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U.S. Military Kills An ISIS Leader; Major Winter Storm Puts Over 100 million People Under Alert; Incentive Uses For Vending Machines.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz. Welcome to our last show of the week. We know many of you will be spending the next couple days digging

out from a winter storm and we`ll have a report on that in just a couple minutes. First though, on Wednesday night, U.S. special forces targeted a

terrorist leader in northwestern Syria. His name was Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. He`d been in charge of the ISIS terrorist group since its

former leader was killed more than a year ago. Al-Qurayshi died in the raid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Last night operating on my orders, the United States military forces successfully removed a major terrorist threat to the world

the global leader of ISIS, known as Hajji Abdullah. He took over as leader of ISIS in 2019. Since then ISIS has directed terrorist operations

targeting Americans, our allies and our partners and countless civilians in the Middle East, Africa and in South Asia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: The president went on to say that the reason U.S. troops were directly involved in the raid was to minimize the risk to civilians. Their

lives would have been in greater danger if this had been an air strike, but at least 13 people including some civilians were killed during and after

the raid. U.S. officials say as American special forces approached, Al- Qurayshi set off a suicide bomb that killed himself and several members of his family. All of the U.S. troops involved returned safely, though there

was a mechanical problem with one of the helicopters used in the raid and it had to be destroyed.

ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. That`s what the terrorist group wanted to create. A theocracy in the Middle East based on
 

acronym [ˋækrənɪm] n. 首字母縮略字

theocracy [θiˋɑkrəsi] n. 神权政治；僧侣政治；神权国家

its extremist interpretation of Islam. ISIS quickly took over large parts of the territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. It was a violent group.

Infamous for murdering scores of people who didn`t share its beliefs, but four years after it swept to control in the Middle East ISIS had faced

relentless battles involving local militias, U.S. forces, groups supported by America and Iraqi government troops. They`d all stepped up their fight

against ISIS and in 2018, the terrorist group admitted it was losing. It`s former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. raid in

northwestern Syria in 2019. Wednesday`s operation that killed Al-Qurayshi was the biggest American raid in Syria since then.

More than 100 million people, that`s almost a third of the U.S. population were under winter weather alerts yesterday. A storm system affecting 25

states was blasting its way across the country bringing sleet, snow and ice from the southwest to the northeast, from New Mexico to New Hampshire.
 

sleet [slit] n. 冻雨；雨夹雪

Roughly a quarter million homes and businesses lost electricity Thursday. Ice was threatening trees and power lines. Thousands of flights were

cancelled across the country, more than 3,800 of them that was the most since last February. Twenty inches of snow piled up in part of Colorado

while a foot of it coated areas in Illinois and Indiana, and the northeast is bracing for snowfall expected to last through Friday. Here`s CNN 10

contributor Tyler Mauldin with more on winter storms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN 10 CORRESPONDENT: Snow storms and cold fronts go hand in hand during the winter season. Every week during this time of the year, a

weather system is sure to form and bring wintry mischief to someone. Not every snowstorm is the same though. Some can be light. Some can be heavy.

Some can be dangerous and others fun. When you think of intense snowstorms, you think of terms like lake effect snow and blizzards, however there`s

another type that is equally as dangerous, snow squalls. A snow squall is similar to a blizzard in that you need wind of at least 35 miles per hour,
 

snowsquall 雪飑

squall [skwɔl] n. 暴风，飑

and visibility of less than a quarter of a mile but squalls only last 30 minutes. Unlike a blizzard that has to last for at least three hours.

Squalls are also followed by a flash freeze because they`re associated with Arctic fronts. So an intense line of blinding snow pushes through and is

immediately followed by a huge drop in temperatures, causing everything to freeze almost instantaneously. Squalls also have a long history of causing

major car accidents due to the poor visibility and freeze, making being out on the road driving the worst place to be during a snow squall. Back in

January 2015, whiteout conditions were blamed for shutting down Interstate 94 after nearly 200 vehicles were involved in a chain reaction pile-up.
 

whiteout [ˋhwaɪt͵aʊt] n.（大雪大雾引起的）零可见度

Thankfully the National Weather Service recently started issuing snow squall warnings to help keep you safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. In 1888, America`s first vending machine dispensed what product? Chocolate, Cigarettes, Gum or Soap. The Thomas Adams Gum

Company used a vending machine to sell its product on train platforms.

