Obama back in Washington, big challenges ahead

    WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday went back to Washington from his two-week getaway in Hawaii, facing a new Republican-controlled Congress(国会) and plenty of headaches.
    Obama's plane touched down in Andrews Airforce Base outside Washington D.C. late Tuesday morning. Onboard the Air Force One, he said he hopes incoming House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "realize that there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012," and build on lame-duck success to build the economy and create jobs.
    According to the White House, Obama told reporters accompanying him on the plane that "there's gonna be politics" in Washington in the new year, and he expects Republicans to "play to their base for a certain period of time.""Our job this year is to make sure that we build on recovery," he said. "We started making good progress on that in the lame-duck, and I expect to build on that progress when I get back."After the Democrats¹ were trumped² by the Republicans in the mid- term elections, losing control of the House of Representatives（众议院）, Obama marked the year-end with impressive victories as he got nearly everything he asked for in the lame-duck session of the Congress, which saw a burst of achievements as it drew to a close.
    "We are not doomed³ to endless gridlock," said Obama before he left for vacation. "This has been the most productive post- election period we've had in decades."But victories in the lame-duck session doesn't mean an equally smooth ride for Obama this year, when the Republicans took over the House. House Republicans have vowed⁴ to roll back spending on hundreds of federal programs to 2008 levels. Republicans have also indicated they will try and repeal⁵ the healthcare reform.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 trumped   

v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去分词 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• That woman trumped up various baseless charges against him. 那个女人捏造种种毫无根据的罪名指控他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Several of his colleagues trumped up a complaint to get him removed from the job. 他的几位同事诬告他，使他丟掉了工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

4 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

5 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。