美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-10-25

 3 years and 7 months since he signed it, the debate hasn't let up about President Obama's health care reform law. What is it? What does it do? What's the controversy¹? We're starting at the beginning. The official name is the patient protection and affordable² care act. But most people including the president call it Obamacare. The goal was to make it easier and more affordable for millions of Americans who didn't have health insurance to get it. Different health insurance plans cover different things but they all fundamentally work the same. If you have health insurance, you pay money into a fund and then the health care company used that fund to help pay for customer's medical services. President Obama started work on his health care reform law right after he took office. Protests against his plans started almost immediately. One point of controversy earlier on was the individual mandate³. It's part of the law that requires most Americans to either have health insurance or pay a fine. Critics filed lawsuits⁴ arguing that was unconstitutional. The US Supreme⁵ Court disagreed and that helped Obamacare. The bill came law in March of 2010. The controversy didn't stop. There are concerns about high cost of Obamacare and its potentially negative effects on the US economy. Republicans and some Democrats⁶ in House of Representatives have voted multiple times to repeal⁷ the law and polls indicate that more Americans are opposed to the law than support it. Different parts of the law going to effect at different times. This month, Americans are able to start signing up for health insurance under Obamacare. White House official said nearly 500,000 people have filled out applications. 7 millions are expected to enroll⁸ by Apr. But so far, the process hasn't gone smoothly⁹.      

 

"More eyes on the debt ceiling debate and government shutdown, another Washington blunder occurred. It's safe to say the roll out of Obamacare and health care.gov was less than perfect."

 

"And I'll be the first to tell you that the website launch was rockier than what we have liked."

 

"That's Health Human Service secretary, Katheline Sebilius. She's become the target for Republicans after the site was and still is plagued by technical problems Some people have been unable to sing up. Others have had their passports disappear."

 

"Secretary Sebilius has 3 and a half years to launch Obama-care and she has failed."     

 

"The Republican National Committee has even launched a petition and Twitter campaign to fire Sebilius."

 

"That really caused question the accountability of the leadership. That's going on over at HHS in terms of not our taxpayers¹⁰ dollars but the delivery of key services."

 

"As 2 House Committees begin investigating the website launch, the administration backs embattled Sebilius."

 

"The secretary does have a full confidence of the president." 

 

"But even some Democrats are critical of the roll out." 

 

"Enormously frustrated¹¹."

 

"Meanwhile, efforts are under way to fix the problem."

 

"There are constant improvements under way so that we are getting people in much more quickly. We have a plan to go back and revisit people who may have had an unsatisfactory experience."

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 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》

7 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

8 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

9 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

10 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。

11 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》