CNN 10 - August 13, 2025
Hello, everyone. Welcome to CNN 10. I'm Coy Wire here with your daily 10-minute rendezvous with the news.
rendezvous [ˋrɑndə͵vu] n. 约会;会面
It is Your Word Wednesday. One of you helped us write today's show. We saw some outstanding, commanding, and captivating submissions.
commanding [kəˋmændɪŋ] adj. 处于(有望取胜或成功的)有利地位的
We'll see who made it. You are halfway through the week. We're here to hopefully help you learn something new, laugh a time or two, all in the next 10 minutes.
A lot of news today, so let's get started.
We start in Pennsylvania, where officials are trying to understand what caused a series of explosions at a steel plant just outside of Pittsburgh on Monday.
Two people were killed, and at least 10 people were hurt in the blast, including one person who was pulled from the smoldering rubble after being trapped for hours.
It happened at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, a massive plant where another incident had occurred just months earlier. The facility converts raw coal into coke, a key ingredient in the steelmaking process. Special ovens are used to heat coal at extreme temperatures for hours.
coke [kok] n. 焦炭,焦煤
The process also creates a lethal gas known as coke gas. Plant officials say two of those ovens were involved in the incident, and the cause is still under investigation. Listen.
coke gas 煤气,又称焦炉煤气
Obviously, this is a tragedy that we want to understand. We're under the investigation, and we will continue to work not only with the folks behind me, but the families of those that have been affected.
Now, the family of one of the victims, Timothy Quinn, says that's not the case.
not the case「情况并非如此」或「并非事实」
They say they spent nearly five hours calling area hospitals and only learned the tragic news after visiting the scene.
My dad worked at the steel mill for 42 years, and he would be disgusted at what the situation is right now. Accidents happen, but families, that's brothers and sisters, that's a stronger union. They need communication with these families.
In the past 10 years, the state of Pennsylvania had the highest amount of steel plant injury reports in the nation.
A big development in those trade taxes we've been telling you about.
The U.S. and China say they have both agreed to hold off on rising tariffs on each other for another 90 days. The decision came just hours before a Tuesday deadline that would have led to a surge in import fees between the world's two largest economies. U.S. levies on Chinese goods were set to rise to 54 percent, up from 30.
hold off 延期
levy [ˋlɛvɪ] v. 征收(税等)
And China's taxes on the U.S. goods would have risen to 34 percent, up from 10. The two countries said the extension was based on negotiations that took place in Sweden last month.
Now to a story at theintersection of artificial intelligence and police investigations.
Police reports are a crucial step in law enforcement, right? They help officers detail incidents, explain why they took the actions they did, and even perhaps help them prepare to testify in court.
And now, a new AI-powered tool is helping departments across the country streamline this process, allowing them to finish reports in as little as 10 minutes.
But some legal experts are sounding the alarm over what they say are potential inaccuracies or biases in those reports.
Our Clare Duffy takes a deeper look in her podcast, Terms of Service.
Yeah, Coy, this is a really fascinating new application of AI for law enforcement. This software takes the transcript of the audio from a police-worn body camera, and AI uses that to create the first draft of a police report.
This is billed as a way to let police officers spend less time writing reports, more time out in the field, especially in light of hiring challenges that police departments across the country have faced.
bill [bɪl] v. 做广告;透过广告宣传
in light of 根据;有鉴于
Now I visited Fort Collins, Colorado, which is one of at least a handful of police departments that are starting to pilot this new technology. And they gave me a demo of this software, which is called DraftOne.
In that demo, we were able to see some of the safeguards that are built into this technology, namely these fill-in-the-blank prompts, these bracketed prompts that are automatically inserted into the AI draft report that are meant to encourage officers to go through, read the report, add information, correct errors, and just generally make sure that the report is their own.
safeguard [ˋsef͵gɑrd] n.(机器等上面的)防护装置
prompt [prɑmpt] n. 提示;提示台词
bracketed [ˋbrækətɪd] adj. 用托架固定的
Although I will say that we also saw it's fairly easy to just delete those added prompts and submit a report as is. This is something that I, you know, I didn't totally understand before reporting this piece is just how critical police reports are to the criminal justice process.
