スピーキングチャレンジ【CNN10】オミクロン変異株・アメリカインフラの最新情報

[Transcript]

Omicron: The New Covid-19 Variant

Our first story begins in the United Kingdom, where health officials say Omicron, a newly-discovered variant or version of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly throughout the country. The British government estimates that Omicron accounts for 20% of all coronavirus cases in the UK, which amounted to just over 4,700 Omicron cases on Monday (Dec 13, 2021). 10 people had been hospitalized with the new variant, despite most of them being fully vaccinated; and unfortunately, one person with it has died.

Across the Atlantic, New York State is increasing COVID-related restrictions. For people to enter businesses there, they now have to be wearing masks unless the businesses themselves require vaccinations. A mask mandate remains in effect in Illinois for people who go inside public buildings, and that's regardless of whether they've been vaccinated. Protesters have been speaking out against various mandates nationwide, and dozens of court cases related to them have been filed. What do you think? Is it a violation of human rights when the government requests people to wear masks in the midst of the pandemic?

Inflation in the U.S.

President Gerald Ford once called inflation a public enemy back in 1974. And at the moment, there are a lot of mixed signals concerning the US economy. In its most recent employment report, the Labor Department said 210,000 jobs were created in November, that's far short of the 573,000 economists had expected⏤a real bad sign there. On the other hand, the unemployment rate dropped from 4.6% in October to 4.2% in November, which is rather a good sign.

Wages have increased; the government says this November, the average amount of money Americans made per hour was 4.8% higher than it was a year ago, but prices have increased, too. The government says inflation is 6.8% higher than it was a year ago, its biggest increase in almost four decades. And while some are optimistic that inflation could calm down in the year ahead, banking officials, however, have indicated that it may stick around for some more time.

CNN Hero 2021 Announced

Folks, back in November, we introduced the 2021 Top 10 CNN Heroes. It was viewers’ decision to vote for their best hero among the ten, so ladies and gents, meet Shirely Raines, the 2021 CNN Hero of the Year. Shirely Raines is the founder of a non-profit organization called "Beauty 2 the Streetz". For the past six years, the NPO has provided food, clothing, hair, and makeup services on Skid Row, an area of Los Angeles, California that has one of America's highest concentrations of homeless people.

Raines had experienced financial insecurity, grief, and loss herself in previous years after her two-year-old son died. She first started working in this area in 2017 when she joined a church group that went there to feed people, and she felt a connection to the homeless community. 30 years afterward, she and her six children began the work that became Beauty 2 the Streetz.

Upon receiving a $100,000 reward from CNN in support of her good work, Raines stated in gratitude that it’s important we know that broken people are still very useful.

And that wraps up our news today, let’s move on to our sentence of the day.

[Sentence of the day]


Protesters have been speaking out against various mandates nationwide, and dozens of court cases related to them have been filed.

[Vocabulary words]

1. protester
someone who shows that they disagree with something in the public

E.g. A group of protesters was arrested by the police.

2. mandate
a type of order and request

E.g. Restaurants and shops are compelled to carry out the indoor mask mandate.

3. file
to officially record something, especially in a law court

E.g. The police filed charges against the two suspects.


Alright, folks, that’s all we have time for today
Christmas is just around the corner
So make a wish and let it come true
Happy holidays and a rosy 2022 to all of you
This is Ken Miao, singing Happy New Year and we’ll meet again next year. Bye!

♫ Happy New Year - ABBA ♫

No more champagne
And the fireworks are through
Here we are, me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It's the end of the party
And the morning seems so grey
So unlike yesterday
Now's the time for us to say...

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I