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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
So when are millions of struggling Americans going to get another round of financial aid? That answer — not likely before the holidays. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are struggling to find an agreement. And there is so much at stake here because a lot of the additional financial relief Americans are receiving will expire this month. We have NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell with us. Hi, Kelsey.
数百万苦苦挣扎的美国人何时才能获得新一轮财政援助？答案是：假期前不太可能。国会议员正在努力达成协议。但这涉及很多利害关系，因为美国人得到的大部分额外财政救济将在本月到期。NPR新闻驻国会记者凯尔西·斯内尔将和我们连线。你好，凯尔西。
KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE1: Hi there.
凯尔西·斯内尔连线：你好。
GREENE: I feel like a lot of people who might face eviction2 or who have been out of work for all this time are justified3 in wondering what is happening on Capitol Hill. Can you tell us?
格林：我认为许多可能面临驱逐或失业的人都有理由询问国会山发生了什么。你能告诉我们吗？
SNELL: Yeah. So the state of play this week was that they started out with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer working with a bipartisan group on a kind of a negotiating starting point of $900 billion. And that really seemed to be gaining steam. That would have stopped the expiration4 of several programs that are supposed to end at the end of this month. But then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he wanted to remove some major sticking points to pave the way for a deal. But things he wanted to take away — one of them — was money for state and local governments. He said it was an exchange for getting rid of liability protections that Republicans favor.
斯内尔：好。本周的情况是，众议院议长南希·佩洛西和参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默与一个两党团体就一项9000亿美元协议的谈判展开合作。看起来即将取得成功。这将使原定于本月底到期的项目继续下去。但随后参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔表示，他希望消除一些主要症结，为达成协议铺平道路。但他想取消的其中一项是提供给州政府和地方政府的资金。他表示，这是摆脱共和党人支持的责任担保的交换条件。
But Democrats5 said it was just not negotiable for them to get rid of that state and local money because they said layoffs6 were at stake, that governments needed that money in order to keep people on the job. And then the White House made it even more confusing and complicated with their own offer that included $600 in relief checks, but not unemployment insurance that was in the version that Congress had been talking about. You know, it has been a chaotic7 week. And this is something that often happens in Congress when they're trying to get to a deal. There is a little bit of chaos8. But this is particularly chaotic and at a time when a lot is at stake.
但民主党人表示，他们不能放弃州政府和地方政府的资金，因为他们认为裁员事关重大，政府需要这笔资金来确保人们有工作。之后，白宫使情况变得更加混乱和复杂，白宫提出的计划包括600美元救济支票，但不包括失业保险，这是国会一直在讨论的版本。这一周非常混乱。这是国会试图达成协议时经常发生的事情。有些混乱。但现在是特别混乱的时期，很多事情都处于危险之中。
GREENE: Especially chaotic in an already chaotic place.
格林：尤其是在一个已经很混乱的地方。
SNELL: (Laughter) Yes.
斯内尔：（笑）是的。
GREENE: Well, lawmakers, it sounds like, are essentially9 giving themselves, like, one more week to cut some sort of deal. Why — is that, like, a self-deadline? Why are they doing that?
格林：好，听起来，议员基本上是给自己一周时间来达成某种协议。为什么？那是自已定的最后期限吗？他们为什么这样做？
SNELL: (Laughter) Some of that is just that they are trying to tie this to spending bills that are working their way through Congress right now. They have to pass the spending bills to avoid a government shutdown. And they do not want to shut down the government before the holidays. You know, and also, Congress just worked well under deadline. And the holidays are a clear deadline and so are the widespread, you know, fears about what will happen to the economy and to people if these programs expire.
斯内尔：（笑）部分原因是他们正试图将这项协议与正在国会审议的开支法案联系起来。他们必须通过开支法案以避免政府关门。他们不希望政府在假期前关门。而且，国会只有在设定最后期限的情况下才能好好工作。假期是一个明确的最后期限，人们对这些项目到期后经济和他们会发生的情况感到担心。
But I will say, House Speaker Pelosi did not rule out working between Christmas and New Year's if they can't get a deal done on the timeline that they've set up for themselves. I'll also say that there's now a push from progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, who say that they're frustrated10 with the aid packages under discussion. And they want to include stimulus11 payments to help people who might be protected by eviction bans that are set to expire, people who are behind on rent and bills who need extra cash right now.
但我要说的是，如果他们不能在自已设定的时间线达成协议，佩洛西并未排除在圣诞节和新年之间继续谈判的可能性。我还要说的是，现在亚历山大·奥卡西奥·科尔特斯和伯尼·桑德斯等进步人士正在推动协议的达成，他们对协商中的援助计划感到失望。他们还希望协议中纳入刺激性支出，帮助受到即将到期的驱逐禁令保护的人，帮助现在需要额外现金的拖欠房租和账单者。
GREENE: Yeah. So what happens to them and to so many other people if lawmakers can't find agreement?
格林：好。如果议员不能达成一致，那这些人和其他许多人会怎样？
SNELL: Yeah. I mentioned that the programs will expire. And that includes unemployment insurance for gig workers and people who already exhausted12 traditional unemployment benefits. And the federal eviction ban would expire, so would a pause on federal student loan payments and business deductions13 that were intended to keep these businesses hiring and to keep their employees on despite the pandemic. Plus there are a number of other elements that people may be starting to feel at home.
斯内尔：好。我刚提到这些项目即将到期。除此之外，为零工和已经用完传统失业救济金者提供的失业保险也将到期。联邦驱逐禁令和暂停支付联邦学生贷款和企业扣款的措施也将到期，这两项措施旨在让这些企业继续招聘，并在新冠肺炎疫情期间继续雇佣员工。此外，还有许多可能让人们感觉温暖的其他项目也面临到期。
GREENE: Any expectation that a different president will change the climate on the Hill?
格林：有没有人期望换个总统会改变国会山的氛围？
SNELL: That is the expectation for Democrats. But, you know, no matter what happens, things are going to be very tight in the Senate. And, you know, I'm not sure that it'll be actually a lot easier to start getting bipartisan agreement. They've been in a staring contest since July. And each side fundamentally believes the other is wrong about what the country needs. And a lot of that would have to change for deals to be done in a simpler, clearer fashion.
斯内尔：这是民主党人的期望。但是，无论发生什么，参议院的局势都会很紧张。而且，我不确定两党达成协议是否会容易得多。他们从七月开始就一直在进行激烈的角逐。双方基本上都认为对方对国家需求的认识是错误的。为了以一种更简单、更清晰的方式达成协议，很多都必须改变。
GREENE: All right. NPR's congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell. Kelsey, thank you.
格林：好。以上是NPR新闻驻国会记者凯尔西·斯内尔带来的报道。凯尔西，谢谢你。
收听单词发音 |
1
byline
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| n.署名；v.署名 | |
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eviction
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| n.租地等的收回 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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layoffs
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| 临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动 | |
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chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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8
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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9
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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10
frustrated
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| 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 | |
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stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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13
deductions
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| 扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演 | |
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