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Nigerien and U.S. Troops are Ambushed; Currency Change in India; Tropical Storm Nate Sloshes Toward the Gulf of Mexico

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Northwestern Africa is where we start today`s global coverage on CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz, and I`m happy to see you this

October 6th.

According to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the nation of Niger is one of the hottest and poorest countries on the planet. It`s landlocked,

 

landlocked [ˋlænd͵lɑkt] adj. 为陆地所包围的；内陆的

most of it is desert. Niger`s government has seen multiple coups since the 1990s. It doesn`t have much funding and doesn`t offer many services and

 

coup [ku] n. 政变

it`s further challenged by instability in several of the countries that border Niger.

That`s part of the reason why U.S. troops are there, to support the Nigerien armed forces in their ongoing fights against terrorist groups.

French, German and Malian troops are also helping in those efforts.

 

Malian (of Mali) 马里的; 马里人的

A U.S. official says on Wednesday, as many as 50 fighters affiliated with the ISIS terrorist group ambushed a patrol of Nigerien troops and U.S.

 

affiliate [əˋfɪlɪ͵et] v. 使隶属

patrol [pəˋtrol] n. 巡逻队；巡逻舰队

Green Berets. Those are elite members of the Army Special Forces. Three Green Berets were killed, two others were wounded and evacuated from the

 

Green Beret [bəˋre] 绿色贝雷帽（指美国、英国的特种部队成员）

area in stable condition. American officials say operations are being conducted to locate the attackers.

 

locate [loˋket] v. 探出，找出

This ambush happened in southwest Niger, near the nation`s border with Mali. Terrorist groups remain in this region, despite efforts led by

France to get rid of them.

Next stop on today`s show is India, where cash accounts for 90 percent of shopping transactions. In fact, many retail stores in the world`s second

most populated country don`t have credit card machines. Even for expensive jewelry, many of those who can afford it pay cash.

There are a couple of related problems. Some people are hiding the money there and to avoid paying income taxes on it. And there`s a lot of

counterfeit money floating around India. So, last year, the government announced it would suddenly replace its two largest bank notes. People

with the old ones would have to exchange them at banks for the new ones.

It`s created some ripple effects that experts say had contributed to an economic slowdown.

 

ripple effect 涟漪作用；影响等逐渐扩散; 连锁反应

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you want to gauge the mood of the country, speak to the taxi drivers, or in New Delhi, the auto rickshaw guys.

 

rickshaw [ˋrɪkʃɔ] n. 黄包车; 三轮车

I hail one of the three-wheelers for myself. Meet Sarvesh, he`s 22 and has been driving these taxis for five years. I asked him a common question in

these parts.

Sarvesh, can I ask how much you were making in a day before all of this happened?

SARVESH KUMAR, RICKSHAW DRIVER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

AGRAWAL: One thousand rupees?

 

rupee [ruˋpi] n. 卢比（印度、斯里兰卡、尼泊尔等的货币单位）

KUMAR: Yes.

AGRAWAL: And how much are you making now?

KUMAR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

AGRAWAL: Five hundred rupees?

KUMAR: Five hundred rupees.

AGRAWAL: That`s half.

KUMAR: Yes.

AGRAWAL: That`s because India has a cash crunch.

 

cash crunch 现金短缺

crunch [krʌntʃ] n. 艰难局面；财政困难；短缺

It seems like the one behind had become common across India. Long queues of people lining up to exchange their old notes, the new ones at banks and

 

queue [kju] n. （人或车辆等的）行列，长队

ATMs. But really, this is just one side of the story. The reality is that hundreds of millions of Indians, nearly half this country`s population is

on banks, and that means they have no bank accounts, no credit cards, everything they buy and sell is in cash.

And that`s people like Sarvesh. He`s never been to a bank. He lives day to day on small change from his job. And because the rich have less cash,

less is trickling down to him.

 

trickle down 下渗

India`s move to change currency notes was designed to crack down on rich people with hordes of cash. What`s known here as black money, income that

is off-the-books and untaxed. But only 3 percent of Indians qualify to pay income tax. Sarvesh is part of the other group, the 97 percent.

 

off-the-books 不入账的；未经登录的（指付款人不入账的薪资等支付款项，以致收款人可以逃税）

What`s income tax, he says. I can barely make ends meet anyway.

