Pronunciation ChallengeCNN10: Boeing Engine Failure / COVID-19 Global Updates / ISS

Question:
What’s your scariest experience?


---Boeing Engine Failure---

Folks, there are many things in this world that are scary. But what’s scarier than sitting on an airplane, staring out the window to see a burning engine? Airlines in several countries have decided to keep certain Boeing passenger planes on the ground. One of its models currently flies with an engine made by another company called Pratt and Whitney. On a United Airlines flight from Denver, Colorado, to Honolulu, Hawaii, there was an engine failure on Saturday afternoon, January 20. Passengers aboard the plane and people on the ground heard a loud "boom". The pilot immediately radioed a distress signal and turned the plane back toward Denver International Airport. Despite the explosion and the debris that fell from the plane onto some populated areas of Denver, no one was hurt either on the aircraft or on the ground. Many people on the plane said they held hands and prayed, and after the flight landed safely back at the airport, people cheered before they got off the plane. The aircraft was a Boeing 777; the engine was a Pratt and Whitney model 4000.

The Federal Aviation Administration is recommending more frequent inspections of this specific engine, and several airlines in the United States, South Korea, and Japan are following Boeing's recommendation to hold these aircrafts from operating until the new safety measures are implemented.


---COVID-19 Global Updates---

The number of positive tests recorded in the US has surpassed 28 million. But that's not a record of all cases, since many people who catch coronavirus have no symptoms and may not get tested. The good news is that the number of new infections continues to drop in all but a few states. It's the first time since last fall that the average number of new cases has been less than 65,000 per day. In some places, experts believe enough people have recovered from coronavirus and developed natural immunities to it. Others say increased social distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccinations are having an impact, although not every health official agrees with that, some believe that new variants, or mutated versions of coronavirus, could still increase its spread.
In the United Kingdom, the country has been in lockdown since January. Prime minister Boris Johnson, who wants to avoid a rise in hospitalizations and more pressure on the National Health Service, will be setting out to slow, cautious, and phased opening that he says will be guided by the data and not by dates.

Moving on to Rome. Italy is marking one year since the discovery of its first case of coronavirus which triggered the first national lockdown in Europe. Italy has had over 95,000 deaths from the virus, and Italians are still living under travel restrictions and curfews. However, one thing has changed—The country has a new prime minister, Mario Draghi, a well-respected economist. The Italian society now has high hopes for the new prime minister and his government to speed up the vaccine rollout plan and come up with an economic recovery plan for the country.

---ISS: International Space Station---

The International Space Station (ISS) was officially completed in 2011. Of the total 150 billion dollars it's taken to build the ISS, the U.S. has contributed about 100 billion, and it costs America about 3 to 4 billion dollars a year just to operate the orbiting laboratory. That's part of the reason why NASA wants private companies to get involved. For private astronauts to get to the ISS, the cost will be around 55 million dollars per seat. Is that a ticket you’re ever going to be able to afford? I’m sure one day in the long run, space-traveling will be both available and affordable for ordinary people like you and me, let’s just hope it doesn’t take another 100 years to achieve. Check out today’s CNN10 video to learn more about the space economy.

And now, here’s our sentence of the day. It’s a bit longer than usual but I’m sure we’re good.


Vocabulary:

1. explosion
when something blows up or explodes.

Ex: Smoking and making calls on cell phones in a gas station could lead to a massive explosion.

2. debris
broken pieces of a larger item.

Ex: Debris from the aircraft was scattered over the ocean.

3. populated
an area with a lot of people and residents.

Ex: Taipei City is densely populated with all walks of life.

4. aircraft
any vehicle that can fly.

Ex: In the world of Harry Potter, a broomstick is their aircraft.




Alright now that’s all the time we have for today.
The Boeing Engine news was such a scary thing.
What’s your scariest experience? Leave a comment below
And I’ll see you guys again next week.

Thank you, Ken. Have a good one, everyone.

^ ^

Despite the explosion and the debris that fell from the plane on to some populated areas of Denver, no one was hurt either the aircraft or on the ground

Ulises Jimenez Lara The challenge talks about the explosion of an airplane engine and the recommendations to keep those planes out of operation attacks implement new security measures

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