美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-01-06

 It came down to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday night, the Senate had already passed a temporary fix to the fiscal¹ cliff, but the House had to approve that plan and for the president to sign it and to make it law. When the votes were counted, representatives have voted 257 to 161 to approve the plan. It¡¯s not perfect. Many lawmakers don¡¯t like it. For one thing, it does not reduce government spending, something that will need to get done in order to reduce the debt. It does raised taxes on families that make more than $450,000 a year. It¡¯s the first federal income tax hike since 1993. And it does put off some other tax raises and automatic government spending cuts that would have happened if no agreement had been made, but if the government had done this for a grade, it wouldn¡¯t be an A, it wouldn¡¯t really be an F. It¡¯s be an incomplete. Christine Romans explains why. 

Part of the fiscal cliff was averted², but there are two big issues not addressed in the bill. The spending cuts or the sequester³, that issue was delayed two months, Two, there¡¯s nothing represent the debt ceiling in this bill either. 

Treasury⁴ Secretary Tim Geithner says the government has officially reached its limit, its $16.394 debt limit. Some analysts⁵ are warning that the gridlock in Washington is what could caused as even worse, more problems. Steven Englander, CitiFX said, quote, ¡°The process was so chaotic⁶ and the outcome so unsatisfactory, that we¡¯re likely to see a further U.S. downgrade at some point.¡± All this drama in Washington could well put the breaks on Wall Street. Christine Romans, CNN New York. 

Is this legit? Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution focuses on the power of the presidency⁷. Em, not true, Article 1 is all about the powers of Congress.

There is new Congress in town, the 113th Congress of the United States, it¡¯s getting started today. All 435 voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives were elected last November. Representatives serve two year terms, and they are chosen in even numbered years. The more people a state has living in it, the more representatives it has in Congress. And in the 113th Congress the House is controlled by Republicans who hold 234 seats, Democrats⁸ have 201 seats. Things are different in the Senate. There are 100 Senators there, two for each state, and they serve six years terms, so only about a third of their seats were up for election in November. Democrats have controlled the Senate with 53 seats, Republicans have 45 seats, and two seats are Independent, thought the Independents usually vote with the Democrats. Some of the top priority of the new Congress, a longer term solution of the fiscal cliff as we talked about, getting federal money to victims of Hurricane Sandy. And generally, figuring out what the government spends money on. With Democrats in control of the Senate and the presidency and Republicans in control of the House, you can see it¡¯s going to take compromise to get legislation passed.

1 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。

2 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

3 sequester   

vt.使退隐，使隔绝

参考例句：

• Everything he owned was sequestered.他的所有财产都被扣押了。
• This jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months.预计这个陪审团将至少被隔离两个月。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

7 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

8 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》