CNN 2010-03-24

Well that's a pressure cooker of a day on Capitol Hill as we wait and wonder how this vote for healthcare plays out, the final vote is expected Sunday and Democratic house leaders are trying to convince undeclared members to vote yes. 216 votes are needed to either pass the vote or kill it. Right now 206 house members say they will vote No. Of those who say that they are against the bill, well 178 are republicans, 28 are democrats¹, 35 right now, undeclared.

They say they worked hard in the ruins of ground zero in 911 and sacrificed their health but is a 657 million-dollar settlement enough? In about five hours those workers will have their say with the judge. CNN’s Mary Snow has their story.

On September 11th, former New York City Police Officer Frank Maisano was among the first responders rushing to the scene. He stayed at Ground Zero for a week and then worked at the Freshkils Landfill where debris² was taken.

I felt that the dust -- I had an intermittent³ cough, you know, but that all came to a head when I chased a suspect later on.

In January of 2004, he collapsed⁴. Maisano had to leave the police department and now may face a lung transplant. He blames the toxic⁵ air he inhaled⁶ at Ground Zero and fault the city for a lack of protective gear.

We didn't have no protective gear. We just went down there to work, to retrieve⁷ body parts. That's what we did.

Maisano was among 10,000 plaintiffs who sued and is happy lawyers reached a settlement with the city. We asked New York City's chief attorney, Michael Cardozo, about the workers who say the city didn't do enough to provide protective gear.

The city's response and the contractor's response is, we did a heroic effort in responding and supplying respirators and that kind of issue. And each plaintiff, depending where that plaintiff worked, would have to prove the contrary.

 

 

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 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

3 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

6 inhaled   

v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. 她合上双眼，深深吸了一口气。
• Janet inhaled sharply when she saw him. 珍妮特看到他时猛地吸了口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。