station fly, then we can save the planet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Ice bites, ice jams and ice pancakes sound like new menu items at "ICEHOP". But these unique formations recently appeared in Lake Michigan,

not far from Chicago, Illinois and meteorologists say they`re of the ice pancake variety. They form when chunks of ice start bumping into each

other as they float on the waves. Eventually they get these round, raised edges and voila, ice pancakes. Mother nature commonly serves these up in
 

voila [vwɑˋlɑ] int.【法】那就是；瞧

the Arctic but it takes several days of subfreezing temperatures for them to form in the lower 48 states.

For "coniceours", it sounds like an "ice" addition to a dessert menu. It might include "icebox" cookies, apple "pice", pumpkin "piced" latte, "cold-

cross" buns. Unless you`re a snowbird, everyone loves "frosting" so let`s go ahead and set the table with some fresh "picetries" or chocolate chip

"cookice", because that would be the "icing" on the "crepe". From Springfield, Tennessee, we heard from Springfield High School on our You

Tube channel. Thank you for your comments on Monday`s show. I`m Carl Azuz.

END