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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has introduced a bill that would chop a half trillion dollars out of the federal budget. And although Paul was trained as an ophthalmologist, his axe1 doesn't show any mercy to science.
For example, Paul would slash2 funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 28 percent and for the National Institutes of Health by 37 percent. An ounce of prevention might be worth a pound of cure but I guess we're not paying for either one.
The National Science Foundation would lose 62 percent of its budget because Paul argues that private industry and the states, not the federal government, should be paying for research. But there's no evidence that industry wants to foot that bill, and the states are already financially strapped3.
Spending on science is usually seen as an investment in our future prosperity and health. The 2006 National Academies report "Rising above the Gathering4 Storm" noted5 that estimates of the return on that public investment have commonly ranged between 20 and 40 percent annually6. With the U.S. facing tougher economic competition, cutting back on science is a bad bet, and it's a pity that an ophthalmologist like Paul doesn't see it.
1 axe | |
n.斧子;v.用斧头砍,削减 | |
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2 slash | |
vi.大幅度削减;vt.猛砍,尖锐抨击,大幅减少;n.猛砍,斜线,长切口,衣衩 | |
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3 strapped | |
adj.用皮带捆住的,用皮带装饰的;身无分文的;缺钱;手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词);用皮带抽打;包扎;给…打绷带 | |
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4 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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5 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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6 annually | |
adv.一年一次,每年 | |
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