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Checking In On Polling And Early Voting In The U.S.; News On The Confirmation Of The U.S. Supreme Court Nominee; Space Exploration; Bygone Era.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: One week from Election Day, we`re happy you`ve elected to spend 10 minutes with our show. I`m Carl Azuz, and today`s down

the middle coverage begins with a look at where things stand when it comes to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
 

stand [stænd] v. 处于某种状态

Most recent polls, when organizations ask likely voters whom that they`re planning to vote for, indicate that Democratic presidential nominee Joe

Biden is leading incumbent Republican President Donald Trump. Polls do not guarantee a winner. For one thing, some people who say they support a

certain candidate may wind up voting for the other one or may not turn out to vote.

For another, American voters don`t directly choose the president. That`s up to the Electoral College. Here`s a look at how things went in the last
 

Electoral College 选举团（由各州选出之代表组成，负责选举总统和副总统）

presidential election in 2016. Most polls showed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leading Republican presidential nominee Donald

Trump. There were more than 128 million votes cast in that election.

More than 65,853,000 were in favor of former Secretary of State Clinton. More than 62,984,000 were in favor of businessman and TV personality Trump,

but it`s electoral votes that count. A candidate needs at least 270 of those to win the White House and Trump won the presidency with 306

electoral votes while Clinton won 232 electoral votes.

Incumbent President Trump would like to see a scenario like this again in 2020. Former Vice President Biden would like to see the results flipped.

One thing we should point out this time around is that Biden`s lead in most polls is greater than Clinton`s was four years ago. But now, like then,

most polls also indicate the race is getting closer as Election Day does.

As far as early voting goes, whether it`s done by mail or in-person. This year has surpassed the number of early votes cast in 2016 according to an

election data company. It estimates there`ve been 58.7 million early votes cast this year. There were roughly 58.3 million in 2016 but this year`s

estimate came nine days before Election Day when there was still a lot of early voting expected.

Several states do not require these votes to be received and counted by November 3rd. So it`s possible we won`t know the outcome of the election on

election night itself. Last night meanwhile, there was a lot of attention on the U.S. Senate. Lawmakers there were expected to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Trump nominated Judge Barrett to the bench following the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg last month. There were strong

political disagreements concerning the nomination. Democrats and Republicans each want a president from their own party to fill vacancies on

the Supreme Court.

The reason is because Democrats tend to choose more liberal justices while Republicans tend to choose more conservative ones. Democrats wanted to wait

until after the election to move forward on the vacancy in the hopes they`d win more political power on November 3rd.

Republicans wanted to move forward without delay on the nomination because their party controls both the Senate and the White House. Almost all of the

Senate`s 53 Republicans said they planned to vote in favor or Judge Barrett. That`s why she was expected to win confirmation on Monday night.

10 Second Trivia. Which of these spacecrafts has traveled the farthest? Command Module Columbia, Curiosity Rover, New Horizons, or Voyager One. No

manmade object has traveled farther from Earth than NASA`s Voyager One.

We`re to spend a few minutes in space now before parachuting back down to Earth. There`s a type of sail that`s currently orbiting our planet. It`s a

$7 million mission paid for by private citizens, companies and foundations and it`s expected to fall toward the Earth and burn up in our atmosphere

sometime next year. But in the meantime, in between time, one thing it`s helped scientists understand is that traveling through space is possible

when the main power source is the sun and the sails it uses are thinner than a human hair.

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BILL NYE, CEO, THE PLANETARY SOCIETY: I`m Bill Nye. I`m an -- I`m introducing myself. I`m Bill Nye. Now I`m the CEO of The Planetary Society,

the world`s largest independent space interest organization. We had this dream to fly a solar sail spacecraft and so we did.

While we`re sitting here enjoying ourselves, we have our own spacecraft flying overhead from time to time every 100 minutes or so. The thing is

still flying. The volunteers who worked it out, the software, the mechanical engineers, these people have automated its tacking. Just like tacking a sailboat.
 

tacking ['tækɪŋ] n. 轉變航向; the act of changing tack

People now are all excited about going to Mars. Well in order to do that successfully, you`re almost certainly have to assemble things in space. And

now because it`s just not practical to build a rocket big enough to lift everything up at once. However, there is a proposal to make this crazy wire sail.

So instead of reflective sails, there`d be these super thin wires that would pick up essentially microwaves from the sun and they would give it a

push. If you want to go to another solar system, if you want to go to another star. The solar sail spacecraft is the only practical idea anybody

has.

The longest journey starts with a single step. People are thinking about it. The more we learn about light, energy the better we are. The more we

learn about that area above the atmosphere where we`re able to live, were extent enough to have weather and us in deep space, this exospheric
 

exospheric [͵ɛksɑsˋfɪrɪk] adj. 外逸层的；外大气层的

area. That`s also of great value scientifically.

When we talk about energy, we`re really talking about electricity and electricity`s magical. We can do this electronic interview or you can make

toast. You can do any of these things. If we can engage people around the world and get all to understand that we are all in this together.

Earth is where we`re from, this is where we`re perfectly suited to live. This is our home. If we can get everybody engaged in that we can change the

world.

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AZUZ: In World War II, aviators wore their parachutes harnessed to their backs and sat on them as seat cushions. At least one of these became a
 

aviator [ˋevɪ͵etɚ] n. 飞行员，飞机驾驶员

wedding dress, this wedding dress and now just because it was hard to get silk in 1945. George Bright (ph) was flying for the U.S. Army when his

plane was hit by enemy fire. His parachute literally saved his hide by keeping the bullets from his skin. So he brought the chute home filled with

holes and gave it to his bride to be.

She removed the Army-Navy lettering and skillfully sewed the chute into a wedding dress and their children recently donated it to a museum in New

York. Don`t know if they`re wedding was perfect but man it was smooth as silk. Was that the fabric of their lives? They "wote" a love story for the

ages. "Stitched together more than 60 years of marriage.

Blessed by a dress made for one happy "landing". I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10. There is one way to get a mention on our show and Cesar Rodney High School

knows it. They subscribed and left a comment on the most recent show at our YouTube channel so shout out to our viewers in Camden, Delaware.
 

Delaware [ˋdɛləwɛr] n. 美國德拉威州

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