Pronunciation ChallengeCNN10: China’s Strict Zero-Covid Policy /American Cars Reach A New Record / Boeing Spacecraft / Shark-cano

[Transcript]

China’s Strict Zero-Covid Policy

Our story today begins in China. Government media there say that more than 100,000 people took part in an emergency online meeting this week. And their focus was on how to help the Chinese economy⏤the second largest in the world⏤as it struggles from the communist country's response to the ongoing COVID pandemic. While many other nations are learning to live with the disease, China has maintained a strict zero-COVID policy. And what that policy tries to do is to crush every chain of COVID transmission.

The strict policy includes mandatory quarantines, quick lockdowns, closed borders, mass testing, and contact tracing, which follows people wherever they go. Sounds like what the world did earlier before the release of vaccines. But a growing side effect of this policy is that it's hurting China's economic growth. International investment banks also expect it'll be significantly less this year than it was last year.

American Cars Reach A New Record

Americans are holding on to their vehicles longer than ever. This is according to S&P Global Mobility, which examines data from automotive markets. Now, the average car on the road is just over 13 years old, which means many are much older and the average light truck is about 11.5 years old. So, combined, the vehicles we commonly drive are over 12.

Analysts say there are several reasons for this. For one thing, there's an ongoing shortage of computer chips and car parts for new vehicles⏤that's hurt their sales and driven prices up. The used-car market has also been affected. Prices for previously-owned vehicles hit an all-time high early this year, though they've dropped a little since then. Analysts say some cars are lasting longer than they used to, so people don't need to get rid of them. And junkyards are reporting their lowest scrap rate in decades.

In short, people are putting more miles on what they have. New cars? Gotta wait!

[CNN10 Video]

Folks, today’s CNN10 video can be wrapped up in 2 letters, S&S, space, and shark-cano. A private American company called Boeing, yes that’s right, the company that makes airplanes, just completed its first successful mission to the International Space Station with its Starliner Spacecraft. Now, the other S, the shark-cano, is an undersea volcano in the Solomon Islands that is continuously erupting while many sharks swim around in the hot and acidic waters. Check out today’s CNN10 video for more.

[Sentence of the day]

In Beijing, nearly all public activity has been halted indefinitely, over just a few dozen daily COVID cases.

[Vocabulary]

1. halt
to make or to stop moving or doing something

i.e. Military forces halted the demonstrators by blocking the road.

2. indefinitely
for a period of time with no fixed end

i.e. The negotiations have been postponed indefinitely.

3. dozen
twelve of something

i.e. A dozen eggs means 12 eggs.


Alright, that’s all we have time for today.
Folks, what is your way of daily transportation?
Do you walk, take the bus, the MRT
Or do you ride a scooter, or drive a car to school or your office?
Let me know in the comment section down below.
This is Ken Miao. I’ll see you again next week.

Day 264

Day 110.