美国国家公共电台 NPR 美国邮政局迫于压力叫停邮政改革

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy says he is suspending plans to reorganize his agency. This move comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Congress back from recess¹ to vote on a bill to protect the Postal² Service until the election. Here was her response yesterday.

美国邮政局长路易斯·德乔伊表示，他将暂停重组美国邮政局的计划。此前，众议院议长南希·佩洛西要求国会结束体会，就在大选前保护邮政局的法案举行投票。以下是她昨天作出的回应。

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NANCY PELOSI: They felt the heat, and that's what we were trying to do is to make it too hot for them to handle.

南希·佩洛西：他们感受到了压力，我们要做的就是让压力达到他们无法承受的强度。

GREENE: And yet she and other Democrats⁴ are still not entirely⁵ satisfied. Let's talk about what's going on here with NPR's Miles Parks, who's been covering this. Hi, Miles.

格林：然而，佩洛西和其他民主党人仍未完全满意。下面我们来连线负责报道相关新闻的NPR记者迈尔斯·帕克斯，请他介绍详细情况。你好，迈尔斯。

MILES PARKS, BYLINE⁶: Hi, David.

迈尔斯·帕克斯连线：你好，大卫。

GREENE: Well, so let's pick through exactly what the postmaster general announced here, that he's not making operational changes until after the November election. Is that right?

格林：我们来仔细查看一下邮政局长宣布的内容，他在11月大选之前不会进行运营改革。对吧？

PARKS: Right. He says his plans for a transformation⁷ of the Postal Service are going on hold until after the election. Remember, he had promised this organizational realignment just a few weeks ago as an effort to save money. But those changes, although they were never publicly detailed⁸, in practice, led to mail delays, frustration⁹ from postal workers' unions and fears about the election in a year where the majority of ballots¹⁰ are probably going to be delivered via the mail. The political backlash was loud and swift, as Pelosi alluded¹¹ to there, and he was forced to change course, saying in a statement yesterday that, quote, "to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded."

帕克斯：没错。他表示，他改革美国邮政局的计划将推迟到大选之后。记住，就在几周前他还承诺要进行重组，以节省资金。但是，尽管这些改革的细节从未公开过，但实际上却导致了邮件延误、邮政工会的失望以及人们对大选的担忧，因为今年大多数选票可能都将通过邮件的形式投递。正如佩洛西所暗示的那样，政治上的反对浪潮响亮而迅速，因此他不得不改变方向，他昨天在声明中表示，“为了避免对选举邮件产生任何影响，我将暂停这些改革举措，直到大选结束。”

GREENE: Well, as for those fears about the election, I mean, many people were very blunt in saying they feared that President Trump¹² was trying to meddle¹³ in the election. So this move seems to be what Democrats were demanding. Why aren't they fully¹⁴ satisfied?

格林：至于对大选的担忧，许多人直言称，他们担心特朗普总统会试图干预选举。暂停改革似乎是民主党人要求的。那他们为何仍未完全满意？

PARKS: So it's a step in that direction, but there's still no word on if DeJoy is going to reverse the changes that have already been made. The removal of sorting machines, for instance, has been a high-profile issue. The Washington Post reported that the plan was to decommission 10% of these machines, and we know that some of them had already begun to be removed. DeJoy now says that no more machines will be removed, but his statement made no mention of the machines that were already removed and whether they'll be returned. I talked to Alex Padilla, who is the secretary of state of California and a Democrat³, after the statement was released by DeJoy yesterday.

帕克斯：这是朝着那个方向迈出的一步，但目前没有消息表明德乔伊是否会撤销已经做出的改变。比如，一直备受关注的拆除分拣机计划。据《华盛顿邮报》报道，原计划是撤除10%的分拣机器，我们知道部分分拣机已经开始移除。德乔伊现在表示，不会再有分拣机被撤除，但他的声明并未提及那些已被拆除的机器，也未提及这些机器是否会恢复。昨天德乔伊发表声明之后，我采访了加州州务卿、民主党人亚历克斯·帕迪拉。

ALEX PADILLA: They still have a lot of questions to answer and, frankly¹⁵, information to share. Whatever these notices or changes in directives were, the public deserves to see them because the public deserves to have confidence that when they're mailing their ballots in, their ballots will be delivered on a timely basis.

亚历克斯·帕迪拉：他们仍有许多问题需要回答，许多信息需要共享。无论这些通知或指令有何变化，公众都有权看到，因为当公众邮寄选票时，他们应该相信他们的选票能及时送达。

PARKS: So lawmakers will have a lot of questions for DeJoy this week, when he's set to testify before a Senate committee on Friday and then a House committee again on Monday.

