2006年VOA标准英语-High US Gas Prices Could Have Political Im

By Jim Malone
Washington
26 April 2006

The rising cost of gasoline in the United States is the latest in a series of political problems facing President Bush and Republicans in Congress as they look ahead to congressional elections later this year.

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Senators, from left, Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. discuss rising gasoline prices at Exxon station on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 26, 2006
  

Americans are digging deeper into their pockets to pay for the rising cost of gas and that could have an impact on the congressional mid-term elections in November.

"You got to bring it down, man. I can't pay my bills," says a man in New York.

The complaints of this man, and others like him around the country, pushed President Bush Tuesday to take several steps to try to bring down rising U.S. fuel prices, which still remain lower than in many other parts of the world.

Mr. Bush is temporarily suspending some environmental rules on gasoline and is deferring¹ purchases for the nation's strategic oil reserve with the hope of increasing supply and driving prices down.

The president has also ordered the government to investigate whether oil companies are trying to take advantage of the situation.

George Bush  
  
"Americans understand, by and large, that the price of crude oil is going up and that their prices are going up. But what they don't want and will not accept is manipulation of the market. And neither will I," he said.

Opposition² Democrats⁴ see a huge political opportunity as Americans fret⁵ about the high cost of gas stretching into the U.S. summer season, when many families take driving vacations.

"The president doesn't touch his friends at the big oil companies and it is nice that the president is finally talking about gas prices. But talk is cheap and gas isn't," says Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat³ from New York.

Political analysts⁷ warn that an extended period of high gas prices could fuel voter anger in November when Republicans defend their majorities in both houses of Congress against Democrats who are becoming increasingly confident of gaining seats.

 
US Capitol, Washington DC 
  
"The president is not on the ballot⁸ so the only way to send a message to the government, to the White House, to Congress about the president's performance is via these congressional elections," says Washington-based analyst⁶ Stuart Rothenberg.

President Bush is also facing major challenges in trying to turn around negative public perceptions of his handling of Iraq and last year's response to Hurricane Katrina.

The latest CNN poll had the president's approval rating at 32 percent, the lowest in that survey so far. Sixty-nine percent of those asked in the poll said the rising gas prices were causing them severe financial hardship.

Mr. Bush has a new White House chief of staff in Josh Bolten and will soon have a new press spokesman in former journalist Tony Snow. But political experts say he may need to make more changes in the weeks to come.

  
  
Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard magazine, who recently wrote a biography of the president called Rebel in Chief, was a guest on VOA's Press Conference USA program.

"You want to recapture the aura of a new term beginning and I think he can do that but he is going to have to do many more personnel changes," he said. "I am sure he is going to do some at the White House. Whether he will do more beyond that, I don't know."

Other analysts believe Mr. Bush's political fate - and that of congressional Republicans - is still tied primarily to developments in Iraq.

 
Iraqi policemen inspect the site where two car bombs exploded Monday April 24, 2006
  
"I mean this is primarily about Iraq," says Stephen Hess, an expert on the presidency⁹ at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "There is no sense talking about his education policy or something like that. I mean he has been in office now for nearly six years. He has got one major policy in which he has thrown all the chips into the game. Is it going to work? We shall see."

Rising gas prices have taken their toll¹⁰ on previous U.S. presidents.

Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford¹¹ both dealt with the impact of the 1973 Arab oil embargo¹².

And high gas prices and shortages were also a factor in President Jimmy Carter's defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1980.

1 deferring   

v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的现在分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• Recently, the Supreme Court has focused on an additional reason for deferring to administrative agencies. 最近，最高法院强调了尊重行政机构的另一种理由。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Think of it as deferring part of the compiler's job to runtime. 可以认为这是将编译器的部分工作延迟到了运行时。 来自互联网

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

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 democrats   

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》

5 fret   

v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损

参考例句：

• Don't fret.We'll get there on time.别着急，我们能准时到那里。
• She'll fret herself to death one of these days.她总有一天会愁死的.

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

8 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

11 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

12 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。