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Part of A Rocket Hurtles Toward The Moon; Once-Flooded European Village Re-Emerges During A Drought; Unusual Super Bowl Ad Gets Mixed Response

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: On this sweet 16th of February, we`re glad you found time to check out our show. I`m Carl Azuz. We`re looking up today.

There is a rogue rockets hurtling through space right now that`s expected to smack into the moon next month, but where did it come from?
 

rogue [rog] n. 流氓

hurtle [ˋhɝt!] v. 猛冲；飞驰

smack [smæk] v. 拍，打，掴

That is a question that`s been hanging in the air, get it, for years.

At first, an independent researcher who studies orbital dynamics thought the object came from a SpaceX rocket that was launched in 2015. Other space

experts and NASA agreed with him, but over the past few days, scientists said they came to the conclusion that the object isn`t part of the SpaceX

rocket because it`s too far away from where another part of that vehicle flew.

So again, whose rocket is it? Now the prevailing theory is that it`s part of a Chinese booster that was launched in 2014. The rocket is expected to
 

prevailing [prɪˋvelɪŋ] adj. 主要的；流行的；普遍的

booster [ˋbustɚ] n. 推进器

crash into the far side of the moon on March 4th. Researchers don`t expect people to be able to see this from Earth.

The rocket stage is expected to be completely destroyed and to make a crater anywhere from 30 to 65 feet wide. There are dozens of objects like

this that people have lost in deep space, and an astronomer interviewed by CNN says no space agencies have done a thorough job of keeping up with
 

keep up with 保持同一速度; 跟上(形势)

them. So he says this highlights the need for organizations like NASA to monitor deep space junk instead of relying on private individuals to do

that.

And another researcher says more thought needs to be put into keeping outer space clean. That could start with more reusable spacecraft and the space

flight company SpaceX is trying to get its reusable`s Starship rocket off the ground.

It can`t test it in orbit for the first time until it gets the green light from the U.S. government, and that can`t happen until the Federal Aviation

Administration completes its environmental review of the SpaceX facility in south Texas. Critics have said they`re concerned that wildlife in this area

could be threatened by SpaceX launches. The FAA report has been delayed a couple times, and it`s now due out in March 28th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT: I`m here at Starbase, Texas where Elon Musk gave his first update on SpaceX`s Starship Program in

two years. Now I just want to point out that over my shoulder, you can see the Starship spacecraft, two of them actually, and they are sitting there

next to this super heavy booster.

Now the booster is what`s blast that spacecraft into space and that`s essentially SpaceX`s R&D facility where they`ve been iterating and working
 

iterate [ˋɪtə͵ret] v. 反复，重复

on the Starship Program. Now over my other shoulder here, I want to bring you to the vehicle being fully stacked. Now it`s on the launch pad and it

stands nearly 400 feet tall.

The vehicle is completely reusable and when ignited this thing has more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V which is, of course, the rocket that
 

thrust [θrʌst] n.【物】推力，驱动力

brought people to the moon during the Apollo era. So this is really a gargantuan vehicle. Musk spending a lot of time talking about why his
 

gargantuan [gɑrˋgæntʃʊən] adj. 庞大的，巨大的

company SpaceX is working on this program. He believes that Starship will be able to bring people back to the moon and one day to Mars. Take a

listen.

ELON MUSK, CEO OF SPACEX: Starship is capable of doing that. It`s capable of -- of getting -- getting a million tons to the surface of Mars and creating

a self-sustaining city. This is the first point in the four and a half billion year history of Earth that it has been possible.

CRANE: Before they can launch from Starbase, Texas to orbit, they need FAA approval, and SpaceX and Musk hopes to have that in a matter of weeks and

they hope to make that first orbital test launch here from Starbase, Texas. Musk also laid out very ambitious goals of having three launches a day,

painted a picture of floating spaceports launching from Kennedy Space Center, really all over the world.
 

spaceport [ˋspes͵pɔrt] n.（试验及发射宇宙飞船等的）太空中心; 太空站

So, you know, there`s -- there`s -- there`s a very ambitious goal of ultimately one day achieving that long goal of creating a self-sustaining

city on Mars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. The worst drought that the U.S. ever faced occurred in what decade? 1870s`, 1930s`, 1950s` or 1980s`. The U.S. government says

the most significant droughts in American history were during the Dust Bowl period of the 1930s`.

