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International Tensions Over Ukraine; A Distant Collision; A New High Bar For High-Bar Giants.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi. I`m Carl Azuz, welcoming viewers worldwide to CNN 10.

Before Russia invaded the neighboring country of Ukraine, inflation in the United States was at its highest level in decades. This is when prices go

up and the dollar buys less. And now, a week after the war began the skyrocketing price of oil is expected to drive inflation even higher. It`s

not just about higher gasoline prices, though crude oil is the biggest factor in those they`ve increased seven cents per gallon over the past week

and are expected to get more expensive.

This could increase the cost of travel as jet fuel prices rise. It could increase the cost of transporting the food and goods we buy. There are

countless products made from petroleum, things like ink, tires, tape, toothpaste, glasses, vitamins, soap, anything plastic, all of them could

get more expensive.

One controversial part of the sanctions the international penalties placed on Russia`s economy is that they don`t include a ban on Russian oil, at

least not yet. Russia is one of the biggest suppliers of the world`s oil. It`s an important part of the Russian economy. Sanctions on that could

seriously damage that economy. But they could also increase inflation for the countries that buy that oil from Russia and those include the United

States.

Still, there`s a bipartisan effort in the U.S. Congress to ban oil imports from Russia and if that happens some lawmakers have proposed suspending a

federal gasoline tax to help slow down the rise in prices.

In explaining the reasons behind the Russian invasion, we`ve talked about how Russia`s government wants to limit western influence near its western

border. We`ve talked about how Russian President Vladimir Putin has been fiercely criticized and accused of trying to illegally redraw the borders

of Europe to make Russia`s position more powerful.

But experts say there`s more to the invasion than borders and influence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM MARSHALL, JOURNALIST, AUTHOR AND BROADCASTER: To better understand the tensions between NATO and Russia over Ukraine, it`s worth a glance at

history and a good look at a map. In the Cold War, Europe was split more or less in two. The NATO countries and the West, Warsaw Pact, and the Moscow`s
 

Warsaw Pact 华沙公约组织

pact [pækt] n. 契约；协定；条约

dominance in the east.

But post-Cold War, country after country wanted to join NATO and it`s moved up to Russia`s borders.

To understand why Russia feels nervous about that, a topographical map is useful.
 

topographical [͵tɑpəˋgræfɪk!] adj. 地志的；地形学的

There`s a mountain range running across Europe, the Carpathian Mountains. Now, from the Baltic Sea here to where the Carpathians start there, this is
 

Carpathian Mountains 喀尔巴阡山脉

flat ground. And through that flat ground have come Napoleon and the French, Hitler and the Germans and many others who`ve invaded Russia from

that direction, and that makes Russia very nervous.

Therefore, it seeks to either plug that gap by occupying it or if not where the ground opens up into flat ground, it wants to at the very least
 

plug [plʌg] v. 堵塞

dominate it.

In 2014, its reaction was to occupy and then annex Crimea, part of Ukraine, and its warm water port of Sebastopol which gives the Russian fleet access

out of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean and from there onto the great ocean lanes of the world.

It also fermented civil war in the Donbas region in order to create a small mini buffer zone.
 

ferment [fɝˋmɛnt] v. 酝酿

To understand Russia`s strategy towards Ukraine, it`s not just about the military aspects and the political aspects. It`s important to understand

the place that Ukraine has in Russia`s hearts or in its psychology.

Russian culture began in Kyiv and it`s where what eventually became Russia was founded I mean it moved eastwards across to Moscow. But they still know

in their collective imagination that the root of their culture is in the heart of Ukraine. And Putin wrote an essay pretty much about this, in which

he doesn`t recognize these lines on the map these borders because as far as he`s concerned, Ukraine is part of Mother Russia.

And that is a psychology that goes quite deep in into the Russian collective memory. Large parts of the country are Russian speaking. There`s

the Slavic connection and there`s also the fact that many people are Russian Orthodox in their religious belief.
 

Slavic [ˋslævɪk] adj. 斯拉夫（民族）的；斯拉夫语的

Orthodox [ˋɔrθə͵dɑks] adj.（大写）【宗】东正教（会）的

So, while, of course, great power politics and Russia`s position vis-a-vis Western Europe, NATO and the Americans and all the rest of it comes into
 

vis-a-vis 与…相比; in comparison with 

this, this is from the heart, and it actually does play a role in Russian thinking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:

What has the greatest influence on the tides of the oceans?

