EZCNN 易英网

World`s Largest Iceberg Is On The Move.

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello lovely people. Feel like we haven`t seen each other since last year. Happy New Year. Hope your 2024 is off to an

epic start. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. And we are so grateful that you choose to spend part of your day with us.

This is going to be a big year. We have the U.S. presidential election in November. We have the Summer Olympics in Paris. We have a solar eclipse

taken place in April, and it`s a leap year. We get an extra day in February, so that means we get 366 days to make this year great.
 

leap year 闰年

Let`s get this show on the road. Mother nature starting 2024 in full force. A powerful winter storm is making its presence felt throughout the nation,
 

in full force 用全力；发挥充分威力

bringing all sorts of winter mix, including heavy snowfall, freezing rain and gusty winds. The size of this storm ranges from the Southwestern part

of the U.S. to the Northeast, where more than 30 states are impacted.

More than 35 million people were under winter storm alerts over the weekend and traveling was treacherous, especially in the Northeast, as state
 

treacherous [ˋtrɛtʃərəs] adj. 危险的；变化莫测的

officials advise commuters to avoid unnecessary travel. The plains region of the U.S. is expected to see strong winds that could bring wind chill
 

wind chill【气】风寒指数

values below zero degrees. Flooding even tornadoes may be a concern for the Gulf coast area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Times Square Ball Drop is a hallmark of New Year`s Eve. One minute before January 1st, the sparkling ball begins its descent.
 

hallmark [ˋhɔl͵mɑrk] n. 标志，特征

The ball drop has taken place annually since 1907. It was halted for two years during World War II, the crowds still flocked to Times Square. Until
 

halt [hɔlt] v. 停止行进；停止

1995, the Ball Drop was managed by the family company of its first creator, Jacob Starr.

Since then, there have been many makeovers of the famous ball, including crystals, rhinestones and strobe lighting. Whether this enduring ritual has
 

makeover [ˋmekovɚ] n.（个人形象的）大革新，改头换面；（地方的）翻新，改造

rhinestone [ˋraɪn͵ston] n. 莱茵石（一种假钻石）

strobe lighting ph. 頻閃光

the audience a few or many, it always marks the end of the old, the beginning of the new.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Ten second trivia. Scientists named Antarctic icebergs based on what?

Their size above the surface, size below the surface, their shape or location of first sighting?

The U.S. National Ice Center assigns names to these icebergs based on where they are first sighted. And then the order in which they are sighted.

The world`s largest iceberg is named A23a, it was the 23rd iceberg sighted in the A quadrant of Antarctica. The continent is divided into A, B, C, and D
 

quadrant [ˋkwɑdrənt] n. 四分之一圆周，九十度弧；四分之一圆；扇形体

quadrants. Did you know? Recently scientists studied A23a as it recently started drifting around the Antarctic peninsula again. This iceberg is

about three times the size of New York City weighing nearly a trillion tons. CNN spoke with the Antarctic Survey team about this force of nature

and where it might be headed next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Antarctic scientist had a quote,〝 unique opportunity 〞to observe the world`s largest iceberg, three times the size of New York City.
 

quote [kwot] n. 引号

The iceberg broke away from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf more than 30 years ago, but it stayed grounded on the Antarctic`s Weddell sea and only started
 

Ice shelf 冰棚

moving recently. Now, it`s drifting around the Antarctic peninsula. The research team on the RRS Sir David Attenborough, cross paths with the

iceberg early December.

DR. ALEXANDER BREARLEY, PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHER/HEAD OF OPEN OCEANS, BRITISH ANTARCTIC: I was just incredibly excited to see it. It`s -- it`s really

quite staggering in scale. If you`re up against it, it almost just looks like land. It has these big towering ice cliffs. You know, you`re
 

staggering [ˋstægərɪŋ] adj. 惊人的; 巨大的；难以相信的

stretching sort of, as far as the eye can see in both directions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As the iceberg moves north into warmer waters, it`s gradually melting and producing melt water into the ocean. Scientists took

water samples around the iceberg to try to understand the impacts it may have on the physical circulation and nutrients of the ocean.

BREARLEY: We know that large icebergs like this have the potential to, to bring a large amount of, of mineral dusts from the continent into the upper ocean.
 

mineral dust 矿物粉尘

And many of the -- the ecosystems in the upper ocean are limited by the amount of nutrients that are available. So they can act as big

sources of, of nutrients and, you know, impacts near surface productivity that ultimately sustains the -- the ecosystems of the -- of the southern

nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Experts believe the iceberg will likely discharge into the Scotia sea and end up close to the South Georgia island.
 

discharge [dɪsˋtʃɑrdʒ] v. 排出液体（或气体等）；（江河）流注

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: American shoppers spend a record 222 billion online this past holiday season. But let`s be honest, not all those purchases are keepers, if you
 

keeper [ˋkipɚ] n. Informal one that is worth keeping

know what I mean, maybe that sweater that your auntie got doesn`t quite make the cut. So you send it back.
 

make the cut 成功通过选拔(计算在内); to be among the players allowed to continue playing

Now, many companies offer free returns, right? But those returns might not go where you may think they`d go CNN`s Peter Valdes-Dapena explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VALDES-DAPENA, SENIOR WRITER, CNN BUSINESS: Free returns, their customer`s insurance policy for shopping online. But what happens to those

returns after you give them back might surprise you.

