Checking In On Main Street

 

What's up, sunshine? I'm Coy Wire. This is CNN 10, the best 10 minutes in news because of you. Hope you're feeling good, feeling great. We start today.

 

Happy April Fools! Keep your head on a swivel because there are pranksters on the prowl for the annual April 1st custom, consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. No one is safe.

 

swivel [ˋswɪv!] n. 转环；转椅座架

prankster [ˋpræŋkstɚ] n. 爱开玩笑的人；恶作剧的人

prowl [praʊl] n. 悄然潜行

hoax [hoks] n. 骗局；玩笑；恶作剧

 

All right, let's do this for real. We start today with the economy.

 

There are two main parts of the economy: there's Wall Street, or the stock market, and there's Main Street, also called the real economy.

 

Let's start with Main Street. When you buy groceries or pay for a new streaming service, you are participating in the real economy.

 

These are the goods and services we buy and sell every day.

 

Right now, the real economy, the cost of goods and services, well, those prices are not so great.

 

Prices have gone up because of inflation, and inflation is just okay lately, not great, not terrible, just okay.

 

But there are signs that inflation could get worse, meaning prices could go up, and that leads us to the second part of the economy: Wall Street.

 

Wall Street is the stock market. In the stock market, you can buy small parts of companies; of course, we know them as shares or stocks.

 

Most people buy a share of a company because they think the company is going to do well, and the value of that share will go up.

 

The stock market is a little more complicated than that, of course, but that's the basic idea.

 

Wall Street and Main Street are often connected.

 

If things aren't going well on Main Street, in the real economy, then investors on Wall Street sell their shares because they think maybe the value of the stocks they own are likely to go down because companies might struggle.

 

Our Matt Egan breaks down some of the latest economic numbers that show us where Wall Street and Main Street may be headed.

 

The latest slew of economic indicators did not paint a very inspiring picture about how the US economy is holding up amid all of this turbulence out of Washington, and these new economic numbers did not sit well with investors on Wall Street, with US stocks experiencing another bout of turbulence ahead of next week's significant announcements on tariffs.

 

So let me run you through some of the key findings from today's economic reports. First, uh, the Fed's go-to inflation metric found that Americans are saving more and they're spending next ahead of tariffs, and this report also suggested that inflation's kind of stuck in this no man's land, right? Not as bad as a few years ago, but also not great.

 

no man's land（尤指战时两国交界处的）无人地带，真空地带

 

Um, core inflation, which excludes food and energy, it heated up in February. That's significant because economists say that core inflation is a better indicator of underlying pricing pressures.

 

core inflation 核心通货膨胀

underlying [͵ʌndɚˋlaɪɪŋ] adj. 基本的，根本的

 

And keep in mind, these are numbers for February, so they don't fully capture the elephant in the room, the trade board, right? This is price changes before much of the tariffs, including the tariffs on steel and aluminum, the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and some of the tariffs on China, for all of that even kicked in.

 

the elephant in the room（人们不愿提及的）棘手问题

 

And we know the cost of living, of course, is a major concern right now.

 

And so there was another disappointing confidence report out. This is from the University of Michigan, and not only did it find that consumer sentiment fell sharply in March, but some of the underlying indicators here were also concerning.

 

Uh, consumers' outlook for the future fell significantly. Two-thirds of consumers are now expecting unemployment to increase. That's the most since the Great Recession, and consumer expectations around inflation, price increases, they heated up to the highest level since 1993.

 

outlook [ˋaʊt͵lʊk] n. 观点，看法[（+on）]；展望，前景

 

Market veteran Art Hogan, he told me he's not shocked to see consumers expecting higher inflation. This is the worst trade war since William McKinley was in the White House.

 

This finding from the University of Michigan was striking. They said that this month's decline reflects a clear consensus across all demographics and political affiliations.

 

Republicans joined Independents and Democrats in expressing worsening expectations since February for their personal finances, business conditions, unemployment, and inflation.

 

I think the growing concern on Wall Street is that weak consumer confidence will eventually cause people to kind of hunker down and spend less money, and of course, that's where the real trouble would come for an economy that is really built on consumer spending.

 

hunker down 蹲下来休息; 蹲着，蹲坐

 

Pop Quiz hot shot: when was the first drone ever flown? 1899, 1917, 1948, or 2001?

 

If you said 1917, you're so money. That's when the first vehicle without a pilot flew.

 

A small radio-operated aircraft called the Aerial Target was tested by the British during the First World War.

 

In Germany, a company has mashed up two kinds of technologies: drones and artificial intelligence, to try to solve a very pressing issue for many communities around the world. Our Nick Valencia has more.

