Pronunciation ChallengeCNN10: US Capitol Hill Riot / Pakistan Blackout

Thanks, Ken. Have a good one, everybody.

Timecode】

-- Prologue --
00:22-01:57 News: US Politics: Capitol Hill Riot
02:00-02:58 News: Pakistan Blackout
02:59-03:15 Malala Yousafzai
03:20-03:40 Sentence of the Day
03:42-05:15 Vocabulary (concerned/encourage/social media)
-- Epilogue --

【Transcript】

--- US Politics: Capitol Hill Riot ---

Last week on January 6, the US Capitol Hill was stormed by angry Trump supporters, causing 5 deaths including a police officer on duty. Several arrests were made over the weekend in connection with Wednesday's riot. Charges include entering a restricted building without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct. The US Capitol police chief has resigned from his job. He was in charge of the main law enforcement agency that protects the building. The Justice Department says 300 agents and officers from other groups like the FBI and US Marshals were sent to help on Wednesday. But by the time the additional officers got there, Capitol Police had already lost control of the situation.

Right before the riot, President Trump said to his supporters that the demonstrators would march to the Capitol to “peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard”, which is believed to have provoked the violent incident. This week, House Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump, which are formal charges of his wrongdoings. President Trump says he doesn't plan to attend Biden’s inauguration, which could make him the fourth president who refused to attend the successor’s inauguration due to political reasons since 1869.

--- Pakistan Blackout ---

Pakistan has a large population with more than 233 million people. Their lights went out on Saturday night, January 9. What the nation saw over the weekend was its most widespread power shutdown since 2015. An engineering problem at a power plant in southern Pakistan reportedly caused other ones in the nation to shut down. Since electricity can be unreliable here, all of the nation's major airports as well as many of its hospitals and some homes are equipped with backup generators. The residents say there were long lines at gas stations where people waited to get fuel for their generators. Luckily, by dawn on Sunday morning, Pakistan's energy minister said power had come back on for major parts of the capital city of Islamabad.

Interesting fact: Malala Yousafzai is the youngest ever person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. At 17, she is a social activist for women’s education in the Swat Valley in Northern Pakistan.



【Vocabulary】

1. concerned
an expression of being worried

Ex: I'm a bit concerned about/for your health.
Ex: Concerned parents have complained about the dangerous playground.


2. encourage
to make someone feel more confident to do something

Ex: We were encouraged to learn foreign languages at school.
Ex: My parents encouraged me to study abroad.


3. social media
websites and computer programs that allow people to communicate and share information on the internet

Ex: Companies are increasingly making use of social media in order to market/promote their goods.
Ex: The VoiceTube Pronunciation Challenge Show has gone viral on social media platforms.


【Epilogue】

Alright that’s all the time we have for today.
Unfortunately, our smoothie machine is currently under maintenance
so you’ll have to make your own cup of vocab smoothie this week!
Share your smoothie with me in the comment section down below.

By the way, we have been seeing some COVID-19 cases in Taiwan over the week.
Dear listeners please stay safe and avoid public gatherings.
A good health to everyone
This is Ken Miao.
And I’ll see you guys again next week.

^ ^

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