副总统投票后特朗普教育部长人选终获确认

 　　Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump¹’s controversial pick to be US education secretary, was confirmed in the job yesterday only after vice-president Mike Pence stepped in to cast an unprecedented² tiebreaking vote in the Senate.

　　唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)提名的有争议的美国教育部长人选贝齐?德沃斯(Betsy DeVos)昨日在美国副总统迈克?彭斯(Mike Pence)出面在参议院投出史无前例的决定性一票后，才终于得到确认。

　　Ms DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor³ who critics say is an enemy of state schools, became Mr Trump’s most contentious⁴ cabinet nominee⁵ amid questions about her qualifications for the role and potential conflicts of interest stemming from her wealth.

　　德沃斯是共和党的一位亿万富豪捐赠者，批评者称她是公立学校的敌人。她的资格，以及她的财富所带来的潜在利益冲突，都招致质疑，令她成为特朗普最有争议的内阁提名人。

　　The need for Mr Pence to intervene signalled the potential fragility of the president’s support among a few of his party’s headstrong senators, who have already shown a willingness to speak out against his policies.

　　需要彭斯出面干预表明，对美国总统的支持在少数顽固的共和党参议员那儿存在脆弱性，他们已经表明愿意公开反对他的政策。

　　With the chamber⁶ deadlocked⁷ at 50-50 after two Republican senators voted against Ms DeVos, Mr Pence arrived on Capitol Hill to cast the deciding vote for her — the first time a vice-president has used his tiebreaking powers to confirm a cabinet secretary.

　　由于两名共和党参议员投票反对确认德沃斯，参议院投票陷入50对50的僵局，彭斯来到国会山为她投出决定性的一票。这是美国副总统首次运用自己的决定权来确认一位内阁部长。

　　副总统投票后特朗普教育部长人选终获确认.jpg

　　Ms DeVos’s nomination⁸ had turned into a proxy⁹ war for a broader debate in the US over the future of government-run schools and education funding.

　　对德沃斯的提名已成为美国一场更广泛辩论的“代理人战争”，其焦点问题是公立学校和教育经费的未来。

　　The new education secretary has used her vast wealth to fund groups that advocate using public funds to pay tuition fees at private institutions such as charter schools, bankrolling a movement that critics say is undermining state schools.

　　这位新任教育部长曾利用自己庞大的财富资助一些团体，它们倡导使用公款支付特许学校之类私立机构的学费；批评者称，她资助的运动在损害公立学校。

　　Democrats¹¹ fought bitterly to shoot down her nomination, arguing that she had never held a job in education and highlighting how she fumbled¹² questions from lawmakers about policy issues in a confirmation¹³ hearing.

　　民主党人激烈反对她的提名，称她从未从事教育工作，并指出她在确认听证会上笨拙地回答议员们提出的政策问题。

　　Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat¹⁰, said that Ms DeVos was driven by an “extreme rightwing ideology” and wanted “to bring her anti-government, free-market-above-all philosophy to an education system that she has called nothing more than ‘an industry’.”

　　民主党参议员帕蒂?默里(Patty Murray)表示，德沃斯被“极右翼意识形态”驱使，想要“把她那套反政府的、自由市场至上的哲学运用到教育系统，而且她只把教育系统称为‘一个产业’”。

　　The Republican senators who opposed Ms DeVos, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, said they were concerned she did not have sufficient experience with state schools, which are central to the education department’s mandate¹⁴.

　　阿拉斯加州参议员丽莎?穆考斯基(Lisa Murkowski)、缅因州参议员苏珊?柯林斯(Susan Collins)是共和党内反对德沃斯的参议员，她们表示担心她在公立学校上缺乏足够经验，而这种经验是教育部职责的核心。

　　Mr Trump was quick to tweet his congratulations to the new education secretary, who he has hailed as a “reformer”.

　　特朗普迅速在Twitter上向新任教育部长表示祝贺，称赞她是一位“改革者”。

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

4 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

5 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

6 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

7 deadlocked   

陷入僵局的；僵持不下的

参考例句：

• The plan deadlocked over the funds. 这个计划由于经费问题而搁浅了。
• The meeting deadlocked over the wage issue. 会议因工资问题而停顿下来。

8 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

9 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

10 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

11 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》

12 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。

13 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

14 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。