2007年VOA标准英语-US Veterans, Family Members Testify on Military

By Dan Robinson
Washington
05 March 2007

US lawmakers are pledging strong action in the wake of the latest revelations regarding poor conditions wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan have faced at a key Army medical hospital. VOA's Dan Robinson reports on an unusual public hearing at the facility, steps under way in Congress and what President Bush has said about the situation.

 
The scandal over unsanitary and other sub-standard conditions at a building at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center has already resulted in the dismissal of the secretary of the Army by Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates and the replacement² of the head of the facility.

However, House and Senate lawmakers want more done. They are demanding the creation of an independent commission and a wider government probe into bureaucratic³ and other problems affecting veterans.

The first in a series of hearings took place Monday when members of a House subcommittee went to the Walter Reed facility.

"This is absolutely the wrong way to treat our troops, and serious reforms need to happen immediately," said Democratic Congressman⁴ John Tierney.

 
Spec. Jeremy Duncan and Annette McLeod, wife of Cpl. Wendell McLeod, testify before a House Oversight⁵ and Government Reform subcommittee hearing at Walter Reed Medical Center, 5 March 2007
Wounded veterans and family members testified about tangled⁶ bureaucracy slowing or preventing urgently needed care.

Jeremy Duncan, a U.S. Army Specialist receiving treatment at Walter Reed for wounds suffered in an explosion in Iraq, testified about conditions he saw in a building there.

"There is no way they couldn't have known," he said. "Everybody had to have known somewhere, if they wanted to actually look at it or pay attention or believe it."

 
Staft Sgt. John Shannon testifies before House subcommittee at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, 5 March 2007
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant⁷ John Shannon, who lost an eye after being shot during a battle near the Iraqi city of Ramadi, says system-wide reforms are needed.

"A system that fires people down the chain, once again in my opinion is indicative of a system that is trying to protect itself whether it fixes the problem or not, and in my opinion [is] clearly not focused on fixing the problem," he said.

Military officials who have been in charge at the Walter Reed facility offered apologies during the hearing.

Major General George Weightman was the commander before he was dismissed last week.

"It is clear [that] mistakes were made, and I was in charge," he said. " We can't fail one of these soldiers, or their families, not one, and we did."

 
Lieutenant⁸ Gen. Kevin Kiley, left, and Major Gen. George Weightman testify before House subcommittee hearing at Walter Reed Medical Center, 5 March 2007
Weightman's temporary replacement, Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley, called steps to simplify bureaucracy urgent, and had this apology for conditions at Walter Reed.

"I am personally and professionally sorry and I offer my apologies to the soldiers, the families, the civilian⁹ and military leadership of the Army and Department of Defense, and to the nation," he said.

Documents Congress is examining include an internal Army memo¹⁰ indicating high-level officials at Walter Reed and the U.S. Army Medical Command were warned in 2006 that a process of privatizing positions dealing¹¹ with patient care, and an influx¹² of wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan, threatened to overwhelm the system.

Republican Congressman Tom Davis says the Pentagon was unprepared for the number of wounded, currently at least 22,000 from Iraq alone.

"The Pentagon somehow failed to anticipate that deploying¹³ unprecedented¹⁴ numbers of reserve component¹⁵ troops into combat would produce an unprecedented flow of casualties," he said. "As a result, the defense department has been scrambling¹⁶ ever since to lash¹⁷ together last century procedures and systems to care for returning citizen soldiers."

Controversy¹⁸ about conditions for wounded veterans comes as President Bush faces sharply eroded¹⁹ public support for the war in Iraq, and opposition²⁰ to new troop deployments.

White House spokesman Tony Snow was asked by reporters Monday what specific steps the president and others are taking.

"What he has been doing is making sure that people take a good look to find out what this situation is," he said. "No excuses, get the facts, get it fixed²¹."

The president asked Congress for $87 billion for the Veterans Administration for 2008. He said that military health care spending has gone up by 83 percent since 2001.

While the Walter Reed scandal puts pressure on all members of Congress to come up with a solution, it also poses challenges for majority Democrats²².

Before last November's mid-term congressional election, they accused Republicans of short-changing military veterans in the government budget.

Facing a tight budget situation, Democrats must now determine how to respond to long-standing flaws and correct deficiencies in the nationwide military health care system.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 replacement   

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。

3 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

4 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。

5 oversight   

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。

6 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

7 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

8 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

9 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

10 memo   

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？

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

13 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

14 unprecedented   

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。

15 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

16 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

18 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

19 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

20 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。

21 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

22 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》