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VOA标准英语2009年-Obama Urges Quick Senate Passage of Economic St

时间:2009-02-21 01:24:50

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(单词翻译)

U.S. President Barack Obama is urging the Senate to follow the House of Representatives in passing his $800 billion plan to stimulate1 the economy. The president is calling the proposal "good news," after the bad economic news of the past week.
 
President Obama's weekly address, 31 Jan 2009

President Obama says the United States is struggling through "unprecedented2 economic turmoil3." In his weekly address, he acknowledges recent announcements that the nation's economy shrank by almost four percent from October through December, and that tens of thousands of jobs were lost in January. Mr. Obama says senators need to approve his recovery plan quickly.

"With the stakes so high we simply cannot afford the same old gridlock and partisan4 posturing5 in Washington," he said. "It's time to move in a new direction."

The president's massive economic proposal passed the House of Representatives earlier in the week, but received no votes from Republicans.
 
Mitch McConnell (file photo)

In Saturday's response, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says Republican lawmakers are willing to work with Democrats6 to tackle the country's economic problems. But he says the Democratic proposal is so loaded with unnecessary spending, it resembles a shopping list for Christmas gifts.

"The task for Democrats in the House was to draft a stimulus7 plan that was timely, targeted and temporary," he said. Apparently8, they did not get the memo9. The bill they presented, and which House Democrats approved this week along a party-line vote, looks more like $1 trillion Christmas list."

In the president's Saturday address, he also says Treasury10 Secretary Tim Geithner will soon lay out a new strategy to get credit flowing to businesses and families.

"We'll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs," said Mr. Obama. "We'll ensure that CEO's are not draining funds that should be advancing our recovery. And we will insist on unprecedented transparency, rigorous oversight11, and clear accountability, so taxpayers13 know how their money is being spent and whether it is achieving results."

For the second time in a week, Mr. Obama lashes14 out at the leaders of troubled investment firms who took government bailout money and paid bonuses to themselves and other executives.

"We learned this week that even as they petitioned for taxpayer12 assistance, Wall Street firms shamefully15 paid out nearly $20 billion in bonuses for 2008," he said. "While I'm committed to doing what it takes to maintain the flow of credit, the American people will not excuse or tolerate such arrogance16 and greed."

Meanwhile, AP and ABC reports quote an Obama administration official as saying Republican Senator Judd Gregg is the leading choice to become commerce secretary, and that the decision could be made as soon as Monday.

If Gregg leaves the Senate, his replacement17 would be appointed by the Democratic governor of the Northeastern state of New Hampshire. That would give the Democrats 60 seats in the Senate, enough to prevent Republicans from a filibuster18, a tactic19 used to prevent legislation from coming up for a vote.


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1 stimulate wuSwL     
vt.刺激,使兴奋;激励,使…振奋
参考例句:
  • Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
  • Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。
2 unprecedented 7gSyJ     
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。
3 turmoil CKJzj     
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱
参考例句:
  • His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
  • The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。
4 partisan w4ZzY     
adj.党派性的;游击队的;n.游击队员;党徒
参考例句:
  • In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中,他们忘掉一切党派之争。
  • The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。
5 posturing 1785febcc47e6193be90be621fdf70d9     
做出某种姿势( posture的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • She was posturing a model. 她正在摆模特儿的姿势。
  • She says the President may just be posturing. 她说总统也许只是在做样子而已。
6 democrats 655beefefdcaf76097d489a3ff245f76     
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》
7 stimulus 3huyO     
n.刺激,刺激物,促进因素,引起兴奋的事物
参考例句:
  • Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
  • Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。
8 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
9 memo 4oXzGj     
n.照会,备忘录;便笺;通知书;规章
参考例句:
  • Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗?
  • Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗?
10 treasury 7GeyP     
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。
11 oversight WvgyJ     
n.勘漏,失察,疏忽
参考例句:
  • I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
  • Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。
12 taxpayer ig5zjJ     
n.纳税人
参考例句:
  • The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
  • The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。
13 taxpayers 8fa061caeafce8edc9456e95d19c84b4     
纳税人,纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
  • She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。
14 lashes e2e13f8d3a7c0021226bb2f94d6a15ec     
n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 );鞭子;突然猛烈的一击;急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 );煽动;紧系;怒斥
参考例句:
  • Mother always lashes out food for the children's party. 孩子们聚会时,母亲总是给他们许多吃的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Never walk behind a horse in case it lashes out. 绝对不要跟在马后面,以防它突然猛踢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 shamefully 34df188eeac9326cbc46e003cb9726b1     
可耻地; 丢脸地; 不体面地; 羞耻地
参考例句:
  • He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。
  • They have served me shamefully for a long time. 长期以来,他们待我很坏。
16 arrogance pNpyD     
n.傲慢,自大
参考例句:
  • His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
  • Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。
17 replacement UVxxM     
n.取代,替换,交换;替代品,代用品
参考例句:
  • We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
  • They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。
18 filibuster YkXxK     
n.妨碍议事,阻挠;v.阻挠
参考例句:
  • A senator dragged the subject in as a filibuster.一个参议员硬把这个题目拉扯进来,作为一种阻碍议事的手法。
  • The democrats organized a filibuster in the senate.民主党党员在参议院上组织了阻挠议事。
19 tactic Yqowc     
n.战略,策略;adj.战术的,有策略的
参考例句:
  • Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
  • She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

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