CNN 2010-11-21

I respectfully submit that this committee should recommend to the full House that it take disciplinary action against respondent, and that this committee recommend respondent be censured¹ by the House.

I am grateful that I had this opportunity to serve and recognize that had it not been for God's gift in saving my life, I would not even be here today to talk with you. I thank you for this awkward opportunity to express myself, and I apologize for any embarrassment² I've caused you individually or collectively as a member of this greatest institution in the country and the world.

Quite a bit of fan-fare on Wall Street this morning, as General Motors is once again a publicly-traded company. GM shares opened at $35, which is two dollars above the offering price. The automaker, which is a little more than a year out of bankruptcy³ and a $50 billion federal government bailout raised $20 billion in the IPO, making it the largest public offering in US history. Even with the automaker’s mess of stock sales and billions more than it’s already returned to the government, GM is still on the hump for about $27 billion. Just how much that money taxpayers⁴ will get back depends on the price the government gets for its 33% stake in the company when it eventually sells those shares.

It is a national security imperative⁵ that the United States ratify⁶ the new START treaty this year. There is no higher national security priority for the lame⁷ duck session of Congress. The stakes for American national security are clear, and they are high. I’m confident that we should be able to get the votes. Keep in mind that every President since Ronald Reagan has presented a arms treaty with Russia and been able to get ratification⁸.

The miners are right behind me here on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport. We just finished a four-and-a-half-hour flight from Atlanta, that’s when they collectively come from Santiago. And the 33 miners, five rescuers are here to attend our “CNN Heroes: An All-star tribute” that is tapping and will be airing on Thanksgiving evening. Right now, you can see all the miners are getting amid aboard buses here on the tarmac. They are being treated like VIPs, because they are VIPs. They are going to be taken to a hotel in Los Angeles. Now we are going to start a fun few days of touring LA at southern California. It’s hard to imagine five weeks ago, these 33 miners were half a mile below for 10 weeks in a dark mine and now they are celebrating here in southern California, the first time for most of them who’d been out of the nation of Chile.
 

1 censured   

v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的过去式 )

参考例句：

• They were censured as traitors. 他们被指责为叛徒。 来自辞典例句
• The judge censured the driver but didn't fine him. 法官责备了司机但没罚他款。 来自辞典例句

2 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

3 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

4 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

5 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

6 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。

7 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。

8 ratification   

n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• The treaty is awaiting ratification.条约正等待批准。
• The treaty is subject to ratification.此条约经批准后才能生效。