PBS高端访谈:铁路事故的另一影响:美国铁路公司的资金问题

 　　GWEN IFILL: Following the deadly train derailment in Philadelphia, a House committee voted to cut money for Amtrak's capital investment program. The move sparked a fight over funding infrastructure¹.

　　We talk to a pair of key lawmakers. Representative Chaka Fattah is a Democrat² from Pennsylvania whose district includes Philadelphia. And Congressman³ John Mica⁴ is a Republican from Florida who serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

　　Welcome to you both.

　　Congressmen, I want to ask you both, starting with you, John Mica, do you think Congress has adequately funded Amtrak?

　　REP. JOHN MICA, (R) Florida: Well, I think, given Amtrak's history of poor performance, I think they have given them more than enough money, subsidizing last year, for example, every ticket on Amtrak, all 30.9 million, $42 on average.

　　GWEN IFILL: Congressman Fatah?

　　REP. CHAKA FATTAH, (D) Pennsylvania: Well, there's no passenger rail in the world that is not subsidized. That's number one.

　　But the point here is that president and the transportation experts in our government proposed $2.4 billion for capital and safety improvements, that Congress on — yesterday, on the Appropriations⁶ Committee, cut that by $1.3 billion.

　　I asked for us to go back to the president's request. Instead of doing that, what they did wasn't honor the increase the president wanted. They cut last year's appropriation⁵ by more than $250 million. So I think that it would have been better not to even have the committee yesterday, because it got merged⁷ into the story about the train accident in Philadelphia.

　　But this was a committee that had been set to meet a month ago. The subcommittee had already voted these cuts, and the majority decided⁸, notwithstanding what happened in Philadelphia, that they wanted to make the point, as you heard from my colleague here, that they don't think that we should be subsidizing passenger rail.

　　I think we should, and I think we need to invest the dollars necessary to make sure that it's safe.

　　GWEN IFILL: Congressman Mica, Speaker Boehner said today that this accident was about speed, not about infrastructure or about funding Amtrak in general. Was that your point of view as well?

　　REP. JOHN MICA: Well, that's my point of view.

　　And let me say that, again, when President Obama was elected, he was going to create high-speed rail in the United States. Instead of putting it in the Northeast Corridor, which is the only track, the 600 miles that Amtrak owns — the rest of Amtrak runs over private freight rails — he took $10 billion. About $6 billion is going to California, mostly where there's fruits and vegetables to move, Illinois, where they're going to have high-speed rail which runs about 65 miles an hour, $1.5 billion there.

　　Instead of investing it in the Northeast Corridor, where we could have high-speed rail, where we have the connections, we could have the revenue and expand the system, but they didn't do that.

　　GWEN IFILL: Are you saying that if the president had spent money that was already allocated⁹ differently, an accident like yesterday would have been less likely?

　　REP. JOHN MICA: Oh, absolutely.

　　We couldn't have in the Northeast Corridor high-speed service and dramatic revenues and changed the pattern of traffic. And there are — contrary to what my colleague has said, there are systems that do make money. Virgin¹⁰ Rail installed in the north-south from London to North England route, they increased passengers from 14 million to 28 million, went from a deficit¹¹ of 400 million, subsidized by the federal Europe — or British government, to that much in revenue coming in to the British treasury¹² in 10 years.

　　REP. JOHN MICA: The model is there across the world, and we're a Third World Soviet-style train operator.

　　GWEN IFILL: Well, let me let your colleague respond to that.

　　REP. CHAKA FATTAH: Well, what I want to say is, you don't have to listen to a Democrat or Republican member of Congress.

　　We have the world premier¹³ innovator¹⁴, the National Transportation Safety Board, and they have said, in terms of the Philadelphia accident, that it wouldn't have happened if we had positive train control. We know that that investment could have been made. It hasn't been made.

　　So we hear not from politicians, but from experts, that, yes, we could have safe passenger rail travel in our country. We have to make the investment needed to do so.

　　GWEN IFILL: And when you say positive train control, I just want to make sure everyone understands. That would automatically override¹⁵ the engineer to slow a train that was going faster than the speed limit.

