VOA慢速英语 2008 1213

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
　

Rod Blagojevich

This week, the governor of the American state of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, was arrested on federal corruption¹ charges. The case includes accusations² that he tried to sell an appointment to Barack Obama's former seat in the United States Senate. The governor has the power to make a temporary appointment.

The United States attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald, said the charges make no accusations about President-elect Obama.

On Thursday, the president-elect met with reporters in Chicago to name top members of his health care team, to be led by former senator Tom Daschle. But many questions dealt with the case.
　

President-elect Obama with Tom Daschle, his choice for health and human services secretary

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: "What I want to do is to gather all the facts about any staff contacts that may have taken place between the transition office and the governor's office and we will have those in the next few days and we will present them. But what I am absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any deal making around my Senate seat. That I am absolutely certain of."

He joined calls for Governor Blagojevich, a Democrat³, to resign.

On Friday, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan made an extraordinary request to the state Supreme⁴ Court. She asked to have the governor temporarily removed from office, or at least prevented from filling the Senate seat. Lawmakers could hold a special election instead.

Among those interested in the seat is Representative Jesse Jackson Junior, the son of the civil rights leader. The Democratic congressman⁵ met with the governor. But he said he was not involved in any wrongdoing and is not a target of the investigation⁶.
　

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan

The two-term governor says he has done nothing wrong. He was arrested at his Chicago home on Tuesday. He was released for now after a court appearance and returned to work the next day. He could face up to thirty years in prison if he is found guilty.

Among other things, investigators⁷ say he tried to pressure a newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, to dismiss opinion writers who criticized him. And officials suggest that he even threatened to deny state money to a children's hospital if he did not get a campaign donation.

Federal officials say they recorded his phone calls. Yet it was no secret that he was under investigation.

Political corruption is nothing new to Illinois -- three former governors have gone to jail in the past thirty-five years. Rod Blagojevich was elected in two thousand two as a reform candidate. The governor before him, George Ryan, was found guilty of corruption two years ago. He is now serving a six-and-a-half year prison term.

But the newspaper USA Today says Illinois, for its population, is eighteenth among the fifty states in convictions for public corruption. North Dakota, it says, had the highest rate between nineteen ninety-eight and two thousand seven. But the study looked only at cases won in federal courts.

Recently, two longtime members of Congress from Alaska and Louisiana lost re-election at least in part because of corruption cases.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

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 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 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。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》