CNN听力合辑Sep.27GM罢工结束/缅甸示威游行/拍卖大宪章
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CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, everybody. I'm Carl Azuz, here at the CNN Center. We want to thank you for stopping in to check out this brand new edition of CNN Student News. We've got a full show lined up for you today. So, to get you ready for our first story, let's open up the dictionary and expand our vocabulary.
Word to the Wise
GEORGE RAMSAY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: A Word to the Wise...
union: (noun) an organization of workers, such as a labor union
Source:www.dictionray.com
First Up: Back to Work
AZUZ: Members of one of America's largest unions are back on the job after the end of a two-day strike. The United Auto Workers, or UAW, reached a tentative agreement with General Motors yesterday. The two sides worked through a marathon negotiating session and came up with the deal around 3 AM Wednesday. The agreement ended a two-day work stoppage. It started on Monday, when 73,000 UAW members walked off the job and hit the picket lines. The strike closed down 80 GM plants and parts centers across 30 states. But now that it's over, the union's president says he's happy with the resolution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON GETTELFINGER, UAW PRESIDENT: A lot of hard work has gone into it, and we successfully resolved a lot of difficult issues. This bargaining committee gave it their all under the leadership of vice president Cal Rapsin and his staff. We feel very good about this tentative agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: And his counterpart agrees. The chairman and CEO of General Motors said, "This agreement will allow us to maintain a strong manufacturing presence in the United States." A positive ending to what he called "one of the most complex and difficult bargaining sessions in the history of the GM-UAW relationship." Members of the UAW are expected to start voting on the agreement later this week.
Protests in Myanmar
AZUZ: And now we have some new developments in a story we told you about yesterday. The United Nations is sending a special envoy, or diplomatic agent, to Myanmar. Buddhist monks have been leading protests in the Southeast Asian nation for more than a week now. Thousands of demonstrators have filled the streets of Myanmar's capital city, and according to multiple reports, some clashes between security forces and protesters have turned violent. The rallies are calling for democracy in the country, which has been under military rule for more than 40 years.
Promo
AZUZ: So where exactly is Myanmar located? Our downloadable maps can help you track it down. But labeling them is up to you. Log on to CNNStudentNews.com and scroll down to the Maps section to check out these free resources.
Shoutout
RAMSAY: Time for the Shoutout! Which of these documents granted freedoms to the English in the year 1215? Was it the A) Monroe Doctrine, B) Treaty of Calais, C) Bill of Rights or D) Magna Carta? You've got three seconds -- GO! England's King John issued the Magna Carta which later inspired the founding fathers in creating the U.S. Constitution. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!
History for Sale
AZUZ: Do the math on that Shoutout, and you'll realize that the Magna Carta was signed almost 800 years ago. Probably seems like ancient history. But the historic document, which means "Great Charter" in Latin, isn't just something on the pages of a textbook. It's for real, and it's for sale. So, before the bidding starts, let's look at just how influential the Magna Carta has been.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Sotheby's auction house says it's the most important document ever sold. Of course, they're the ones trying to sell it, but it'd be a mistake to overlook the historical significance of the Magna Carta.
DAVID REDDEN, SOTHEBY'S VICE CHAIRMAN: If you try and work back from the freedoms we have today to when the first seeds were planted, it's Magna Carta. Magna Carta is the birth certificate.
AZUZ: And that's true for a lot of countries. In fact, ideas expressed in the national and state constitutions of the U.S. were actually lifted directly from the Magna Carta.
REDDEN: It's the first stepping stone in a group of documents which have completely and totally made our lives: The Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address.
AZUZ: Now what's for sale at Sotheby's isn't the only document, of course. It's a 710-year-old copy, which means it was penned, and put into English law, a little more than 80 years after King John signed the first charter. This one will be up for auction in December. And if you want it, all you'll need is about 20 or 30... million! Hey, history ain't cheap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
High-Flying Tradition
AZUZ: Go fly a kite. It sounds pretty hokey, but it used to be something you'd say to get someone to leave you alone, something along the lines of "get out of here" or "get lost". But in Afghanistan, telling someone to fly a kite has a lot more meaning. Nic Robertson explains the hobby's long history in the Asian country.
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NIC ROBERTSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kite flying is not just a calm afternoon pastime here, but a centuries-old competitive sport. A passion. The Taliban repressed it; now it's beginning to flourish anew. A bestselling American book, "The Kite Runner," and a Hollywood movie based on it and coming out soon, are showing how central it is to life here, its ferocity mirroring Afghanistan's harsh ways. Working in his mud-built house in Kabul, Mohammed is a 4th generation kite maker and competitor, perhaps Kabul's most famous. Last year he won a national award for kite making, but says he's even better at kite fighting.
His children are learning, too. The family is well known here. Now a measure of fame is headed its way. Mohammed has been asked to train actors for the big budget Paramount Pictures movie.
MOHAMMED ESSAM, KITE MAKER: They came here and they asked and found out I am the best in this kite flying market. And therefore they send those two boys to be trained by me.
ROBERTSON: Easy for this 50-year-old father of 12. He's been teaching his children for decades. The key to the sport is not to just fly the kite, but to use the glass-covered string to cut the thread of an opponent's. When he can, he likes to work outside. He lives in the graveyard, he says, because it's close to his market: the old, traditional part of town. As he whittles, his kites rise and tumble from neighboring roofs. His boasts that he's the best in the business almost cost him his role helping the movie makers.
ESSAM: Shopkeepers do not want me to be more famous. And they do not give my address to them, and they send them to someone else. But finally people can find me.
ROBERTSON: He learned from his father, who learned from his, who learned from his. More than a hundred years of wisdom outlasting invading armies and kings. Six-year-old Sabra and five-year-old Sabur instinctively know their part in this ancient craft. Sabra sells her own kites for a couple of cents. Thirteen-year-old Hassan works alone. He earns twenty dollars a kite. He's the only one who's been told the secret to the family's succes.
The secret glue... (he smells it)... what's inside? What's the secret? His answer: Simple, he's not telling. If he did, he says I'd steal his business. He gets $200 for the best kites. That's a lot of money here; three times the average monthly government salary. So competitive is the market, he marks his kites with a scorpion to prevent imitations and brags he gets orders of 500 kites at a time.
And this is where people come to do battle with their kites, on a hill overlooking Kabul. And there's plenty of evidence of those battles: string litters the ground everywhere. On the war-scarred hillside, the pages of "Kite Runner" are played out. Young boys chase the losers' fallen kites and keep them as trophies. But for Mohammed, there is always one nagging worry.
ESSAM: Sometimes I ask my mother, "Am I famous or was my dad more famous?" But my mother answers, "No, you are one step ahead of your father."
ROBERTSON: If the movie is half as popular as the book, he can stop worrying about who's the best until his children grow up. Nic Robertson, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Before We Go
AZUZ: Last up today, we've got a new video that's burning up the Internet. Having some trouble understanding those lyrics? That might be because this single is from Switzerland. And the artists aren't just throwing down some hot beats. They're busting out the digits... of the fire department's emergency phone number. Yeah, this is actually an informational ad campaign. The firemen thought it'd be a creative way for people to remember their number.
Goodbye
AZUZ: Well, it's certainly memorable. That's a wrap on our show for today. Check back with us tomorrow for more commercial-free CNN Student News. Until then, I'm Carl Azuz.
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