The seasons, the sun, the moon, or gyres?
 

gyre [ˋdʒaɪr] n. （海洋）环流

The gravitational pull of the moon is responsible for Earth`s high and low tides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: For the first time as far as scientists know, a chunk of man-made junk has gone thunk unintentionally on the surface of the moon. The rubble
 

thunk 咚一声；砰一声

rubble [ˋrʌb!] n. 瓦砾堆

that caused trouble is believed to have been spinning around in space for more than seven years. Experts estimated the trash would smash into the

moon at 5,500 miles per hour. Its bash creating a flash, the bust causing dust and debris to blow out for hundreds of kilometers. But unfortunately, people couldn`t see it.
 

bash [bæʃ] n. 猛烈的一击

bust [bʌst] n. Slang a punch; a blow

The impact was expected to take place on the far side of the moon which is hidden from telescopes. Astronomers have said space agencies like NASA need

to do more to monitor pieces of deep space junk like this.

Who identified it in the first place?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GRAY, INDEPENDENT ORBITAL DYNAMICS RESEARCHER: When I look closer, I saw that it was going to hit the moon.

SUBTITLE: Bill Gray was the first person to publicize that an object was on a path to crash into the moon on March 4, 2022.

GRAY: This particular piece of junk happened to have a fairly close fly-by the moon. Afterwards when it was observed, I updated this orbit and ran
 

fly-by [ˋflaɪ͵baɪ] n. 近天体探测飞行

into a problem the software basically objected to it. And when I looked closer, I saw that it was because on March 4th, that a little bit afternoon
 

object [əbˋdʒɛkt] v. 反对[（+to）]

Greenwich Time, it was going to hit the moon.

SUBTITLE: The object was initially wrongly identified as a SpaceX booster. Gray now believes the object is a booster from a 2014 Chinese lunar

mission. A spokesman for China`s Foreign Ministry left it unclear when asked if China claimed responsibility for the object.

GRAY: There are about maybe a dozen or two dozen pieces of junk that I keep track of that are in unusually high orbits for space junk. As far as I

know I am the only person who`s keeping an eye on these objects, but I`ve sort of been hoping for one to hit the moon, because it`s just the moon,

you get a crater and you learn something from it. If it hits the Earth, you don`t learn anything and if it goes into orbit around the sun, it`s just

wrong. This is the preferred outcome, and yeah, I was -- I was quite happy when I figured out that that was going to happen.
 

preferred [prɪˋfɝd] adj. 更好的；被喜好的

Major thing that we`ll wind up getting is a very nice fresh impact crater. It will turn up a little bit of lunar soil from underneath, probably a
 

wind up 使结束

meter or two down, and a part of the moon that we currently don`t know very much about.

SUBTITLE: The expected point of impact is on the far side of the Moon, making it unobservable from Earth.
 

unobservable [͵ʌnəbˋzɝvəb!] adj. 观察不出的

GRAY: If you`re going to hit the moon it should be with something that is biologically fairly sterile. But usually there`s an effort not to
 

sterile [ˋstɛrəl] adj. 无菌的; free from live bacteria or other microorganisms

contaminate the moon. There are different arguments as to where that junk should go, but having a plan for it rather than just leaving it floating

around at random would probably be a good idea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

AZUZ: A lot of folks want to get giant at the gym. But if you`re talking about a high bar giant in gymnastics, you`re talking about this, and you`re

looking at the man who holds the Guinness World Record for the most done at one time.

A high bar giant is a full 360 with a slight pause at the top and Roman Sahradyan of Armenia has been verified as the reigning champ. Over a time
 

Armenia [ɑrˋminɪə] n. 亚美尼亚（原苏联共和国之一，1991年9月宣布独立，现为独立国协之一员）

of 28 minutes, he completed 1,001 rotations.

To say that sets a new high bar is kind of low-hanging fruit but if anyone ever told that dude to get a grip, hold on, hold tight, hold the line, hang

out, reach for the sky, put your hands up go for a spin, swing back around, circle back, or come back later -- well, they might have been thrown for a

loop when they saw him flip out.

Fridays are awesome.

Today`s shout-out takes us to Shawe Memorial High School. I want to give a big hello to our viewers watching from Madison, Indiana.

I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.

END