VOA慢速英语2012 IN THE NEWS - Mitt Romney and Bain Capital

 

IN THE NEWS - Mitt¹ Romney and Bain Capital

新闻报道 - 罗姆尼在贝恩资本的经历成为奥巴马攻击目标

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语新闻报道。

Private companies are rarely a major issue in American presidential election campaigns. But some observers say that could change this year because of Bain Capital.

私营公司很少成为美国总统竞选活动中的主要议题。但一些观察人士表示，由于贝恩资本，这一情况今年可能有所改变。

Bain Capital is an investment company with offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Mitt Romney, the likely Republican Party candidate for president, helped start the company. Profits from Bain Capital have made Mr. Romney very wealthy.

贝恩资本是一家总部设在马萨诸塞州波士顿市的投资公司。共和党最可能的总统候选人米特·罗姆尼（Mitt Romney）协助创办了这家公司。来自贝恩资本的盈利使得罗姆尼先生非常富有。

Recently, President Obama has begun asking questions about Mister Romney’s involvement with the company. The two men are set to face each other in the November elections.

最近奥巴马总统开始就罗姆尼卷入这家公司发难。他们两人将在11月大选中成为对手。

Bain Capital is a private equity² company. It uses money from wealthy individuals and financial organizations to buy other businesses. It then works to increase their profitability before selling them, often at a huge profit. Bain is one of America’s leading venture capital companies. Its partners reportedly manage sixty-five businesses said to be worth about sixty billion dollars.

贝恩资本是一家私人股权公司。该公司利用富人和金融机构的资金收购其它企业，然后努力提升所收购企业的盈利能力后卖出，这通常可以获得巨大收益。贝恩资本是美国领先的风险投资公司之一。据报告，其合作伙伴管理着据说价值约600亿美元的65家企业。

Mitt Romney helped to organize the company in nineteen eighty-four. Mister Romney led Bain until he left in nineteen ninety-nine. He says the businesses Bain bought and directed during his years with the company created about one hundred thousand jobs.

1984年，罗姆尼协助创办了这家公司，并在1999年离开前一直负责贝恩资本。他说，他就职的那些年，贝恩资本购买和管理的企业创造了约10万个就业机会。

Mister Romney has said that his time at Bain was more important to him than his years as governor of Massachusetts. He says both jobs gave him the experience and skills necessary to help the American economy. The former governor spoke³ at a recent campaign event. He said Mister Obama has failed in his efforts to strengthen the economy.

罗姆尼先生曾表示，他在贝恩资本的职业生涯比马萨诸塞州州长生涯更为重要。他说，这两项工作给了他提振美国经济的必要经验和技能。这位前任州长在一次竞选活动中说，奥巴马先生在强化美国经济的措施上已经一败涂地。

ROMNEY: “He has spent more and borrowed more. The time has come for a president, a leader, who will lead. I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno⁴.”

罗姆尼：“他花了很多（钱）借了很多（钱）。现在谁能作为总统站出来？我将站出来带领大家走出债务和支出的深渊！”

He also said that, if elected, he will change the way Washington operates.

他还表示，如果当选总统，他会改变美国政府的运作办法。

ROMNEY: “We need a president who understands the power of free enterprise because he’s lived it. And I have, and I will, and I’ll make sure that is part of our future.”

罗姆尼：“我们需要这样一位总统，他了解自由企业的力量，因为他经历过。我会确保那是我们未来的一部分。”

Mister Obama and his campaign have sharply different ideas about Mister Romney’s time at Bain Capital. They have advertisements that describe how some of Bain’s investments failed. The ads say the company’s decisions cost thousands of workers their jobs, while Bain earned big profits on its investments.

奥巴马先生及其阵营对罗姆尼先生在贝恩资本的职业生涯有着截然不同的想法。他们刊登广告描述了贝恩资本的一些投资是如何失败的。该广告称，贝恩资本的决策牺牲了数千名工人的工作，而他们自己赚取巨大的投资收益。

OBAMA: “I will say today, I think there are folks who do good work in that area and there are times where they identify the capacity for the economy to create new jobs or new industries. But understand that their priority is to maximize profits and that’s not always going to be good for communities or businesses or workers.”

奥巴马：“我今天得说，我认为有些人在某些领域做得很好，很多时候，他们定义了经济创造新岗位和新行业的能力。但要明白，他们的首要任务是实现利润最大化，但这并非总对社区、企业或员工有利。”

Mister Obama has dismissed Mister Romney’s claim that his years at Bain make him the right person to fix the economy.

罗姆尼先生声称他在贝恩资本的经历使得他成为解决经济问题的合适人选，奥巴马先生对此予以否认。

Several studies show that the economy will be the top issue in the election campaign. That means the president will have to spend a lot of time defending his record. Democratic Party activists⁵ know many voters are unhappy about the economy. The president’s supporters will note some improvements in the economy as evidence that the country is moving in the right direction.

一些研究表明，经济问题将成为竞选活动的首要议题。这意味着奥巴马总统将不得不花很多时间为自己的政绩辩护。民主党活动人士都知道，许多选民对经济不满。奥巴马的支持者将会指出美国经济的一些进展，以证明美国正朝着正确方向前进。

And that’s IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. For transcripts⁶, MP3s and now PDFs of our programs for e-readers, go to www.voanews.cn. I’m Steve Ember.

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 inferno   

n.火海；地狱般的场所

参考例句：

• Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
• The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句