美国有线新闻 CNN 2012-11-20

 First up, hearings on Capitol Hill, now, you are not going to see any pictures from these hearings, and you are not going to hear anything that was said in them, either. 

 

That is because these are closed hearings. That means no members of the media, no members of the public are allowed inside. We do know what they are about, though. This, the attack in the U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya. It happened just over two months ago. The members of Congress who are running the hearings have questions about how the attacks happened and what happened afterward¹. And they are hoping to get answers. Martha Shade has more on who’ll be at the hearings and what issues are expected to come up. 

 

Several of Washington’s power players will be on Capitol Hill, expecting to be grilled² about the deadly consulate³ attack in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the September 11th assault. Former CIA director David Petraeus is scheduled to address this Senate House Intelligence Committee, his testimony⁴ was in question after his sudden resignation last week. 

 

“He is necessary, he understands and was there during the time when the Benghazi events occurred.”

 

Some Republicans have been going after U.N. ambassador Susan Rice. After the violence, she said intelligence pointed⁵ to a spontaneous, no pre-planned attack. Senator John McCain said Rice was deceptive⁶, while Lindsey Graham just doesn’t trust her. 

 

“The reason I don’t trust her, is because I think she knew better, and if she didn’t know better she shouldn’t be the voice of America.”

 

President Barack Obama had a message to the senators in Rice’s defense⁷. 

 

“If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me, and I’m happy to have that discussion with them.” 

 

The senators oppose Rice possibly being nominated to secretary of state to replace Hillary Clinton, and say they will do whatever they can do to block it. Senator Rand Paul says he is no fun of Rice, but there are bigger issues at play. 

 

“But I think the more important question is, why were there no Marines guarding our ambassador. “

 

Who made that decision, is likely to be discussed during these hearings. I’m Martha Shade reporting. 

 

Next stop, we are looking at a fine, not just any old fine, the largest criminal fine in U.S. history. It’s $1.2 billion, and the company that’s paying it, is BP. You might remember this, an explosion in 2010 in a BP oil rig in the Gulf⁸ of Mexico. A massive oil spill that leaked more than 200 million gallons of oil into the water. And the serious environmental problems when some of that oil washed up along the U.S. Gulf coast. Yesterday, BP reached the settlement with the U.S. government. The company will pay $4.5 billion. That includes the record fine, and it covers other criminal charges and government penalties. BP has already agreed to pay $20 billion to cover damages from the spill, and nearly $8 billion to private victims. For perspective in a two year since the oil spill happened, BP has made $43 billion in profits. 

 

You’ve heard this talk about this fiscal⁹ cliff. It’s a series automatic government spending cuts and tax increases that could hit Americans next year, if Congress and President Obama don’t figure out a way around them. Here is a look at how the fiscal cliff could impact education, school districts nationwide would have less money, so after school programs, enrichment programs, sports could be cut. More teachers could lose their jobs or get paid less. And many schools wouldn’t be able to make needed repairs, upgrade computers or get new textbooks. Because so many schools have been struggling with less money after the recession hit, this fiscal cliff could make things worse, and that’s why so many people in education are paying attention to what happens as Congress and the president try to find the solution.

 

1 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

2 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

3 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

4 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

9 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。