The remarkable story behind one of ping pong's biggest stars  January 22, 2026

 

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of CNN 10. I'm Don Riddell, in for my buddy Coy Wire. I'm so excited to be here and I promise I'll try not to break anything.

 

Today is Thursday, January 22nd. Ready for some news? Let's get started.

 

We'll kick off in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders are gathered this week for the annual World Economic Forum.

 

It's a summit that brings together many of the world's most powerful minds to discuss global issues including trade, climate change and geopolitical instability.

 

But this year's event is something that your kids might be reading about one day in the history books because it's taking place against the most turbulent global backdrop in decades. U.S. President Donald Trump still wants to acquire Greenland.

 

He took the stage Wednesday and whilst he ruled out using force to acquire the Danish territory, he doubled down on his claims that only the U.S. can keep it safe.

 

double down 变本加厉; 硬拗; 一再坚持

 

It's been said that through all of this Trump could gain an island but lose a continent. What happens next could not only threaten the United States standing with many of its most vital allies but could entirely disrupt the current status of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

 

It's the United States alone that can protect this giant mass of land, this giant piece of ice, develop it and improve it and make it so that it's good for Europe and safe for Europe and good for us. They have a choice. You can say yes and we will be very appreciative or you can say no and we will remember.

 

Trump's speech comes less than a week after he threatened other allies with tariffs or trade taxes as part of his efforts to force control of Greenland.

 

But even as European leaders sought to cool rising tensions on the sidelines of the summit, ripple effects from the unprecedented dispute have already begun to appear. European parliament members voted the same day to block parts of a landmark trade deal between the U.S. and the European Union indefinitely.

 

indefinitely [ɪnˈdefɪnətlɪ] adv. 无限期地

 

Now to some big baby news back in Washington D.C. You might have heard of a bump in the polls. Well this is more like a bump in the office. Second Lady Usha Vance and Vice President J.D. Vance have announced they're expecting a baby this summer.

 

bump [bʌmp] n. 小幅度的增长或短暂的上升

 

The baby boy is due in July and will be the couple's fourth child joining brothers Ewan and Vivek and sister Mirabel.

 

This marks the first time that a sitting second lady will have a baby while in office but it's not without some presidential precedent. First Ladies Frances Cleveland and Jackie Kennedy both gave birth while their husbands were serving as commander in chief.

 

Some news now from my home country the UK where the British government is exploring a possible social media ban aimed at better protecting children online.

 

Ministers say they'll visit Australia to learn more about its ban on social media down under for those under 16 which took effect last month. They're also considering stronger age verification checks and tougher rules on students using phones in schools.

 

verification [ˌverəfəˈkeʃən] n. 证实；核实

 

10 second trivia.

 

Which desert is the largest hot desert on earth?

 

Is it Kalahari, Sahara, Sonoran or Atacama?

 

Well the answer here is Sahara which spans parts of 11 countries in North Africa. The world's largest cold desert that would be the Antarctic which covers almost all 5.4 million square miles of Antarctica.

 

All right the skies above Libya have been transformed this week turning bright orange as a result of a seasonal phenomenon. What you are seeing here is a powerful dust storm sweeping through the city of Benghazi. It looks pretty cool but it causes real problems.

 

Thick clouds of dry sand and soil blowing in from the desert swallowing the coastline and cutting visibility drastically across the city. This storm was so intense that flights were temporarily suspended at the country's two main international airports. Scenes like this are not unusual here.

 

About 90 to 95 percent of Libya is covered by the Sahara desert. That's according to the United Nations Development Program making it especially vulnerable to these seasonal storms.

 

Okay have you seen the movie Marty Supreme yet? I can tell you it's highly entertaining.

 

It might land Timothy Chalamet an Oscar in March and it sparked some interest in the sport of table tennis in the United States.A sport which is usually much more popular in China, Korea and Japan. But ping pong is gaining popularity in the United States with its first ever professional league, Major League Table Tennis, now in its third season.

 

And just a few weeks ago the league's power rankings were topped for the very first time by a female player, Lily Zhang.

 

power ranking 实力排名

top [tɑp] v. 超过

 

I've been chatting with Lily about her journey in the sport which began, get this, while her family was doing the laundry.