ALBERT PALACCI, CEO, 888 LOTS: So customers really believe that the product just goes into the black hole or ends up being resold to another customer.
 

black hole 黑洞

In many instances, that`s not the case.

VALDES-DAPENA: In reality, many of these products never return anywhere. Instead, they may end up here or even here.

JASON GOLDBERG, CHIEF COMMERNCE STRATEGY OFFICER, PUBLICIS: You know, easily 25% of all these returns get destroyed.

VALDES-DAPENA: In fact, returns have become such a headache for retailers that in some cases they`re just refunding customers and letting them keep
 

refund [rɪˋfʌnd] v.（尤指因为对购买的产品或服务不满意而追回的）退款

or donate the unwanted items.

GOLDBERG: The cost of getting the product back from the customer is much higher than traditional logistics getting the product to the customer.
 

logistics [loˋdʒɪstɪks] n. 物流

VALDES-DAPENA: Turns out, free returns are far from it.

GOLDBERG: There`s a very large disparity between the amount of returns that have been from consumers that buy products online versus in the store.
 

disparity [dɪsˋpærətɪ] n. 不同

In a brick-and-mortar store, we typically get somewhere between 5 and 10% returns. But online we get north of 30% returns.
 

north [nɔrθ] (of something ) adj.（数量）超过

VALDES-DAPENA: Accepting a return isn`t always easy either. A warehouse optimized for fulfilling orders now has to receive a product and inspect
 

optimize [ˋɑptə͵maɪz] v. 最有效地进行；使完美；优化

it. Then someone needs to decide whether it can be resold or not. In the end, an online return can require up to 20% more space and labor than one

made in store. Those costs are part of why Optoro, a return solution company, estimates that returning a $50 item can cost a retailer 59% of its

sale price. Often, the math just doesn`t add up.
 

add up 说得通;  make sense

PALACCI: So this is a product that came in one of these pallets.
 

pallet [ˋpælɪt] n.（装卸、搬运货物用的）托盘，货板，集装架

VALDES-DAPENA: Liquidators like this one are the middleman between retailers and resellers.
 

liquidator [͵lɪkwəˋdetɚ] n. 清算人；公司资产清理人

middleman[ˋmɪd!͵mæn]n. 经纪人；掮客；中间人

reseller [ˌrɪˈˋsɛlɚ] n. 经销商

PALACCI: We sort, organize, process and figure out methods to get them to the right home. And that`s -- that`s really what we do here.

VALDES-DAPENA: They buy returned merchandise, then sort it and evaluate it before auctioning it to discount stores and authorized resellers.
 

authorized [ˋɔθə͵raɪzd] adj. 经授权的；经批准的

PALACCI: You`d be able to resell them at a profit because you`d be purchasing them at a real fraction of what the actual cost is.

VALDES-DAPENA: But some returns never make it to a liquidator.

PALACCI: Products ending up in landfills, customers really don`t really even think of that as part of the purchase process.

VALDES-DAPENA: Every year returns produce an estimated 5 billion pounds of waste in landfills.

GOLDBERG: It`s generally risky to remind consumers how potentially wasteful their consumerism is. So in general, retailers are hesitant to lean to
 

lean [lin] adj.（见解等）倾向（于）[（+to/towards）]

heavily into those kind of awareness campaigns.

In an odd way, this is a partially self-correcting problem as the return problem gets bigger for all these retailers. There`s more financial

resources available to fix the problem so there`s a happy outcome where less of this stuff ends up in a landfill just because there`s more money to

be made by keeping it out of the landfill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: For today`s story, getting a 10 out of 10, the 13-year-old from Stillwater, Oklahoma who beat the game of Tetris into submission.
 

Tetris ['tetrɪz] n. 俄罗斯方块

submission [sʌbˋmɪʃən] n. 屈从；归顺；投降

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:

WILLIS GIBSON: Oh my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: That`s Willis Gibson in total disbelief as he pulled off the nearly impossible beating, so to speak, the iconic video game Tetris. It took him
 

pull off 成功完成

about 38 minutes. The Tetris Titan is the first human gamer ever to reach level 157. The other player to reach at least this level was artificial

intelligence. After reaching this rare threshold, the game glitched and hit its kill screen. Here`s the Tetris company chairman explaining why.
 

threshold [ˋθrɛʃhold] n. 门坎

glitch [glɪtʃ] v. 失灵; n. （设备、机器等的）小故障，失灵，技术性的小毛病

kill screen 通常指的是一种在游戏中（特别是以前的街机游戏）因为程序的错误，或者设计上的缺陷导致的使得游戏无法继续进行的一种状态。

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENK RODGERS, TETRIS COMPANY CHAIRMAN: You can tell by, you know, this kid that broke the game, that he went into an area of -- of memory, of the

computer memory that the -- the programmer never envisioned they would end up in. And that`s why the program crashed.
 

envision [ɪnˋvɪʒən] v. 想象，展望

crash [kræʃ] n.【计算机】当机

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Shout out to Willis for accomplishing the nearly unthinkable. It`s also time to shout out you, our first of the year. This one goes to Winner

Middle School in Winner, South Dakota. I see you warriors.

And this one goes to the Lions. The mighty lions of Brindlee Mountain High School in Guntersville, Alabama, rise up. Thank you for subscribing and

commenting on our CNN 10 YouTube channel. I`m headed to Houston, y`all. We`re going to be there for the college football championship game. And

we`re taking you to NASA Space Center to get a tour from an astronaut. So send us any questions you may have for them, I`m @coywire on social and we

are CNN 10.

END