I spoke with Andrew Guthrie Ferguson. He's a law professor at George Washington University. Here's how he described it to me.
Police reports are like the lifeblood of the criminal justice system. Every day, several times a day, police officers go out on patrol. They're interacting with people and their job is to memorialize that interaction in a police report.
lifeblood [ˋlaɪf͵blʌd] n. 命脉
memorialize [məˋmorɪəl͵aɪz] v.「记录」或「写下来」; to present a memorial to
The police report might be the only memorialization of a particular incident. It can be the reason and the way that a prosecutor decides to sort of paper a case, take a case forward and keep charging it.
memorialization [məˋmorɪəlaɪzeʃən] n. 事件的记忆
paper [ˋpepɚ] v. 将....整理成文件
It can be the document that a judge looks at to decide whether or not an individual should be held over.
Now, that is why both police officers say it's very important for them to get their police reports right, but also why experts are raising some concerns about the use of A.I. in this process.
The ACLU is already urging departments not to use A.I. to draft police reports because of concerns that biases could be encoded, trained into these A.I. models or that there could be errors.
You could imagine that the transcript gets something that somebody said in an interaction with police wrong and that could end up in these A.I. police reports if an officer isn't reading through carefully.
Other experts are just calling for more transparency around this. Axon, which is the maker of this Draft One software, does give police departments the option to add a disclosure that these reports were created with A.I., but in most cases that's optional.
disclosure [dɪsˋkloʒɚ] n. 揭发;透露;公开
However, in Utah, there was a law recently passed that requires that disclosure on reports that were created with A.I. so that everybody's on the same page about what's happening here.
on the same page 意见一致、有共同的理解
Back to you.
Pop quiz, odd shot, more than 75% of all coral species are living in which of the world's seas?
Caribbean Sea, South China Sea, Adriatic, or Caspian?
Adriatic [͵edrɪˋætɪk] adj. 亚得里亚海的
Caspian [ˋkæspɪən] adj. 里海的
Answer is South China Sea. It is estimated to harbor 571 known species of reef building corals.
Now to some shocking new video into CNN 10.
New footage of two Chinesemilitary ships crashing into each other. This happened on Monday in the South China Sea.
The Chinese Coast Guard was chasing down boats from the Philippines. A Chinese warship then hit its own Coast Guard boat and did heavy damage to its bow. China isn't talking about the incident.
bow [baʊ] n. 船头,艄
The South China Sea has been a flashpoint for disputes between China, the Philippines, and several other nations.
Next up, some never seen before speciesthat have been found. During a recent deep sea expedition, one with a nickname that's hard to say without a straight face, so we will take the video full now.
This guy, named the Big Butt Starfish, yep, scientists at the Schmidt Ocean Institute stumbled upon it while live streaming their expedition at the bottom of the Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon, a biodiversity hotspot off the coast of Argentina.
submarine canyon 海底峡谷
Viewers were quick to christen the critter with its new nickname. They even pointed out that it indubitably resembles Bikini Bottom's most famous invertebrate, Patrick Star.
christen [ˋkrɪsn] v.(施洗时)给……命名
indubitably [ɪnˋdjubɪtəblɪ] adv. 不容置疑地
Full disclosure, I like Big Butt Starfish and I cannot lie. And we'll now have more on this discovery in the coming days when CNN will be speaking with two of the scientists involved in the discovery.
Today's story getting a 10 out of 10,a new school year in full swing, and one Indiana educator is bringing the jams and busting a move to help his students succeed.
bring the jams: to bring the energy, excitement, or fun, often in a musical context
bust a move ph. 跳舞
Check it out.
Rock that eagle pride, school is back alright.