 

I started playing because my parents, they're both from China.

 

So it's kind of like the national sport there and everyone plays. So they would play for fun and then they kind of introduced the game to me when I was seven years old.

 

And funnily enough we actually started at the laundry room at Stanford campus because my dad was a professor there.

 

So I would just play with them for fun to kill time while we waited for our laundry.

 

Were you good at it straight off the bat so to speak? Do you think you just kind of always have had a natural talent for it?

 

off the bat 立刻，馬上; 一开始就

 

I mean I don't want to brag but I do think I yeah I do think I had maybe a natural affinity to the sport.

 

affinity [əˈfɪnətɪ] n. 喜爱

 

You're a four-time Olympian already and when you went to the London Games in 2012 I believe you were the youngest in the team?

 

For me it was a dream come true to have actually made it and to be in that environment was so surreal.

 

I mean I remember multiple times in the games thinking like why am I here? How am I here? And I remember like specifically a moment during the opening ceremonies it was like Serena Williams to my right and then Kobe Bryant to my left and I was like this isn't like this is not real.

 

Wow one experience. At that point did you think you would go on to play in three more? No definitely not.

 

I you know had the Olympics as my dream but once I made it especially in the U.S. it's pretty customary for kids to stop playing when they reach university age so I think that was my initial plan or vision is just to make the Olympics get that on my college resume and then you know focus on education.

 

But I think you know table tennis is something that I really really love and it feels like ingrained in my identity so I kept coming back somehow you know I always felt there was something missing in my life.

 

And just literally a few weeks ago you did something that no female player has ever done by topping the power rankings ahead of all the other men that play the game.

 

Yeah so that's part of major league table tennis MLTT which is the first ever professional table tennis league in the U.S. and it's the teams are a mixture of men and women somehow I found myself on the top of the power rankings which is crazy because at the time I think even in the top 10 there were no other women. I was really surprised and shocked but at the same time it's like such an amazing feeling because all those years of hard work and time and effort really did pay off in the end and I think it's also a testament to how much I've put in over the years and hopefully as well it shows you know another young girl out there watching that anything is possible and she deserves to belong to be in the space especially since you know sports itself is more male dominated.

 

It just feels like a dream come true because again I never had that example growing up as a little girl so to even be in this position is such you know a privilege and an honor.

 

What an inspirational story. Lily Zhang started in a laundromat and then she took everyone to the cleaners.

 

laundromat [ˈlɔndrəmæt] n. 自动洗衣店

cleaner [ˈklinɚ] n. 清洁机

 

Today's story getting a 10 out of 10 from us.

 

A home renovation turning up an unexpected link to the past and this story is just wild. When the Chapman family moved to Fargo, North Dakota they settled on this century old fixer-upper and they began making it their own.

 

fixer-upper [ˌfɪksɚˈʌpɚ] n.（状况不佳、购买后修缮以增加价值的）待修房

 

We looked at at a number of houses and when we walked in the door of this house it was this is the one.

 

During the renovations contractors discovered an 80 year old newspaper underneath the floorboards. That's an old trick to level the floors but when Casey Chapman took a closer look he saw a very familiar face staring back at him. It was his own mum.

 

floorboard [ˈflɔrbɔrd] n. 木地板條

 

Looked at the picture and the picture just to the right of the tear is my mother. That's my mum right there.

 

Turns out Casey's mother was homecoming queen at a local university eight decades earlier and she just so happened to grace that day's front page.

 

homecoming queen 返校女王

 

The coincidence which Casey has called a quote godwink left him with goosebumps. The Chapmans are taking it as a sign that mum approves of their home choice and they are framing the treasured find so she can be a part of it forever.

 

godwink 神之眨眼

goosebumps [ˈɡusbʌmps] n. 鸡皮疙瘩

 

We've got just enough time for a couple of shout outs today.

 

First up Mr Dubar at Bowie High School in Bowie, Maryland. Thank you for watching us every day. And two from Roswell High School in Georgia.

 

Mrs Chilton keeping chemistry cool and Mr Burton in the math class who is always helpful not hurtful. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. Coy will be back tomorrow.

 

I'm Don Riddell and this is CNN 10.