美国国家公共电台 NPR Week Of Trump Reversals Puts 2018 Election Security In The Spotlight

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

The midterm elections are four months away. And there are real concerns about election interference. Yesterday, at the Aspen Security Forum², Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats talked about the threat that Russia poses.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DAN COATS: I think we have to be relentless³ in terms of calling out the Russians for what they've done. We have to be vigilant⁴ in terms of putting steps in place to make sure it doesn't happen again.

KING: I talked with NPR reporter Miles Parks about whether there's more security around these upcoming elections than there was around the presidential election in 2016.

MILES PARKS, BYLINE⁵: When you think about how Russians operated this cyberattack, basically, a lot of it was what's called spear phishing - targeted emails to try and get passwords from people. Election officials were not thinking like targets before the summer of 2016. And there was a lot of clicking on emails like that. Now they're thinking like targets. And that kind of changes the game in a lot of different ways. But now that caveat⁶ - the technology that we're actually using to vote - that has not really changed in the past two years. One study found that 41 states will use equipment to vote in this upcoming midterm election that's more than a decade old.

KING: Ten years old.

PARKS: Yeah, exactly. Earlier this week, I asked Senator Marco Rubio how confident he is in America's voting system. And here's what he told me.

MARCO RUBIO: I'm confident about America's election system. But I'm equally confident about the determination and the capability⁷ of Russian intelligence to interfere¹ in ways that most people don't think about. It's not about changing votes, necessarily.

KING: When Rubio says it's not about changing votes, what does he mean? What is he saying that he is worried about?

PARKS: What he's talking about is voter confidence. Basically, this scenario⁸ does not involve actually affecting vote tallies⁹. What it involves is going into voter registration¹⁰ systems, changing where people are supposed to cast their ballots¹¹, breaking into election websites that are supposed to show the winners and then showing losers instead. And basically, that sews chaos¹² within the voting public without ever affecting or changing a vote.

KING: What is the government doing to fix this or to at least improve it?

PARKS: Right, so Congress did allocate¹³ $380 million this year to election security, which is a big deal. But it's important to realize that money in context. The state of California got more money than that for the 2000 elections to overhaul¹⁴ just their voting infrastructure¹⁵. I don't want to say it's a drop in the bucket, but it's not enough to actually affect the hardware that people are voting on. It's going to go towards trainings and software improvements and things like that. What's unclear is whether there's more money coming down the road. House Democrats¹⁶ released a report earlier this month that said it would cost about $1.4 billion over the next 10 years to actually get America's voting infrastructure up to where we need it to be.

KING: And so when President Trump¹⁷ sort of veers¹⁸ back and forth¹⁹ on the extent to which Russia interfered²⁰ in the 2016 election, as we've seen him do this week, what effect does that have on the government's ability to get the money out there and to get the job done?

PARKS: Right. I think it definitely doesn't help, so the National Association of Secretaries of State actually released a statement after that remarkable²¹ press conference in Helsinki earlier this week. And they asked the White House to, quote, "provide clear and accurate statements going forward." And then when you look at the fact that it's been academic groups and private sector²² groups who've actually made a lot of strides in training election workers and thinking about this issue in - on the big picture, it kind of shows that the government has had trouble making this a priority.

KING: NPR's Miles Parks. Thank you so much, Miles.

PARKS: Thank you.

1 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

2 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

3 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

4 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 caveat   

n.警告； 防止误解的说明

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling.为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。
• As I have written before,that's quite a caveat.正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。

7 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

8 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

9 tallies   

n.账( tally的名词复数 )；符合；（计数的）签；标签v.计算，清点( tally的第三人称单数 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• Cash on hand tallies with the figure in the accounts. 现款跟账上的数目没有出入。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He tallies his own marks. 他把自己的得分记了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

11 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

13 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

14 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

15 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

16 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》

17 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

18 veers   

v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的第三人称单数 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转

参考例句：

• The car veers out of control. 这辆车失去了控制。 来自辞典例句
• His fondness for his characters sometimes veers towards the sentimental. 他对那位主人公的偏爱有时也稍显矫情。 来自互联网

19 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

20 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

22 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。