Superintendent Mike Allen, also known as the Parody Principal, produces these elaborate pop music parody videos starring the students and staff at Evansville Christian School.
superintendent [͵supərɪnˋtɛndənt] n.(机关,企业等的)主管,负责人
parody [ˋpærədɪ] n. 戏谑性的模仿; 滑稽模仿作品(指文章、音乐、艺术品、讲话等)
The educational earworms turn ordinary announcements into full-blown dance parties and help relay information about everything from snow days to spring break.
earworm [ˈɪrwɝm] n. 常在耳边回响的歌曲
full-blown 充分发展的;具有一切特征的
Allen says he started the videos back in 2014 as a way to spice up the school year and they quickly became a fan favorite.
Now, 11 years and more than 50 videos later, he's still at it, parodying everyone from the Beatles to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
He says the videos have been a great way to get everyone from faculty to family members excited for the school day. Listen.
I can't believe that the thing that I get to do this as a part of my job as a superintendent to have a way that I can connect with families and kids in the community of people that don't even go here just to let them know, hey man, let's not lose the joy of what's happening in life and specifically around the really fun moments to celebrate around the school year.
What a great example. It's not what we go through. It's how we go through it.
You can turn even the mundane into something mighty. Well done. All right, superstars.
mundane [ˋmʌnden] adj. 世俗的;平凡的
Congrats to Mr. Delbin and Miss Barton's class at Monroe County Youth Center in Monroe, Michigan. Winners of Your Word Wednesday for submitting indubitably an adverb meaning undoubtedly or certainly, expressing a high degree of certainty or conviction. Love that word.
conviction [kənˋvɪkʃən] n. 确信,信念
And some spectacular shout outs today. First up, Great Brook Middle School in Antrim, New Hampshire. Check out these incredible, colorful, and creative CNN10 flags.
Thank you for giving our wall of friends a glow up. And from our YouTube channel comment section, this shout out goes to Mr. Trevino and the SDC students at Hillview Junior High School in Pittsburgh, California. Rise up.
Thank you for making us part of your day. I'm Coy Wire and we are CNN10.
rendezvous [ˋrɑndə͵vu] n. 约会;会面
commanding [kəˋmændɪŋ] adj. 处于(有望取胜或成功的)有利地位的
coke [kok] n. 焦炭,焦煤
coke gas 煤气,又称焦炉煤气
not the case「并非如此」或「并非事实」
hold off 延期
levy [ˋlɛvɪ] v. 征收(税等)
bill [bɪl] v. 做广告; 透过广告宣传
in light of 根据;有鉴于
safeguard [ˋsef͵gɑrd] n.(机器等上面的)防护装置
prompt [prɑmpt] n. 提示;提示台词
bracketed [ˋbrækətɪd] adj. 用托架固定的
lifeblood [ˋlaɪf͵blʌd] n. 命脉
memorialize [məˋmorɪəl͵aɪz] v.「记录」或「写下来」; to present a memorial to
memorialization [məˋmorɪəlaɪzeʃən] n. 事件的记忆
paper [ˋpepɚ] v. 将 (一件案件的书面记录或证据) 整理成文件
disclosure [dɪsˋkloʒɚ] n. 揭发;透露;公开
on the same page 意见一致、有共同的理解
Adriatic [͵edrɪˋætɪk] adj. 亚得里亚海的
Caspian [ˋkæspɪən] adj. 里海的
bow [baʊ] n. 船头,艄
submarine canyon 海底峡谷
christen [ˋkrɪsn] v.(施洗时)给……命名
indubitably [ɪnˋdjubɪtəblɪ] adv. 不容置疑地
bring the jams: to bring the energy, excitement, or fun, often in a musical context
bust a move ph. 跳舞
superintendent [͵supərɪnˋtɛndənt] n.(机关,企业等的)主管,负责人
parody [ˋpærədɪ] n. 戏谑性的模仿; 滑稽模仿作品(指文章、音乐、艺术品、讲话等)
earworm [ˈɪrwɝm] n. 常在耳边回响的歌曲
full-blown 充分发展的;具有一切特征的
mundane [ˋmʌnden] adj. 世俗的;平凡的
conviction [kənˋvɪkʃən] n. 确信,信念