 

mash up: to combine (two songs or recordings to create a single audio track)

 

Over the past two decades, extreme wildfires have become more frequent, more intense, and larger, according to NASA.

 

Now, a wildfire detection company in Germany is developing a drone that uses artificial intelligence to help firefighters suppress wildfires in their early stages.

 

This week, Dryad successfully demonstrated its first fully functional prototype called Silver Guard.

 

dryad [ˋdraɪəd ] n.【希神】森林的精靈

 

The drone system detected a controlled fire's location and size using AI.

 

It provides ultra-early detection of wildfires within minutes from ignition using AI-driven, uh, sensors that are electronic noses, and they can detect fires much faster than cameras or satellites.

 

The idea is to allow firefighters to respond before flames spread.

 

The drone can capture infrared imagery and provide an overhead view for firefighters.

 

The importance, uh, of Silver Guard is that it is the first autonomous, uh, end-to-end system that detects fires using artificial intelligence and then uses autonomous drones, uh, to fly to the location of a fire without a pilot being involved and delivering precise information about the size and threat of a fire.

 

Dryad's new technology, if used widely, could also have an impact on carbon emissions.

 

From 2001 to 2023, wildfire has caused a loss of more than 138 million hectares of tree cover worldwide, according to Global Forest Watch. That's larger than the country of Peru.

 

Researchers found that carbon emissions from forest fires increased by 60% globally during that time.

 

Dryad hopes its efforts will help prevent 1.1 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions by 2030.

 

The European Union is co-funding the Silver Guard project with 3.8 million Euros, or 4.1 million dollars.

 

The project's next step will be to add fire suppression capabilities and eventually real-world deployment.

 

What we actually need to achieve is we need to detect and extinguish fires within 10 minutes from ignition. That's our mission, that's our vision, and Silver Guard demonstrated here today is a big milestone towards that vision.

 

Today's story getting a 10 out of 10: buy me some peanuts and cracker Jacks! Baseball is back, and MLB teams are busting out all sorts of egregious, gut-busting grub in an attempt to dazzle fans.

 

egregious [ɪˋgridʒəs] adj. 非常的；震惊的

gut-busting 非常好笑的、令人捧腹大笑的; very funny ; fattening

grub [grʌb] n.【口】食物

dazzle [ˋdæz!] v. 使惊羡，使赞叹不已

 

The Yankees have this Tiramisu Helmet: espresso mascarpone cream, ladyfinger cookies, cocoa powder.

 

tiramisu [͵tɪrəmiˋsu] n. 提拉米蘇（一種義大利的著名甜點）

mascarpone [ˋmæskɑrpon] n. 意大利软奶酪

ladyfinger [ˋledɪ͵fɪŋgɚ] n. 指形小松糕

 

And check out this behemoth! The Orioles rolling out a double burger with Queso flameado, Pico De Gallo, fried onions on a pretzel bun. What say you? How do you attack that?

 

pretzel [ˋprɛts!] n. 椒盐脆饼

 

Now, the White Sox, they're breaking out the Unicorn: a batter-dipped corn dog, marshmallow-based, drizzled with sweet condensed milk and Fruity Pebbles on top. Do you love it, or do you loathe it?

 

drizzle [ˋdrɪz!] v. 缓慢地倾倒，细细地滴洒

 

Basically, cereal on a corn dog. Not sure how I feel about that.

Now, White Sox fans, they're hoping to turn their fortunes around because last season they posted the worst season in MLB history, and some say they found a solution: a little help from the great beyond.

 

the great beyond: the unknown; the afterlife; where one is said to go after dying

 

Crusty old baseball, sullen Chicago White Sox fans think may be responsible for a historicallybad season.

 

sullen [ˋsʌlɪn] adj. 不高兴的，绷着脸的

 

The team claimed a heinous 121 losses last year, earning them the nickname "the stinky socks," a phrase coined by, well, me right now.

 

heinous [ˋhenəs] adj. 极其恶劣的，令人震惊的

 

But Sox die-hards say the losses started around the time this World Series Baseball from 1919, found hidden in Chicago's Tribune building, was moved to a sports museum.

 

An outcry from fans, both superstitious and/or even a little stitious, resulted in the ball being moved back to the Tribune building in an attempt to break the so-called curse and clear the way for high scores galore.

 

galore [gəˋlor] adj. 大量的

 

Yeah, that ought to do it. I'm not superstitious either, Jeremy, just a little bit stitious. Thank you, sir.

 

All right, it is time for our shout-out of the day, and this one goes to Mayfair Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, home of the Tigers! I see you, big cats, rise up!

 

Today's a beautiful day if we make it that way. Sending you all some good vibes and sparks of joy.

 

Let's do it again tomorrow, shall we, right here on

 

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