It was not the first vending machine ever. Historians say a Greek inventor named Hero the Alexandria created a device that would dispense holy water

after people deposited a coin. Of course, vending machines have come a long way since then. They`re especially popular in Japan where they dispense

everything from eggs and flowers to t-shirts and hotdogs and inventing ideas are surfacing on how to use existing vending machines in ways they

haven`t been used before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When COVID first hit Japan, this vending machine helped Sugako Matsuno shop Mousseline stay afloat, one chiffon cake at a time.
 

afloat [əˋflot] adj. 免于经济困难（或负债）的; 有偿债能力的；经济上周转自如的

chiffon [ʃɪˋfɑn] adj.（馅饼等）松软的

Customers could buy her product without human interaction whenever they wanted. After installing the machine, sales eventually increased 20

percent.

SUGAKO MATSUNO, FOUNDER OF MOUSSELINE TRANSLATED: If I had spent my life just waiting for customers, I would have lost my mind and not been able to

continue this business. The vending machine relieved that stress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vending machines are a staple in Japan. There are over 5.5 million of them in the country. One for every 23 people. The highest

ratio in the world and while it helped Matsuno`s shop, experts say the overall industry took a hit during the pandemic.
 

take a hit 遭受打击

DOMINIK STEINER, CEO AND FOUNDER OF VPC ASIA: People started working from home and the commuter traffic collapsed and hence there`s nobody walking by

the vending machines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tech firm VPC Asia has been working in the vending machine industry for five years. It developed this device that helps

upgrade older machines by connecting them to the internet, allowing access to the machines without having to touch or be near it. The customers can

buy his products and check what`s for sale using their Smartphones, while operators can find out when and what products are out of stock allowing

them to route trucks more efficiently. Beyond these uses, Steiner says there`s even more potential for innovation opting to look at the machines
 

route [raʊt] v. 給……定路線

as real estate.

STEINER: There are so many and they`re in prime locations and so what else can they do other than just selling the drinks or other food.
 

prime [praɪm] adj. 最好的，第一流的

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Including additional sensors, cameras and other types of tech, Steiner says the machines could serve various purposes from

marketing, data storage, weather forecasting, noise analysis for crime prevention to earthquake monitoring.

STEINER: The vibration we can monitor earthquakes. We cannot predict the earthquake but we can warn. We have million of spots in Japan that we can

see where the earthquake comes from and maybe gain 10-20 seconds. The platform is ready for all of these, meaning we`ve built it. We`ve tested

it. We`ve designed it. It`s all there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While the tech may be ready, there`s still a ways to go before we can see it on the market. Steiner says it still need buy in from

all the different stakeholders.

STEINER: The issues is how to integrate into the existing systems into the society. Are they ready to use that data for earthquake or crime

prevention? That is something that will take, not months but years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: From the "Don`t try this at home" category comes a new creation by an ultimate Star Wars fan, a real life light saber. A Russian You Tuber
 

saber [ˋsebɚ] n.【体】佩剑

created a hydrogen and oxygen burner. It shoots out a plasma blade that`s hotter than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It can cut through steel. It earned

him a Guinness World Record for handheld, retractable light saber. The downside, well it`s dangerous and it only holds enough gas to burn for 30

seconds.

Other than that, what`s not to "Luke". A lot of people "Obiwant" one, but it "Obiharmful" and "Lando" you in a lot of "bigs" troubles. So maybe we

should get "Chewbacca" to playing with the plastic kind, "Mandalorigan". Especially if you`re on the "Jabba". You can`t be cashing on "Tarsomething"

that could lead to "General Grievence". My name is Carl Azuz. Today’s shout out goes out to Athens Drive Magnet High School. It is located in Raleigh,

North Carolina. Friday`s are awesome.

END