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How To Live Underwater  March 19, 2025

 

Hello, sunshine. I'm Coy Wire. Almost time for your 10 minutes of news.

 

But first, I just want to say thank you. Our CNN 10 YouTube channel nearing the 1 million subscribers mark. You are awesome.

 

Today is #your word Wednesday. One of the vocabulary words that one of you submitted helped us write today's show. So listen up.

 

Lots to get to today, not a lot of time to do it. So let's get to it.We start first in the Black Sea, a highly coveted body of water in wartime.

 

coveted [ˋkʌvɪtɪd] adj. 渴望得到的；梦寐以求的

 

The critically geostrategic body of water, links Europe to the Middle East and Russia. The Black Sea region has been key to Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to restore Russian power and influence after the fall of the Soviet Union.

 

geostrategic [ˌ dʒiostræˋtidʒɪk] adj. 地缘政治学的

 

At its height, the Soviet Union was the largest country in the world and included countries like Ukraine, Bellarus, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, among others, as union republics.

 

Soviet policies leading to economic stagnation and the overextension of the military were factors that contributed to the collapse of the union in 1991, leading union republics to secede or withdraw from the union as independent nations ending the Cold War.

 

secede [sɪˋsid] v.（从宗教、政党、联盟等中）退出，脱离，分离

 

Since then, Russia has launched a series of military aggressions, first against Georgia in 2008, then its illegal annexation of the Ukrainian region Crimea in 2014, which was followed by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Black Sea has been a key piece of geography in each of Russia's aggressions.

 

aggression [əˋgrɛʃən] n. 侵略; 侵略行动；侵犯行为

annexation [͵ænɛkˋseʃən] n. 并吞

 

It's where Russia operates its Black Sea Fleet naval unit, which has disrupted shipping channels and gained control of the Kerch Strait, which connects the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.

 

The NATO military alliance has increased its presence in the Black Sea in response to what it calls Russia's, quote, continued aggression and destabilizing activities, unquote. The alliance has stepped up its maritime cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia to halt Russia's incursions from moving closer to Europe.

 

incursion [ɪnˋkɝʃən] n. 侵略；入侵

 

CNN spoke to an expert who explains the Black Sea's strategic importance to Russia.

 

Because the Black Sea is so central to Russia's ambitions, who controls the Black Sea is going to be one of the key questions as to who is the key player in the 21st century.

 

From the point of view of Russia, the Black Sea has been most important strategically because it brings together three distinct security regions.

 

To the north, you have Russia and the wider steppes of Eurasia. To the south, you've had Turkey and the whole Mediterranean region. And then to the west, you've had the European and Balkan areas.

 

steppes [stɛps]  n. 俄罗斯大草原

Mediterranean [͵mɛdətəˋrenɪən] n.（M-）地中海

Balkan [ˋbɔlkən] adj. 巴尔干半岛（人）的

 

All of these have been key for Russia to try and control and extend its power, then to project its strength into the East Mediterranean and beyond that to the Middle East and even the Red Sea.

 

During the Soviet Union, the Black Sea was often called the Soviet Lake because Moscow controlled effectively the whole coast, which meant that Turkey was the outstanding NATO member. And this is why Turkey is so fundamental.

 

outstanding [ˋaʊtˋstændɪŋ] adj. 显著的；重要的

 

There's only one point of access which is controlled by Turkey.

 

With the end of the Soviet Union, the region is fragmented and we've seen different countries belonging to different alignments. Joining Turkey now is Bulgaria and Romania.

 

fragment [ˋfrægmənt] v. 破碎; 分裂

 

So NATO has been able to take control of this southern arc of countries and has been gradually enlarging to the east.

 

Under President Putin, one of the key goals has been to argue that Russia is a great power. And so controlling the Black Sea has been instrumental for that.

 

instrumental [͵ɪnstrəˋmɛnt!] adj. 可作为手段的；有帮助的

 

First of all, it sought to take control of the South Caucasus. And we saw the 2008 Russia-Georgia war in which Russia essentially annexed South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast.

 

In the second phase, we've seen Russia trying to project its force into Ukraine, starting in 2014, where Russia first of all seized the Crimean Peninsula, but also became involved in the fighting in East Ukraine.

 

So in 2022, when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I think President Putin would have been quite confident. He gradually extended Russian military strength down through the South Caucasus. He built bases in the occupied areas of Georgia.

 

Caucasus [ˋkɔkəsəs] n. 高加索山脉；高加索

 

He had military facilities in Armenia. Then he'd extended into Ukraine his military forces and he built up the Crimea. As a result of the intervention in 2022, NATO has responded quite dramatically.

 

intervention [͵ɪntɚˋvɛnʃən] n. 干预；调停，斡旋

 

All along what has now become the eastern flank of NATO, we've seen an increase in NATO forces.

 

flank [flæŋk] n.【军】翼侧，侧翼

 

And the really big change has been with Sweden and Finland joining the alliance, which means that Russia can now not really access the Baltic region in an effective way. So the Black Sea region actually has become more important for President Putin.

 

He can't afford to lose the Black Sea. And that's why I think the war will be really critical, not just for the Black Sea, but actually for the future of President Putin himself.

 

10-second trivia.

 

Which ocean explorer is credited with inventing the first shark cages, which allow humans to dive with sharks?

 

Jacques Cousteau, Edmund Hillary, Sylvia Earle, or James Cameron?

