EZCNN 易英网

How astronauts pulled off the first zero-gravity barbecue  November 11, 2025

 

What's up, sunshine? I'm Coy Wire. Thank you for joining me for your 10-minute daily dose of news on this Tuesday, November 11th.

 

Today is Veterans Day, a federal holiday in the United States, a time to thank military members for their service and recognize their courage and sacrifices.

 

The holiday originated as Armistice Day, which commemorated the end of World War I in 1918. The government decided to rename the federal holiday in 1954 to honor all veterans.

 

armistice [ˋɑrməstɪs] n. 休战，停战；休战（或停战）协议

 

So tell a family member or friend or even a stranger you may see today who has served or is serving, I see you, and thank them for their commitment to all of us.

 

All right, the weather over the last few days may have caused some of us to double-check our calendars.

 

That's because we're just halfway into fall, but an Arctic blast or massive frigid air from the North Pole is moving across much of the country, making it feel like the middle of winter.

 

blast [blæst] n. 疾风，狂风;一阵强劲的气流

 

Not just your average cold front, we're talking a full-blown polar plunge.

 

full-blown 完全成熟的；充分發展的；具有一切特徵的

 

Tens of millions of people as far south as Florida woke up to bone-chilling cold on Monday. Here in Atlanta, we went from shorts weather to nearly freezing in just 12 hours.

 

bone-chilling 冰冻彻骨的; 寒冷刺骨的

shorts [ʃɔrts] n.【美】男用短衬裤; 宽松运动短裤

 

The Great Lakes region has seen some seriously early snowfall, with more than a foot of accumulation in some areas.

 

Intense lake-effect snow caused dangerous travel conditions throughout the region. It does appear, though, that warmer weather is on its way. Temperatures are expected to begin to rise across much of the country tonight and tomorrow.

 

Turning now to the Philippines,where another powerful typhoon has struck the archipelago nation just one week after it took a direct hit from Typhoon Kalmaegi. Typhoon Fung-wong brought high winds, flooding, and landslides as it moved across the country. The government is still reeling from the aftermath of Kalmaegi, which left at least 200 people dead.

 

Our Neve Kennedy has a look at the storm's devastating impacts and why their rapid intensification has climate scientists concerned.

 

Two typhoons in one week. Nearly a million people told to flee.

 

It's typhoon season in Southeast Asia, but scientists say global climate change is causing more intense storms.

 

Warmer ocean waters will also power potentially more powerful storms and typhoons. There is an increase in rapid intensification events of these typhoons that are rather difficult to predict by current models.

 

And that's what's on full display now. Typhoon Fung-wong is barreling towards the Philippines, with sustained winds near 185 kilometers an hour and a massive 1,500 kilometer circulation that could drench the entire country.

 

barrel [ˋbærəl] v.【美】【俚】高速行进

 

It comes just a week after Typhoon Kalmaegi tore through the Philippines, killing around 200 people and flattening neighborhoods across Cebu province.

 

Back to back storms like this leave communities no time to recover. And scientists say it's a pattern that's likely to keep repeating as oceans warm.

 

back to back 一个接一个

 

10 second trivia.

 

What was the first food ever eaten in space?

 

Peanut butter, Applesauce, A ham sandwich or Tang?

 

applesauce [ˋæp!ˋsɔs] n. 苹果酱

 

How about them apples? Applesauce is your answer here. In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to eat in space, and his applesauce was packed in an aluminum tube that looked like toothpaste.

 

This experiment proved that humans could swallow and process food normally in microgravity. It was a big breakthrough showing that longer missions with regular meals were possible.

 

Have you seen the recent culinary accomplishment by some astronauts from China? Move over dehydrated meals. This crew aboard China's Tiangong Space Station just threw down some chicken wings, y'all.

 

throw down 拋出

 

A new specialized hot air oven allowed them to pull off a barbecue in space. They even sizzled some zero gravity steaks. And this was not just a medium rare achievement.

 

pull off 成功完成

 

This had never been done before. They pulled it off to celebrate their latest crew changeover, and it may be coming at the perfect time.

 

changeover [ˋtʃendʒ͵ovɚ] n. 转换；改变

 

The departing crew found out they'll be extending their six-month stay indefinitely after China's space agency said a piece of space debris hit their return ship.

 

indefinitely [ɪnˋdɛfənɪtlɪ] adv. 不明确地

 

Let's hope it wasn't a stray rib or a drumstick.

