CNN 2009-12-10

Hi, I’m Carl Azuz, you've landed on CNN student news.
During a speech yesterday, President Obama offered some ideas on how to create new jobs and help out the country’s economy. Offering tax breaks to small businesses, expanding some of the government’s stimulus¹ programs, and spending more money on infrastructure² projects things like roads, bridges and water systems. The thing is, all of that costs money and that’s where the TARP comes in. That’s the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the financial industry bailout passed last year. The bailout ended up not costing as much as expected and President Obama thinks the extra could be used to help out in other ways.

“The TARP program was flawed, and we have worked hard to correct those flaws and manage it properly. And today TARP has served its original purpose and at much lower cost than we expected. In fact because of our stewardship³ of this program and the transparency and accountability we put in place, TARP is expected to cost the tax payers at least 200 billion dollars less than what was anticipated just this past summer.”

Couple of things keep in mind, though, first, White House officials say they can’t just use TARP money to pay for infrastructure projects, the programs just doesn’t work like that. And second, some Republicans are outraged⁴ by the idea of spending any unused TARP funds because they say that money was supposed to help pay off the country’s debt.

Stewardship is personal responsibility for taking care of another person's property or financial affairs or in religious orders taking care of finances.

1 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 stewardship   

n. n. 管理工作；管事人的职位及职责

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Last, but certainly not least, are the issues of stewardship and ethics. 最后，但当然不是微不足道的，是工作和道德规范的问题。

4 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。