豆知识 2011-11-20&11-26 美国政府破产的故事 (1/3)

 These last few years, I’ve had to get a lot more careful about how I spend my paycheck. Everyone has. Like I’m eating out less often, holding back on expenses I don’t really need, and saving for my kid’s college. I’m getting more responsible, taking control of how I spend. But one thing I can’t control is that every month a big chunk¹ of my paycheck goes off to our government. It’s not the most fun part of my budget, but I believe in paying taxes. Not just because it’s the law, but because it’s how I invest in a better future that I can’t afford to build on my own. You know, that future that we all want, and nearly every candidate promises us: great schools, a healthy environment, clean energy, good jobs. But a funny thing happens to our money on its way to that better future. It seems to disappear. And by the time we get around to investing in that future, all I hear is, “sorry, not this year, we’re broke.” In fact, we’re so broke, they say, that we have no choice but to side backwards², cutting things that made this country great, like schools and the EPA, maybe even social security and Medicare. 

 

 

 

Wait a minute. Broke? I’m sending in my fair share of hard-earned cash every month and so are you. If everyone did, we’d have plenty of money. Now, what we’ve got to work with shrinks a lot thanks to corporate³ tax loopholes and unprecedented⁴ tax breaks for the richest 1%. But even after those, we’ve still got over a trillion dollars. So if we’re broke, what’s happening to all that money? 

 

 

 

I decided⁵ to look into it, and it turns out this whole broke story hides a much bigger story. A story of some really dumb choices being made for us, choices actually work against us. The good news is these are choices, and we can make different ones.

1 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

2 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 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。