美国国家公共电台 NPR--Tennessee lawmakers to vote whether to expel 3 Democrats over gun control protest

Tennessee lawmakers to vote whether to expel 3 Democrats² over gun control protest

Transcript³

Lawmakers in Tennessee today will decide whether to remove three Democratic House members for chanting alongside protesters demanding gun control in the chamber⁴ last week.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The Tennessee House of Representatives votes today on expelling three Democratic lawmakers.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The lawmakers led chants alongside pro-gun control protesters in the House gallery last week, just days after Covenant⁵ School shooting in Nashville occurred. Only two House members have been expelled since the 1800s, and both times it was through a bipartisan vote.

INSKEEP: Not so bipartisan this time. Political reporter Blaise Gainey of WPLN has been following this fight. Good morning.

BLAISE GAINEY, BYLINE⁷: Good morning.

INSKEEP: A alluded⁸ to the events that led up to this. Give me the bigger story. What happened?

GAINEY: Yeah. So after that school shooting you referenced, thousands of protesters, including school-age kids and parents, took to the capitol to demand tighter gun restrictions⁹. Their demands were not acknowledged by Republican leaders, who continued business as usual. As a result, those protests grew. And on Thursday during the House floor session, three Democrats - Representatives Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Justin J. Pearson of Memphis and Justin Jones of Nashville - were upset that the protests were being ignored. They took to the podium and began chanting using a megaphone. Here's some of what that sounded like.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Whose House?

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Our House.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Whose House?

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Our House.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Whose House?

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Our House.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Gun control now.

INSKEEP: I guess this is a violation¹⁰ of decorum of the House of Representatives for lawmakers who are not actually in charge to get up there, and chanting using a megaphone in the House of Representatives. That is why they would be expelled. But how have they responded to the move against them?

GAINEY: Yeah. So they've responded by basically saying that, you know, them being expelled for something sort of minor¹¹ and just a House rule being broken is too harsh of a penalty. As you mentioned earlier, the only people to be expelled before were literally¹² committing crimes and accused of sexual assault, so things that were much more serious. But the community around them also is saying the same, that they shouldn't be expelled. And if they are expelled, 210,000 people will lose their representative.

INSKEEP: Oh. And I guess we should mention these, of course, would be Democratic-leaning districts, or at least districts that elected Democrats to this heavily Republican legislature.

GAINEY: That is correct.

INSKEEP: They're from around Nashville, is that right?

GAINEY: So Justin Jones is in Nashville. You know, so all the supporters know him. He was an activist¹³ before. He's held sit-ins and led protests before being elected. Justin J. Pearson is from Memphis, also a blue dot in this red state. Gloria Johnson is from Knoxville, where - the side of her county where she's at is - leans a little more Democrat¹, but the actual county is essentially¹⁴ Republican.

INSKEEP: OK. You mentioned one of them, Justin J. Pearson. I believe we've got some sound of Representative Pearson talking about his potential expulsion. Let's listen to a little bit of that.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JUSTIN J PEARSON: We are not experiencing democracy and our voices being silenced. That they have a partisan⁶ vote, the first partisan vote, to expel House members is and should frighten every Tennessean. And it should frighten Americans.

INSKEEP: In a few seconds, how are Republicans explaining this move?

GAINEY: Yeah, I mean, the House speaker has called the three insurrectionists and said they were trying to incite¹⁵ a riot. And since they've broken so many House rules, they should be expelled.

INSKEEP: All right. We'll continue following this story, too. Blaise Gainey of WPLN. Thanks so much.

GAINEY: Thank you.

1 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。

2 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》

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 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。

5 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

6 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 alluded   

提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中，你提到了某个阴谋。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

11 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

14 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

15 incite   

v.引起，激动，煽动

参考例句：

• I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家，非常会调动群众的情绪。
• Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将，就会干。