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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Allegations of sexual misconduct against a Supreme1 Court nominee2 have happened before. Twenty-seven years ago, another college professor, Anita Hill, accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment3. And while there are some similarities between the current allegations against Brett Kavanaugh and those against Thomas, there are also some key differences. Our own Nina Totenberg broke the Anita Hill story and is here with us now to discuss the parallels with today. Hi, Nina.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE4: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: We just heard from Scott Detrow about the latest. What are you hearing from your reporting on where this nomination5 is going and whether people think Kavanaugh will still be confirmed?
TOTENBERG: It's really a moving target, but it's not - and you really can't tell. It's not like 27 years ago. Back then, there were two women in the United States Senate and none on the Judiciary Committee. The Democrats6 back then were not exactly anxious to probe these allegations. Joe Biden was then the chairman and didn't pursue Anita Hill's allegation when she first reached out to the committee. And after my story broke, including a detailed7 interview with her, Republicans really had one objective - to discredit8 Anita Hill.
The Democrats were caught flat-footed, and they really didn't help much. They listened to the charges of erotomania and were pretty silent. And they didn't call three other women with corroborating9 information. And that, by the way, is a decision that Joe Biden, the chairman of the committee - then the chairman of the committee - has since publicly regretted. Now contrast that with today. There are 23 women senators, not two. And there are four on the Judiciary Committee, all Democrats. The #MeToo movement is in its ascendancy10, and even the Republicans don't want to look insensitive and incurious.
SHAPIRO: You've reported that in the beginning Anita Hill did not want to go public either. Why not?
TOTENBERG: You know, it's not hard to understand. If you think you have information that's disqualifying for someone nominated for a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court, especially today with all of the social media in the world and certainly back then, too, why would you want to subject yourself to the examination, the invective11, all of that? Dr. Ford12 told the Post that when the details of her story started to leak and the hunt was on for this unnamed person, she was losing all the privacy that she wanted to protect anyway. And she wanted to control the situation.
SHAPIRO: Are these the only cases of eleventh-hour information popping up in a Supreme Court confirmation13 battle?
TOTENBERG: You know, it's not uncommon14 for new information to surface. And what usually happens, unless - against nominations15 is that the FBI investigates first, then the committee investigators16 take a crack. And often there are sworn interviews that take place of the nominee and others behind closed doors. And if they - if it turns out to be bad, you never hear about it. The nominee withdraws. If it's OK, you never hear about it. And the nominee's confirmed.
SHAPIRO: Through her attorney, Christine Blasey Ford has said she would be willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would obviously be high stakes and high drama. We have seen that before. How similar or different is this compared to the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas scandal?
TOTENBERG: If I had to bet, I'd bet on confirmation. But it could get uglier and probably will, and there's an election coming up in eight weeks.
SHAPIRO: That's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Thanks, Nina.
TOTENBERG: Thank you.
1 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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2 nominee | |
n.被提名者;被任命者;被推荐者 | |
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3 harassment | |
n.骚扰,扰乱,烦恼,烦乱 | |
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4 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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5 nomination | |
n.提名,任命,提名权 | |
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6 democrats | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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7 detailed | |
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的 | |
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8 discredit | |
vt.使不可置信;n.丧失信义;不信,怀疑 | |
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9 corroborating | |
v.证实,支持(某种说法、信仰、理论等)( corroborate的现在分词 ) | |
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10 ascendancy | |
n.统治权,支配力量 | |
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11 invective | |
n.痛骂,恶意抨击 | |
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12 Ford | |
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过 | |
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13 confirmation | |
n.证实,确认,批准 | |
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14 uncommon | |
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 | |
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15 nominations | |
n.提名,任命( nomination的名词复数 ) | |
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16 investigators | |
n.调查者,审查者( investigator的名词复数 ) | |
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