 

rib [rɪb] n. 排骨，肋条

drumstick [ˋdrʌm͵stɪk] n.【口】（煮熟的）鸡腿

 

Now to a story of perseverance,vulnerability and learning from our failures. I sat down with Team USA freestyle skier Nick Goeppert, a three-time Olympic medalist.

 

He's gearing up for his third Winter Games at 35 years old. We talked about some of the struggles he's faced with mental health and how they have actually strengthened him and helped him forge a better path forward both on and off the snow.

 

So I've looked up to people my entire life, you know, that I'm going through something, okay, I need to find someone else that's going through something and might have told a story about it because I can relate to them and I know that I'm not alone.

 

And that's the biggest part about struggling with anything, particularly mental health, depression, anxiety, that if you know that you're not alone, it makes it easier to, to recover from and to find, you know, that therapeutic help.

 

One thing that I know about elite athletes is they fail, they fall, they stumble just like everyone else, but they find a way to, to push through.

 

So what is your message to youngsters out there who are going through a tough time and they're facing adversity or they're facing a failure?

 

What is it about those things that in the end they could be better than they were before it happened?

 

I would say this moment does not define you.

 

How you, how you react to hardship is important and that, that is a defining part of your character. But being so young and having so much life ahead of you, you know, when you're young, you don't realize that. You don't realize like how much time you really have to recover, to reinvent yourself, to, to pivot.

 

And I've had so many moments throughout my life where I was like, oh my, oh my God, dude, I'm screwed. Like forever. I'm screwed.

 

screwed [skrud] adj. 处境糟糕的; 搞砸的，糟糕的

 

I might as well just, you know, jump off a bridge or something. And that's never the solution. You know, just, it won't last forever and you're not the only one.

 

Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10,the most recognizable Christmas tree in the U.S. and its backstory that is warming hearts.

 

backstory [ˈbækstorɪ] n.背景故事；幕后故事

 

The 2025 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has officially arrived at its new home in New York City, kicking off the holiday season. And this year's tree didn't come from just some cookie-cutter tree farm.

 

cookie-cutter [ˈkʊkiˌkʌtɚ] adj.（尤指缺乏想像力）千篇一律的，俗套的

 

It came from a family in upstate New York looking to honor a loved one. The Russ family donated their prized Norway spruce as a tribute to late hubby and dad Dan Russ, who passed away in 2020.

 

spruce [sprus] n. 云杉

hubby [ˋhʌbɪ] n.【口】丈夫

 

Dan's widow Judy Russ says they always talked about how the tree would look right at home in Rockefeller Center and now it's becoming a reality.

 

This Christmas is really special to us and our family. It's our favorite time of the year. I took my son down to the tree last year with some family and friends.

 

So now we get to do that on a much grander scale this year. And I'm just really excited that we get to share our family tree with the world.

 

Over the summer, a mutual friend connected Judy with Rockefeller Center's head gardener.

 

And what began as a joke quickly became a very real way for the family to share Dan's memory with the world.

 

Back in July, I got a picture of a tree from one of my buddies who retired. He was a Rockefeller Center security supervisor and he sent me a picture.

 

It had snow on it. It was a beautiful Christmassy picture. I said, wow, where's that? Give me the address.

 

I'll go visit it tomorrow. That was in July. And here we are now in November.

 

The entire community turned out to bid farewell to the 75-foot tree, which served as a backdrop at the Russ family home for more than seven decades.

 

bid farewell to 告别……; to say goodbye in an affectionate or loving way

 

It will be officially lit in NYC on December 3rd and on display until mid-January. After that, it will be milled into lumber, which Habitat for Humanity will use to build homes for those in need.

 

mill [mɪl] v. 磨；碾碎

 

Awesome stuff. All right. I have some shout outs to you.

 

This first one goes to Sterling Heights, Michigan. Mr. Zalewski and friends at the GLK Academy for International Studies. Good luck with your midterms, friends.

 

And this shout out goes to Mrs. Swanson and crew at Fred Mudry Intermediate School in Anaconda, Montana. You are unbelievable. Thank you very much for this.

 

And thanks to everyone commenting on our CNN 10 YouTube channel for your shout out requests. Now, tomorrow is Your Word Wednesday.

 

So send me a unique vocabulary word and the definition in the comment section of our most recent posts @CoyWire and @CNN 10 on Instagram, and we're going to work one winner into tomorrow's show.

 

Good luck. Go out and make someone smile today. Remember, you are more powerful than you know.

 

I'm Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.