This is Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.
The most advanced weather satellite ever built in the United States has rocketed into space, part of an 11-billion-dollar effort to revolutionize forecasting and save lives.
The new GOES-R spacecraft will track U.S. weather as never before including hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, volcanic ash clouds, wildfires, lightning storms, and even solar flares. Around 50 TV meteorologists from around the country converged on the launch site, along with 8,000 space program workers and guests.
Scientists said what is exciting is that they&`&re going to be getting more data, more often, much more detailed, and with higher resolution. They said that in the case of tornadoes, if people can have another 10 to 20 minutes, more lives will be saved.
The scientists associated with the project said that one should think superhero speed and accuracy for forecasting, like super high-definition TV versus black-and-white. For the American public, that will mean faster, more accurate weather forecasts and warnings. That also will mean more lives saved and better environmental intelligence for government officials responsible for hurricane and other evacuations.
Airline passengers also stand to benefit, as do rocket launch teams. Improved forecasting will help pilots avoid bad weather and help rocket scientists know when to call off a launch.
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While last month merely tied for the world&`&s third warmest October in history, 2016 is still on track to be the hottest year on record.
The United States&`& National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the globe averaged almost 15 degrees Celsius, which is 0.7 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th-century average but not as warm as Octobers in 2015 and 2014.
From May last year to August this year, Earth set monthly heat records for 16 straight months.
Scientists blame continued man-made climate change from the burning of fossil fuels, goosed by a now-gone El Nino. El Nino is the occasional natural warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide.
The first 10 months of this year have been the hottest to date, averaging 15 degrees Celsius. That beats 2015 by 0.1 degrees Celsius.
U.S. climate scientists said it is likely that this year will eclipse last year as the hottest year on record. If November and October are just average for the 21st century, it will set a new record. But the scientists said a weak La Nina, the cooling flip side of El Nino, provides a small possibility that this year will slip slightly behind last year.
Still, 2016, 2015 and 2014 will go down as the three hottest years on record. Records go back to 1880.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
China will start building research vessel Dayang Erhao, or Ocean No.2, and a support ship for manned submarine Jiaolong, both expected to be put into service in March 2019.
The China Ocean Mineral Resources Association has signed contracts with two ship manufacturers to begin construction on the research vessels with plans to finish the projects in around 28 months.
According to the association, the Ocean No.2 will have a displacement of 4,000 tonnes and measure 98 meters long and 17 meters wide.
It will contain more than 400 square meters of laboratory space and will be equipped with over 70 types of research devices.
Ocean No.2 will be capable of conducting scientific missions, including water and atmospheric research, deep-sea extreme environment detection, as well as observations on marine geology and ecology.
The new support ship, with a displacement of around 4,000 tonnes, is designed to provide support and maintenance to Jiaolong&`&s deep sea diving tasks.
At 90 meters long and 17 meters wide, the support ship will have different types of laboratories filling more than 300 square meters.
The support ship&`&s research system will be able to complete exploration tasks for Jiaolong&`&s diving activities as well as process and conduct on-site analysis of data and samples.
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The permanent shiplift at China&`&s Three Gorges Dam has started its round-the-clock operations after a first phase of two-month trial operation that ended recently.
The shiplift began trials in September and lasted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The round-the-clock trial will last until the water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir falls to 145 meters. Tests for night operations were conducted a week earlier.
The shiplift was designed by a team of Chinese and German scientists, and is the largest and most sophisticated of its kind in the world.
It has been installed to complement the five-tier ship lock next to it, for the world&`&s largest hydropower project on the Yangtze River, China&`&s longest river. The trial operation will last for a year.
The vertical-hoisting elevator helps ships with a maximum displacement of 3,000 tonnes, to traverse the dam. The water level behind the dam is up to 113 meters higher than the downstream river.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
Almost every morning since their father&`&s stunning victory on Election Day, three of Donald Trump&`&s grown children walk through the Trump Tower lobby and board an elevator. But are Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric going to the campaign office on the fifth floor? Or are they going to their business offices on the 25th floor, or the president-elect&`&s penthouse on the 56th floor?
That uncertainty highlights the multiple roles the children play for their father. For the past year, the lines were constantly blurred between political campaign and business empire, raising questions about a possible conflict of interest between Trump&`&s White House and his sprawling business interests.
The children are poised to wield incredible influence over their father, even if they don&`&t follow him to Washington. Trump said consistently during the campaign that if he won, those children would stay in New York and run his business. But the three, plus Ivanka&`&s husband Jared Kushner, were all named to the transition team&`&s executive committee.
The U.S. Congress passed an anti-nepotism law in 1967 that prohibits the president from appointing a family member to work in the office or agency they oversee. The measure was passed as a reaction to President John F. Kennedy appointing his brother Robert as attorney general.
But the law does not appear to prevent the children from serving as unpaid advisers or providing informal counsel. Now they stand poised to be the most influential presidential children in decades.
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In what may be his last significant act as U.S. President Barack Obama&`&s surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy has released a report, calling for a major cultural shift in the way Americans view drug and alcohol addiction.
The report, entitled "Facing Addiction in America", details the toll addiction takes on the nation. Seventy-eight people die each day from an opioid overdose; and 20 million have a substance use disorder.
The report explains how brain science offers hope for recovery. While its findings have been reported elsewhere, including by other federal agencies, the report seeks to inspire action and sway public opinion in the style of the surgeon general&`&s landmark report on smoking.
With President-elect Donald Trump taking office, it&`&s uncertain whether access to addiction treatment will improve or deteriorate. Trump and the Republican-led Congress are pledging to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which made addiction treatment an essential health benefit.
Murthy said in an interview recently that he hasn&`&t spoken to Trump but looks forward to working with his administration to save lives with expanded access to treatment.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at [email protected]. That&`&s [email protected]. Now the news continues.
A zoo in central California in the United States is showing off a new lion cub and asking visitors to choose his name.
Reporters got a glimpse of the 5-week-old cub recently at Fresno Chaffee Zoo as he rolled in his enclosure and napped on his mom, Kiki.
Kiki gave birth to three cubs on Oct. 11, but only the unnamed cub survived.
Voting on its name runs through Nov. 27, and the little lion will likely get his public viewing a month or so later.
Zoo staff have selected six Swahili names to choose from, namely Enzi, which means powerful, Kijani, meaning warrior, Asani, which means rebellious, Erevu, meaning clever, Mansa, meaning king, and Bwani which means gentleman.
Visitors can buy a token and place it in a box corresponding to the name they like best.
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