 

Did you know it's Jacques Cousteau, the French ocean explorer and engineer, developed and used the cages to film sharks for his 1956 documentary, The Silent World.

 

Now to a startup whose mission is to get people living in the ocean.The idea of people living under the sea has been around for quite some time, but it's remained a velleity. But that could soon change.

 

velleity [vɛˋliətɪ] n. 微弱的欲望

 

Underwater villages, we've seen them in science fiction movies, maybe read about them in books, but now a company in the UK called Deep says it's going to make them a reality. Our Max Foster took a tour of the subaqueous habitats, which the company hopes will be housing people underwater within the next two years.

 

subaqueous [sʌbˋekwɪəs] adj. 水中的

 

Imagine living in a house like this. It looks pretty cool, if a bit out of place. And that's because it is. It's actually designed to be at the bottom of the sea.

 

out of place 不合适; 不在正确的位置

 

It's built by a startup based in the southwest UK with ambitious plans for humans to live underwater by 2027.

 

Our motto is to make humans aquatic, not just certain humans, all humans.

 

aquatic [əˋkwætɪk]  adj. 水栖的

 

So we know all this stuff about our solar system and beyond, but we don't know what's on the bottom of our own oceans.

 

I want to go live there so I can learn.

 

Jacques Cousteau's 1962 continental shelf system was one of the first experiments in underwater living environments. But Deep's ambitions are on another scale.

 

continental shelf 大陆架

 

Their main focus is to facilitate scientific research, aiming for people to live and work around 200 meters down for 28 days at a time. The designs for their larger sentinel model include bedrooms, flushing toilets and even hot showers. But there's one big question that came straight to my mind.

 

sentinel [ˋsɛntən!] n. 步哨；哨兵

 

What if there's a leak?

 

There are four possible ways of leaving the habitat in various types of emergency.

 

Do you imagine one day towns, villages?

 

Our Sentinel habitat is a module. Those modules can be bolted together so the possibility for subsea villages is absolutely there.

 

bolt [bolt] v. 用螺栓拴紧

 

Would people want to live there do you think?

 

I would, absolutely.

 

To make the enormous parts required for the system, the company's developed a technique using welders on robotic arms. The parts are built one layer of steel at a time.

 

Every other breath we take is thanks to oxygen produced by the ocean. The ocean is a major carbon sink. Our goal is to help understand that and all of the other myriad ways that the ocean benefits us all whether we recognize it or not.

 

Today's stories getting tens out of ten are twice the fun. First, a rare wildlife sighting of one of the most elusive mountain cats on the planet and dictionary.com's competition celebrating 32 of the most iconic local slang words from all places all across the US. Y'all, yuns, you guys, listen up.

 

elusive [ɪˋlusɪv] adj. 难以抓住的; 难以找到的

 

They're going head to head March Madness style to be named MVP, most valuable phrase. Our Jeremy Roth has more.

 

head to head 正面对决;【美】肉搏战

 

Amazing footage captured in snowy northern Pakistan shows a rarely seen grouping of four snow leopards.

 

rarely seen 难得一见的

 

The photographer who captured the stunning video says snow leopards are nicknamed ghosts of the mountains because they are hardly ever seen. He says it took him a week of tracking before finally capturing a precious look at this amazing leap of leopards. Yes, a group of leopards is called a leap.

 

leap [lip] n. 一群(豹)

 

Any other day it would be our word of the day, but that honor is going to the winner of the Slang Showdown, an online competition courtesy of the loquacious lot at dictionary.com who got into the March Madness, uh, madness by pitting popular regional slang words head to head in a bracket style competition.

 

showdown [ˋʃo͵daʊn] n. 最後的一決雌雄

loquacious [loˋkweʃəs] adj. 健谈的，话多的

lot [lɑt] n. 某一类的人

pit [pɪt] v. 使…竞争

bracket [ˋbrækɪt] n. 等级; 段; 档次

 

As the rounds passed, online voters weeded out silly slang like cattywampus, skedaddle, and chuckhole, and in the end the west coast's stoked was bested by the south's y'all for the colloquial crown. Oh well, there's always next year stoked. Y'all come back now, you hear?

 

catawampus [ˌkætəˈwɑmpəs] n. 奇怪的；恶意的；方向错误的 (also cattywampus)

skedaddle [skɪˋdæd!] v.【口】逃走；仓皇逃散

chuckhole [ˋtʃʌk͵hol] n. 马路上的坑

stoked [stokt] adj.【俚】热情洋溢的

best [bɛst] v.【口】打败；胜过

colloquial [kəˋlokwɪəl] adj. 口语的；会话的；用于口语的

 

All right, our vocabulary word of the day was submitted by our friends at Maya Kamas Countywide Middle School in Napa, California. Velleity, a noun meaning a wish or inclination not strong enough to lead to action. Outstanding word.

 

inclination [͵ɪnkləˋneʃən] n.（性格上的）倾向；意向；爱好; 趋向，趋势

 

We see you, Mrs. Jinx. Thanks to all of you for inundating my comments with some exceedingly awesome words for your word Wednesday. Always so tough to choose just one.

 

Our special shout out today goes to my broncos at Five Fork in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Rise up. We, uh, need to pour our hearts out for you.

 

bronco [ˋbrɑŋko] n.【美】野马（北美西部产）

pour one's heart out: 向..尽情地表达..内心最深处的情感、想法或秘密

 

Thank you for tuning in everyone, making us part of your day. Let's do it again tomorrow, right here on CNN 10.