 

make ends meet 使收支相抵, 使收支平衡

A small snack during the day, samosa and tea is a luxury in times like this. He`s been struggling to get rides all day.

 

samosa [səˋmosə] n. 印度菜饺（肉饺）；萨莫萨三角饺

Are you still in favor of Mr. Modi`s move?

Yes, he says. The fat cats will suffer. They`re hoarding cash.

 

fat cat 有钱有势者, 大亨, 大款

hoard [hord] v. 贮藏，聚藏；隐藏

How long can you survive on half pay, I asked.

Let`s see, he says.

As evening falls, Sarvesh keeps cruising for a ride. While India cracks down on corruption, people like Sarvesh are collateral damage this and

 

collateral damage 附带损失，附带的破坏(指军事行动造成的平民伤亡或非军事设施的破坏)

collateral [kəˋlætərəl] adj. 附属的，附带的

their stories seldom told. But I`m struck by his optimism. I guess the night is darkest before the dawn.

Ravi Agrawal, CNN, New Delhi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Nate is the name of a tropical storm that`s whirling in the Caribbean. It`s already flooded parts of the Central American nation of

Costa Rica. And last night, it was soaking Nicaragua and Honduras with heavy rain.

 

Nicaragua [͵nɪkəˋrɑgwə] n. 尼加拉瓜

Honduras [hɑnˋdʊrəs] n. 宏都拉斯（拉丁美洲国家）

Forecasters expect Nate to pass by Cancun, Mexico on Friday, and they`re warning that it could strengthen to a hurricane when it moves over the Gulf

of Mexico on Saturday. They`re not completely certain where Nate will go. But its current path has it on course to make landfall between southeastern

Louisiana and southwestern Alabama over the weekend.

Nate isn`t forecast to become a major hurricane but preparations are being made in New Orleans for heavy wind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Can you gain weight by leaking postage stamps? Not in the U.S., but maybe in Britain. The average calorie count of an American postage stamp

is about 1/10 of one calorie, so not much. But the U.K. uses a gum on the back of its stamps that`s almost 6 calories and more than 14 on each

 

gum [gʌm] n. 胶，黏合剂

special commemorative stamp.

 

commemorative [kəˋmɛmərətɪv] adj. 纪念的

So, if you`re doing any bulk mailings from London, you might want to count calories.

Now, that`s random!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: One goal of robot engineers, especially those working on humanoid robots, is to create machines that can keep their footing like people do,

if they trip, or if they`re pushed and to get back up if they fall. One of the best ways to test out the robot`s balance is to intentionally try to

trip them up and make their stabilization mechanisms go to work. But some observers on the Internet have launched tongue in cheek protests.

 

tongue in cheek 挖苦的; 随便说说的

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It`s a wow moment for robot fans. An impressive new version of the Atlas robot is unveiled.

And what steals the limelight? Robot abuse. And it`s not just physical but mental torture, by hockey stick, taunted and teased. This after doing

 

steal the limelight 抢镜头

taunt [tɔnt] v. 嘲弄；逗弄

tease [tiz] v. 戏弄，逗弄

such a nice job of lifting boxes.

And this isn`t the first time the highly regarded robot design company, Boston Dynamics, has mistreated one of its creations.

 

highly regarded 很受关注的

(on camera): Actually, there`s a perfectly good reason for this robot abuse.

(voice-over): When most robots fall down, they can`t get back up. They often have to be carried off or repaired.

But when the new Atlas was forced to faceplant. Watch it get back on its feet.

 

faceplant [ˈfesplænt] n. & v. 脸朝下摔倒; fall, and land directly on one's face

And though it stumbles through the snow like bigfoot, it never losses its balance on the uneven terrain. That`s a very big deal.

(on camera): Unless you think the engineers are just brutal bullies, lacking any sense of humor --

(voice-over): This was last year`s Christmas greeting from Boston Dynamics, even if their robots aren`t laughing all the way.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Pretty much sums up the nuts and bolts. All (ph) robots ought to have drive to keep going, they can`t be too sensortive and they need to

 

nuts and bolts 基本要素；具体细节

stay motorvated. Some may have autonomy but they`re not in control or unless maybe there`s a ghost in the machine, in which case, it`s probably

better not to short-circuit the program when arranging a battery of challenges.

Fridays are awesome on CNN 10!

END