VOA新闻杂志2023 美国国会议员被投票罢免

US Congress Member Expelled

美国国会议员被投票罢免

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove Republican Congressman¹ George Santos of New York on Friday.

周五，美国众议院投票决定罢免纽约州共和党众议员乔治·桑托斯。

The House voted 311 to 114 to immediately remove Santos. A two-thirds majority is required to expel a member from the House. Santos became just the sixth member to be removed in the history of the United States. Three lawmakers were removed for disloyalty during the U.S. Civil War. And two were removed after being found guilty of crimes in federal court.

众议院以311票对114票决定立即罢免桑托斯。将议员逐出众议院需要三分之二多数票。桑托斯成为美国历史上第六位被罢免的议员。三名议员因在美国内战期间不忠而被免职。还有两人被联邦法院判决有罪后被免职。

The vote to remove Santos came after a House ethics² report accused him of defrauding³ donors⁴ and using campaign money for his personal use. The 56-page report contained "overwhelming evidence" of lawbreaking, violations⁵ of ethics and "misstatements" during his 2022 campaign.

在投票罢免桑托斯之前，众议院的一份道德报告指控他欺诈捐赠者，并将竞选资金用于个人用途。这份56页的报告包含了他在2022年竞选期间违法、违反道德和“错误陈述”的“压倒性证据”。

A long record of wrongdoing

一长串不法行为记录

The 35-year-old Santos has been accused of wrongdoing since he was first elected to Congress in November 2022.

现年35岁的桑托斯自2022年11月首次当选国会议员以来，一直被指控有不当行为。

Santos admitted that he made up his life story following several newspaper reports. He falsely claimed that his grandparents were Jewish and that they escaped the Holocaust⁶. But his mother's immigration record said they were born in Brazil.

桑托斯承认，他的人生故事是在几篇报纸报道后编造的。他谎称他的祖父母是犹太人，他们逃过了大屠杀。但他母亲的移民记录显示他们出生在巴西。

Santos claimed that his family owns and collects rent money on 13 properties. There are no records of Santos or his family ever owning any property. And Santos himself has been brought to court repeatedly for not paying rent.

桑托斯声称，他的家族拥有并收取13处房产的租金。没有桑托斯或他的家人拥有任何财产的记录。而桑托斯本人也多次因不付房租而被送上法庭。

Newspaper reports discovered that Santos also lied about his education at New York University, his work history with financial companies Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and his involvement in a check fraud case in Brazil. There were no records of Santos ever going to college or working at the companies. Santos later admitted to the crime and paid money in the case in Brazil.

报纸报道发现，桑托斯还谎报了他在纽约大学的教育经历、他在金融公司高盛和花旗集团的工作史，以及他参与巴西一起支票欺诈案。没有桑托斯上过大学或在这些公司工作的记录。桑托斯后来在巴西的案件中认罪并交付罚款。

He is currently facing federal criminal charges including stealing public money, misuse⁷ of campaign money, credit card fraud and making false statements. Santos has pleaded not guilty to those charges. But two former campaign aides have pleaded guilty to related charges.

他目前面临联邦刑事指控，包括盗窃公款、滥用竞选资金、信用卡欺诈和虚假陈述。桑托斯对这些指控表示不认罪。但两名前竞选助手已对相关指控表示认罪。

A bipartisan congressional investigation⁸ last month found that he used congressional campaign money to pay for almost $4,000 in spa treatments, including Botox, a kind of beauty injection. He also spent more than $4,000 of campaign money on luxury goods and made "smaller purchases" from OnlyFans, an online website known for sexual material.

上个月，国会两党的一项调查发现，他用国会竞选资金支付了近4000美元的水疗费用，其中包括肉毒杆菌毒素，这是一种美容针。他还将4000多美元的竞选资金花在了奢侈品上，并从以性材料闻名的在线网站OnlyFans上进行了“小额购买”。

Santos rejected repeated calls for him to resign. Before the House vote to remove him, Santos said, "The people of the Third District of New York sent me here. If they want me out, you're going to have to go silence those people and go take the hard vote."

桑托斯拒绝了多次要求他辞职的呼声。在众议院投票罢免他之前，桑托斯说：“纽约第三区的人民把我送到这里。如果他们想让我下台，你就必须让那些人噤声，然后进行艰难的投票。”

His expulsion will shrink the Republican's narrow majority. And New York State Governor Kathy Hochul of the Democratic Party now has 10 days to call a special election for the seat representing part of Long Island.

他的驱逐将缩小共和党的微弱多数。民主党的纽约州州长凯西·霍楚尔现在有10天的时间为这个代表长岛部分地区的席位举行特别选举。

1 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。

2 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

3 defrauding   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Second is the actor regards defrauding of the wealth as object. 第二，行为人以骗取钱财为目的。 来自互联网
• Therefore, DELL has the motive and economic purpose of intentionally defrauding the Chinese consumers. 因此，戴尔公司存在故意欺诈中国消费者的动机和经济目的。 来自互联网

4 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

6 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

7 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

8 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。