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Qatar Leaves OPEC; U.S. and China Reach Temporary "Trade Truce"; CNN Hero Florence Phillips; Artificial Intelligence Robot "Cimon"

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you hear about oil the world OPEC isn`t far behind. OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

It`s a group of 12 nations that have a lot of clout in the energy market because they produce about 1/3 of the world`s total oil and exports
 

clout [klaʊt] n. 力量；影响；影响力

it around the globe. That`s about 30 million barrels of oil every single day. It was formed in 1960. The goal, to coordinate oil production to

insure that members are pumping enough supply to meet demand.

If all 12 countries play by the rules, it can help to regulate and stabilize global oil prices. But there`s also plenty of major oil

producing nations that are not part of the OPEC club including the United States, Canada and Mexico and Russia and they don`t attend OPEC meetings

and as such they`re not bound by the contents of decisions. And as these nations have increased their production over the past few years, OPEC`s

influence in the market has plunged.

There`s now an excess of oil supply which has pushed down prices significantly. The price drop has caused political problems in some OPEC

countries that rely on oil sales heavily to fund their governments. While OPEC`s grip on oil may be getting weaker, but it also means lower prices at pumps around the world.
 

grip [grɪp] n. 掌握；控制

pump [pʌmp] n. 泵，唧筒


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CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: We started with that today because it helps us explain the news that Qatar, a Middle Eastern country who`s economy is
 

Qatar [ˋkɑtɚ] n. 卡达（阿拉伯半岛东部一小国）

heavily dependent on oil and natural gas sales is pulling out of OPEC. Here`s why that`s significant. For one thing, it`s a setback for the
 

pull out 退出

setback [ˋsɛt͵bæk] n. 挫折；失敗

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC currently has 15 members. It will be down to 14 when Qatar officially leaves on January 1st

and this comes at a time when OPEC is trying to increase it`s membership.

Over the past two years, the African countries of Congo and Equatorial Guinea have joined OPEC. One analyst says, Qatar`s departure will reduce
 

Guinea [ˋgɪnɪ] n. 几内亚（西非国家）

OPEC`s oil production to where it was before the two new members signed up. There`s also an issue of timing. OPEC`s members and other major producers

of oil are scheduled to meet this week to talk about reducing their production. They want oil prices to be higher. Some experts say Qatar`s

withdraw from OPEC probably won`t have a major effective on the oil market but others say it could cause complications within OPEC. But why is Qatar

leaving? It`s been a member of OPEC for almost 60 years.

Last year, several Arab countries including some other members of OPEC cut off their trade and diplomatic relationships with Qatar. They said it was

because of Qatar`s support for terrorist groups. Qatar has denied doing that but it`s also increased it`s production of natural gas to help it`s

economy. OPEC doesn`t oversee natural gas production and Qatar`s a major producer of it. In fact, it`s largely because of natural gas production
 

oversee [ˋovɚˋsi] n. 监督；管理；看管

that Qatar has one of the highest per capita income levels in the world.
 

per capita 按人计算的（地），人均的（地）

10 Second Trivia. Which of these nations is the world`s largest consumer of steel? United Arab Emirates, China, United States or India. When it

comes to steel, China is both the world`s largest consumer and producer of the metal.

That`s one of the materials that have been impacted by a trade war between the United States and China but now the two country has called a sort of

trade truce. On the sidelines of this year`s G20 Summit in Argentina, we reported on that last Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese
 

truce [trus] n. 停战；休战

sideline [ˋsaɪd͵laɪn] n. 界线外（观众观看）的场地

President Xi Jinping met for dinner. Afterward, they said they`d had success in negotiating a stop, at least a temporary one to the back and

forth tariffs or taxes that the two countries have placed on imports of one another`s goods.

Materials worth hundreds of billions of dollars have been subject to additional taxes and some analysts say this is contributed to a noticeable

slowdown in China`s economic growth. The tariffs that are currently in place will stay there. What the truce means is that no new ones will be

enacted while China and the U.S. take some time to try to iron out their differences. Some ongoing complaints of American businesses are that China
 

iron out 消除

has made it difficult for U.S. companies to compete there.

And that China has allegedly stolen American intellectual property, copyrighted works, trademarks, patents on creative material. Analysts say

the truce will bring China to the bargaining table to discuss these issues. The White House says the goal was to have an agreement within 90 days.

Chinese media didn`t mention a deadline but said China`s aiming for a concrete deal that`s a win-win.
 

concrete [ˋkɑnkrit] adj. 实在的；具象的；具体的；具体的

On average, the U.S. admits more than 1 million legal immigrants every year. Florence Phillips says the 87 year old daughter of two Jewish

parents who fled Europe before the Holocaust. And since she started her non-profit organization in 2004, she`s helped thousands of people from
 

Holocaust [ˋhɑlə͵kɔst] n.（二次大战时纳粹对犹太人的）大屠杀

other countries and their families learn English and other aspects of life in America.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came to U.S. in 2005. When I came here, the first thing I wanted to do is learn English. How you think? Do they need more

water or no? That was hard for me to take English class because I didn`t have transportation. And my schedule, I had to go to work. I had to take

in my daughter.

FLORENCE PHILLIPS: I am the daughter of immigrants from Europe. I saw how they struggled not speaking the language. I spent time in the Peace Corps

teaching English. When I came back, I became aware that people living in my own backyard could not speak English.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yep. I`m ready.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. We`re going to do some reading.

PHILLIPS: I started this program to help adult immigrants learn English so they could advance their lives here in America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His job is to fill boxes with blocks. Jimmy does not drop any boxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought that was pretty good.

PHILLIPS: I was amazed how large the immigrant population is here in Nevada but there were no ESL classes that these people could access. They
 

ESL: ESL 是 English as a Second Language 的简称

had to pay tuition, purchase books.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on in.

PHILLIPS: And they had to meet the schedule.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re going to do singular and plural.

PHILLIPS: I made sure that I would eliminate all the obstacles - -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good. So it goes man.

PHILLIPS: Our entire program is free to students. We teach whenever the student is available. We give the students personal attention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the purpose of the judicial branch?
 

judicial [dʒuˋdɪʃəl] adj. 司法的；审判的

PHILLIPS: We also offer free classes in U.S. Citizenship study so that they can prepare for their exam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

PHILLIPS: It is a very difficult test. A lot of Americans say they could not pass. To apply costs more than $700. So our program helps to raise

money to help these students apply for citizenship.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The day I passed a test I feel great. My hard work paid off. I want to say thank you to my teachers. They believe in me and

tell me you can do it and I`m believing in myself. Today is the day that I became a U.S. citizen. I feel proud to be an American.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations.

PHILLIPS: We are giving them the key to unlock all doors and the opportunity to have that American dream. I see the pride when they say I

am an American.

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CARL AZUZ: There`s a new face in space. It`s an artificial intelligence robot named "Cimon" Simon with a "C" standing for Crew Interactive Mobile

Companion. It cost $6 million to build "Cimon" and it`s designed to help astronauts with their missions and occasionally give them someone to talk

to. But "Cimon" has had some glitches, like getting stuck in music mode or thinking an astronaut was being mean when he wasn`t.
 

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

Thankfully "Cimon" can`t take over and get revenge. Now fans of Arthur C. Clarke might ask, how could do they do this? There are 9,000 reasons why

intelligence in space should be natural. Thankfully the ISS robot doesn`t control the station. That could "Cimon" his status as a dangerous "Space

Odyssey". I`m Carl Azuz. Happy to be on solid ground and we hope you`ll join us again tomorrow.

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