The Dust Bowl covered several states in the central U.S. It was actually a series of dust storms and droughts that came one after another. Extreme
 

dust storm【气】尘暴（旱地的尘土风暴）

heat was also a part of it, and it`s considered the benchmark for record drought in America. The U.S. government says droughts are normal but

they`ve happened naturally at different levels throughout history.

But a new study suggests that between the year 2000 and 2021, a drought in the American west could be that region`s worst in 1,200 years. The city of

Los Angeles, California is exploring new ways to recycle water. It`s not the only part of the world that`s bone dry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the border of Spain and Portugal, a village, swallowed by the Zezere River in 1992 to make way for a reservoir has now

emerged as a ghost. Visitors walking on the muddy ground cracked by drought, found partially clapped roofs, bricks and wooden debris that once

made up doors or beams. Over the years, onlookers were able to see the roofs peeking out of the water during drought season, but the extreme
 

onlooker [ˋɑn͵lʊkɚ] n. 观众；旁观者

drought this year has revealed the village in its entirety.

The Iberian Peninsula home to Portugal and Spain is experiencing one of the driest winters on record, which is draining out reservoirs, worrying
 

Iberian [aɪˋbɪrɪən] adj. 伊比利亚(半岛)的

farmers and residents. Official records show Spain received only a quarter of precipitation it normally gets in January and water reserves are now at
 

precipitation [prɪ͵sɪpɪˋteʃən] n. 降雨（雪）量

less than half of their capacity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE TRANSLATED: If in these months when it should be raining the most, it is not raining then the reserves don`t refill. Also their

capacity, their water quantity will continue to drop and that can be quite worrying for the future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In neighboring Portugal, drone footage shows boats docked along dry banks, as river waters recede. Earlier this month,
 

recede [rɪˋsid] v. 退，后退；远去

Portugal ordered five of its hydropower dams to halt water use for electricity production to save enough for people`s daily use. Antonio

Estivao (ph) is one of the farmers who is struggling to feed his livestock. Many are worried their crops for the season will be ruined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Just over 100 million people in America are estimated to have watched Sunday`s Super Bowl. It won`t break the viewership record set seven years

ago when 114 million people watched, but the game is still the most viewed annual event on TV and that`s why companies pay so much to advertise during

it. Likely a record $6.5 million this year for a 30 second commercial. But advertisers don`t always get the response they are hoping for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Were you one of those people chasing a QR code around your TV screen during the Super Bowl? Even getting down on your

knees? Or maybe like this 95-year-old grandma, you were saying, what is that?

(INAUDIBLE)

MOOS: Or maybe you were at a Super Bowl Party with guests who rooted for the code more than for the Rams or the Bengals.
 

root [rut] v.【口】（为参赛者）打气；喝采[（+for）]

(CROSSTALK)

MOOS: It zipped around the screen for 60 seconds. A nod to the old bouncing DVD screensaver that became a meme, even ending up on "The Office".
 

nod [nɑd] n. 摆动，摇曳

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s this cube on the screen and it bounces around all day and sometimes it looks like it`s heading right into the corner of

the screen and at the last minute it hit`s a wall and bounces away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, where`s Waldo?

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS: But this QR code commercial was for the crypto currency trading company Coinbase, and if your phone captured the code you were supposed to

get an offer for $15 in free Bitcoin for signing up. But a lot of folks got this instead, we`re having connection issues.

Others got, planned maintenance in progress, what Coinbase apparently didn`t plan for was this. We saw over 20 million plus hits on our landing

page in one minute. This volume led to us temporarily throttling our systems. For some --
 

throttle [ˋθrɑt!] v. 窒息；节流；减速

(INAUDIBLE)

MOOS: Someone else complimented the big brain of the guy that came up with that ad, but a critic tweeted the company should have saved the $7 million
 

compliment [ˋkɑmpləmənt] v. 赞美；恭维

ad cost and spent it on your servers. Actually 60 seconds probably cost at least $13 million, but who`s counting when fans are cheering a QR code like

it`s a QB scoring a touchdown.

(CROSSTALK)

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Some may have seen that and thought "QR" not getting me to click. I`ve scanned ads before, this one seems a little "cryptic", and even if

it`s code for a "bit of coin", I get plenty of screen time without taking "game time" to "screen" the "screen" and use a "screen" to "screen" and

then "scan the screen" in time, but again some could just hit pause.

I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10. Today`s shoutout takes us to the Heights of Cleveland where we are shouting out Cleveland Heights High School. Thank

you for watching from Ohio and for your request on our YouTube channel.

END