　　So, you believe — now, that could — that's supposed to be in all trains by the end of this year. Do you think that's going to happen or is that going to be delayed?

　　REP. CHAKA FATTAH: Well, the Congress has mandated¹⁶ it by the end of the year. There were a number of members in the Senate who wanted to delay it to 2020. I don't think there's going to be any delay now. I think we are going to move forward.

　　And the technology save lives, at least based on what experts say, not on what politicians say. So, there's a debate whether we should have passenger rail and whether we should subsidize it. The point is, we have it and we should make sure it's safe. Just like when people drive over bridges, we want them to be safe. We want our highways to be safe.

　　We have to invest in infrastructure. We have — the World Economic Forum¹⁷, since my colleague wants to talk about international measurements, says that America now has the 12th worst infrastructure in the world. So, you know, if the government's not going to step up to its responsibility, then we're going to continue to have our economy take a back seat.

　　GWEN IFILL: Congressman Mica, how much of this is about ideology¹⁸, when it comes right down to it, that you and your party just don't agree that this should be a public rail system, and they believe there should be more spent?

　　REP. JOHN MICA: Gwen, you're talking to one of the most strong — well, the strongest advocate in Congress for passenger rail.

　　It's cost-effective. We should have it. In fact, I put in the last passenger rail bill that we passed the creation of a Northeast Corridor commission, which I tried to empower to get them to advance improvements. They just came out with a report two weeks ago, and I support that report. It calls for $20 billion.

　　But Congress isn't going to give it to Amtrak, which fumbles¹⁹ every bit of acquisition money, and they did — they have had the money since October to put in the positive train control and the other improvements, and they didn't do it.

　　So that could have been avoided if they'd considered safety first when they spent will more than $1 billion we gave them last October.

　　GWEN IFILL: Congressman Mica, I gave you the first word. Let me give Congressman Fattah the last word.

　　REP. CHAKA FATTAH: Well, it's true that my colleague put in place this commission. He wanted to have 228-mile-an-hour trains in the Northeast Corridor.

　　They call for not the $20 billion, but for $117 billion in investments, in order to have that happen. I think that would move our economy forward. It's going to need the investment of the federal government if that's going to happen. And so I support him, if that's the way we're going to proceed.

　　GWEN IFILL: Congressman John Mica, Republican of Florida, Congressman Chaka Fattah, Democrat of Pennsylvania, fundamentally different points of view about a very serious issue. Thank you both very much.

　　REP. JOHN MICA: Thank you.

1 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。

2 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。

3 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

4 mica   

n.云母

参考例句：

• It could not pass through material impervious to water such as mica.它不能通过云母这样的不透水的物质。
• Because of its layered structure,mica is fissile.因为是层状结构，云母很容易分成片。

5 appropriation   

n.拨款，批准支出

参考例句：

• Our government made an appropriation for the project.我们的政府为那个工程拨出一笔款项。
• The council could note an annual appropriation for this service.议会可以为这项服务表决给他一笔常年经费。

6 appropriations   

n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• More commonly, funding controls are imposed in the annual appropriations process. 更普遍的作法是，拨款控制被规定在年度拨款手续中。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Should the president veto the appropriations bill, it goes back to Congress. 假如总统否决了这项拨款提案，就把它退还给国会。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 merged   

（使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中

参考例句：

• Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
• The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

10 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

11 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

12 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

13 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

14 innovator   

n.改革者；创新者

参考例句：

• The young technical innovator didn't lose heart though the new system was not yet brought into a workable condition. 尽管这种新方法尚未达到切实可行的状况，这位青年技术革新者也没有泄气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Caesar planned vast projects and emerged as a great innovator. 恺撒制定了庞大的革新计划。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史

15 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

16 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

17 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。

18 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

19 fumbles   

摸索，笨拙的处理( fumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Van der Meyde boots the ball to safety after Toldo fumbles a right cross. 因为托尔多在右侧漏球，范得美德把球护到安全的地方。
• The placement shot fumbles the primary cause which into this competition Chinese army loses the game. 定位球失球成为本场比赛汉军输球的主要原因。