CNN 2011-04-20

From your house to the corner. Yes, there goes the roof off a house. And an umbrella and a luggage.

The windows broke out. The roof went. The walls went. There's nothing left. There's a tree on my daughter's truck. I don't know where my cats are.

I've worked with Mansour Kan, and he is a very distinguished¹ researcher in the Pakistan tribal² regions, you know, Mortenson has claimed that he was kidnapped by a group including Mansour Kan. But Mansour Kan says that's completely ridiculous and in fact, just in the last couple of hours he has sent me an e-mail saying he's planning to sue Mortenson for making after all a rather defamatory statement about him. That he's a Taliban kidnapper³.

What is reassuring⁴ and important is that the leaders of both parties in Congress as well as the President, of course, agree that the debt ceiling will be raised. Because we cannot play chicken with our economy.  We cannot play chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States government. We meet our obligations. We are the United States. And we will do that.  That will happen. Concurrently⁵, we, as the President urged, will be engaged in bipartisan negotiations⁶ aimed at reducing our deficit⁷, cutting spending, and taking other measures to reduce our deficit. Regardless of how that process proceeds and what agreements are reached along the way and in what timeframe, it is absolutely a fact that Congress will raise the debt ceiling because not to do that would be a catastrophic folly

1 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

2 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

3 kidnapper   

n.绑架者，拐骗者

参考例句：

• The kidnapper was shot dead then and there by the armed policeman.绑架者被武装警察当时当地击毙。
• The kidnapper strangled the child with a piece of string.绑票的人用一根绳子把这孩子勒死了。

4 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

5 concurrently   

adv.同时地

参考例句：

• He was given two twelve month sentences to run concurrently. 他两罪均判12个月监禁，同期执行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was given two prison sentences, to run concurrently. 他两罪均判监禁，同期执行。 来自辞典例句

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

7 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。