2021年经济学人 美国债务上限危机缓和

The world this week -- Politics

本周国际要闻——政治

A congressional stalemate over whether to raise America’s debt ceiling showed signs of easing.

国会就是否提高美国债务上限问题陷入的僵局显示出缓和的迹象。

Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, said he would support raising the limit until December, avoiding a sovereign default as early as October 18th.

参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔表示，他将支持在12月之前提高债务上限，避免最早将于10月18日发生的主权债务违约。

As a condition, he wants Democrats¹ to raise the borrowing cap by a fixed² amount, rather than suspend it altogether until some future time.

作为条件，他希望民主党人将借款上限提高一个固定的数额，而不是将它们整个推迟到未来某个时候决定。

December may bring another round of brinkmanship.

12月可能会出现新一轮的边缘政策。

A federal judge blocked an abortion⁵ law passed in Texas that allows anyone in America to sue anyone who helps someone in the state abort⁴ a fetus⁶ older than six weeks.

一名联邦法官阻止了德克萨斯州通过的一项堕胎法，该法律允许任何在美国的人起诉帮助该州人打掉六周以上胎儿的人。

Robert Pitman, whom Barack Obama nominated to the bench in 2014, forbade state courts from accepting suits under the law.

2014年被奥巴马提名为法官的罗伯特·皮特曼禁止州法院根据该法律受理诉讼。

Texas filed an appeal.

德克萨斯州提出上诉。

The conservative-majority Supreme⁷ Court last month declined to prevent Texas from enacting⁸ the law.

上个月，保守派占多数的最高法院拒绝阻止德克萨斯州颁布这项法律。

UN investigators⁹ accused Russian mercenaries working for Wagner, a security firm, of killing¹⁰ and torturing migrants in Libya.

联合国调查人员指控为安全服务公司瓦格纳工作的俄罗斯雇佣兵在利比亚杀害和折磨移民。

Separately America warned Mali against signing a deal with Wagner, reportedly worth almost $11m a month, for it to supply 1,000 mercenaries to train Mali’s army and protect officials.

另外，美国警告马里不要与瓦格纳签署协议，据报道，该协议价值近1100万美元每月，用于让瓦格纳提供1000名雇佣兵来训练马里军队和保护官员。

Somalia’s long-delayed elections, which had already been rescheduled for October 10th, were postponed¹¹ again.

索马里推迟已久的选举之前已被重新安排在10月10日，现在又再次推迟。

Tensions have increased between government ministers and the president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who is accused of stalling the vote to stay in power.

政府部长和总统穆罕默德·阿卜杜拉希·穆罕默德之间的紧张关系加剧，穆罕默德被指控拖延选举以继续掌权。

Ethiopia ordered the expulsion of seven senior UN officials involved in humanitarian¹² relief in the northern region of Tigray after accusing them of “meddling” in its internal affairs.

埃塞俄比亚指控7名参与提格雷北部地区人道主义救援的联合国高级官员“干涉”其内政，随后下令驱逐他们。

The UN’s humanitarian agencies estimate that 400,000 people in Tigray are on the brink³ of starvation.

联合国人道主义机构估计，提格雷有40万人处于饥饿的边缘。

The World Health Organisation¹³ endorsed¹⁴ use of the first malaria¹⁵ vaccine¹⁶ for children at risk of infection.

世界卫生组织赞成为有感染风险的儿童注射首个疟疾疫苗。

It said that the jab, called RTS,S and made by GlaxoSmithKline, was safe and reduced by 30% cases of severe malaria in young children.

该组织称，这种由葛兰素史克公司生产的名为RTS,S的疫苗是安全的，可使幼儿严重疟疾的病例减少30%。

Infants in much of sub-Saharan Africa contract malaria several times a year.

撒哈拉以南非洲大部分地区的婴儿每年会感染疟疾数次。

A child under five dies of it every two minutes.

每两分钟就有一名五岁以下的儿童死于此病。

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 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

3 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

4 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

5 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

6 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 enacting   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。

9 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

12 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

13 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

14 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

16 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。