帕克斯：德乔伊将于周五在参议院某委员会作证，之后于周一在众议院某委员会作证，届时议员将向他提出许多问题。

GREENE: You know, we've been hearing a lot of Democrats and their voices criticizing all of this. It's important to note Republicans have been really worried about all this as well.

格林：我们已经听到很多民主党批评的声音。重要的是要指出，共和党也对此感到担忧。

PARKS: Right. Republican Senator Susan Collins, who had called on DeJoy to rescind¹⁶ the changes, said on Twitter that she was happy about this statement, but she also now says Congress needs to pass funding for the Postal Service, which is heading towards financial ruin if Congress does not swoop¹⁷ in in the next few months. Even President Trump tweeted save the post office this week after, you know, openly questioning whether he would support funding just a week ago. So it seems like there's some agreement, some bipartisan agreement that money is needed. The question now is how much. Democrats, even Republicans like Collins, say $25 billion is the number, but Republicans in the Senate like Senator Ron Johnson may question whether that much money is actually needed.

帕克斯：没错。共和党参议员苏珊·科林斯曾要求德乔伊撤销改革，她在推特上表示，她对这份表明感到满意，但她现在认为国会需要通过对美国邮政局的拨款，因为如果国会在未来几个月不采取行动，那邮政局就将走向经济崩盘。就连特朗普总统都在本周发推，要求保护美国邮政局，而就在一周之前，他还公开质疑是否要支持拨款。似乎两党达成了一些共识，即邮政局需要资金。现在的问题，拨款多少。民主党人，甚至是科林斯等共和党人，认为应该拨款250亿美元，但参议员罗恩·约翰逊等参议院共和党人，可能会质疑是否确实需要这么多资金。

GREENE: And so DeJoy, you mentioned, is going to be testifying in both chambers¹⁸. The Senate is first, right? On Friday, what do we expect there?

格林：你刚才提到德乔伊将在参众两院作证。他将首先在参议院作证，对吧？时间是周五，我们对此有何预期？

PARKS: Right. So what we're going to be watching for is, one, whether the Republicans — we have to remember that DeJoy is a major Republican donor¹⁹ — considering many of these Republicans represent rural constituencies, who stand to potentially be hurt by mail delays — how hard Republicans press him. The other thing that election officials are going to be watching for is more concrete details on his plans around the election. A lot of Democrats, as you mentioned earlier, have accused him of sabotaging²⁰ the mail in an effort to affect mail voting. Election officials are worried about that. It'll be interesting to see how far DeJoy goes to kind of assuage²¹ those concerns.

帕克斯：没错。我们需要关注的是，其一，我们必须记住，德乔伊是共和党的主要捐助者，考虑到许多共和党人代表农村选区，他们可能会因为邮件延误而受到损害，那共和党人会对他施加多大压力？选举官员将关注的另一件事是德乔伊在大选前所提出计划的具体细节。如你此前所说，许多民主党人指控他蓄意破坏邮件，以影响邮寄投票。选举官员对此感到担忧。值得注意的是，德乔伊能在多大程度上缓解这些担忧。

GREENE: NPR's Miles Parks for us this morning. Thanks, Miles.

格林：以上是NPR新闻的迈尔斯·帕克斯今天早上带来的报道。谢谢你，迈尔斯。

PARKS: Thanks, David.

帕克斯：谢谢，大卫。

1 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

2 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

3 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 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》

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 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。

7 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

8 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

9 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

10 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》

11 alluded   

提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中，你提到了某个阴谋。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

12 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。

13 meddle   

v.干预，干涉，插手

参考例句：

• I hope he doesn't try to meddle in my affairs.我希望他不来干预我的事情。
• Do not meddle in things that do not concern you.别参与和自己无关的事。

14 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

15 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

16 rescind   

v.废除，取消

参考例句：

• They accepted his advice and rescinded the original plan.他们听从了他的劝告，撤销了原计划。
• Trade Union leaders have demanded the government rescind the price rise.工会领导已经要求政府阻止价格上涨。

17 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

18 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

19 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

20 sabotaging   

阴谋破坏（某事物）( sabotage的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr Smith fiercely denied any question of sabotaging the talks. 史密斯先生坚决拒绝任何企图阻挠谈话的提问。
• Failed in sabotaging APEC summit in Sydney of Australia. 澳大利亚悉尼APEC会议遭遇惨败。

21 assuage   

v.缓和，减轻，镇定

参考例句：

• The medicine is used to assuage pain.这种药用来止痛。
• Your messages of cheer should assuage her suffering.你带来的这些振奋人心的消息一定能减轻她的痛苦。