VOA常速英语2013--聚焦华盛顿: 关注美国政府关闭,美国债务上限

 

 

Washington Week: All Eyes on Government Shutdown, US Debt Ceiling 聚焦华盛顿: 关注美国政府关闭,美国债务上限

WASHINGTON — A partial U.S. government shutdown is heading into a second week with no end in sight. Partisan¹ rhetoric² in Washington is becoming more strident by the day, with major political players sticking to hardened stances that seem to offer little short-term hope of resuming federal funding.

Democrats³ and Republicans both insist it is up to the other to end Washington’s political stalemate. President Barack Obama says congressional Republicans must allow a vote on a no-strings funding bill.

民主党和共和党都将华盛顿的政治僵局归咎于对方，总统巴拉克·奥巴马称国会的共和党必须允许就无条件拨款法案进行表决。

Republicans say the stand-off stems from President Obama’s refusal to negotiate while the government remains⁴ closed. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor blames it on intransigence⁵.

共和党称目前的僵局是因为总统奥巴马拒绝协商，而政府目前仍在关闭中。众议院多数派领袖埃里克·坎托将问题归咎于不妥协。

“That is not leadership. It is that attitude, that unwillingness⁶ to sit down and talk to us that has brought about this shutdown,” said Cantor.

“这与领导权无关，而是态度问题，对方不愿意坐下来与我们协商，这样政府就关门了。”

President Obama likens Republican demands to those of hostage-takers. “I will not pay a ransom⁷ in exchange for reopening the government. And I certainly will not pay a ransom in exchange for raising the debt ceiling,” he said.

总统奥巴马将共和党的要求比作人质劫持者的要求，“我不愿意为政府开门而支付赎金，我当然不愿意为了提高债务限额而支付赎金。”

Frustrations⁸ have reached a boiling point. House Speaker John Boehner voiced his discontent. “This is not some damn game. The American people do not want their government shut down, and neither do I,” said Boehner.

挫折感已经达到最高点，众议院议长约翰·博纳表达自己的不满，“这并不是游戏，美国人民不希望政府关门，我也不希望。”

Saturday, the House of Representatives voted to retroactively pay all federal workers once the shutdown ends. But government employees do not know when paychecks will resume, prompting demands for congressional action.

周六众议院投票决定，所有联邦员工的薪水将在国会恢复拨款后到位。但政府雇员们不知道薪水何时发放，他们要求国会有所作为。

“I have a family to take care of, and it is real to me and you are affecting me, and it is hard,” said Tracey School, a federal worker.

联邦员工Tracey School说，“我有一家子要养活，如果影响到我，那么我会很艰难的。”

The shutdown impasse⁹ could be overshadowed by another looming¹⁰ fiscal¹¹ crisis: the need to raise the federal borrowing limit. The United States risks a debt default and a credit downgrade unless Congress agrees to raise the debt ceiling next week. 

与另一场即将来临的财政危机相比，关门僵局似乎不算什么，这场危机就是提高联邦政府的借债限额。除非国会同意下周提高借债限额，那么美国将面临债务违约和信用降级的风险。

 

1 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

2 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

3 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》

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 intransigence   

n.妥协的态度；强硬

参考例句：

• He often appeared angry and frustrated by the intransigence of both sides.他似乎常常为双方各不相让而生气沮丧。
• Yet for North Korea,intransigence is the norm.不过对朝鲜来说，决不妥协是其一贯作风。

6 unwillingness   

n. 不愿意，不情愿

参考例句：

• Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position. 她不愿回答问题，这不利于她所处的形势。
• His apparent unwillingness would disappear if we paid him enough. 如果我们付足了钱，他露出的那副不乐意的神情就会消失。

7 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

8 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

9 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

10 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

11 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。