美国国家公共电台 NPR--Biden weighs in on what was accomplished at the NATO summit

Biden weighs in on what was accomplished¹ at the NATO summit

Transcript²

President Biden holds a press conference as the NATO summit wraps in Madrid.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

President Biden is heading home from a week in Europe, where he's made progress strengthening NATO as it works to deter³ Russia. But the president acknowledges there are big problems to confront here at home - on inflation, high gas prices and abortion⁴ rights. This is what he said at a press conference in Madrid this morning.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The one thing that has been destabilizing is the outrageous⁶ behavior of the Supreme⁷ Court of the United States and overruling not only Roe⁸ v. Wade⁹ but essentially¹⁰ challenging the right to privacy.

MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Scott Detrow is covering this and joins me now. Hey, Scott.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE¹¹: Morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: So supporters of abortion rights have been frustrated¹² with the president that he hasn't been more vocal¹³ after the court's decision to overturn federal protections for abortion rights. Did he give any more clarity on what his next move is?

DETROW: Not really. And you're right. So far, the White House has been vague on what executive actions it will take. Biden said he'll be providing more details tomorrow when he's back at the White House, and he's meeting with governors to talk about this. He kept sticking to that message we've heard for the last week, that the fix for this, according to Biden, is getting Congress to codify¹⁴ abortion rights and that voters need to expand Democratic majorities to make that happen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: If you care, if the polling data is correct and you think this decision by the court was an outrage⁵ or a significant mistake, vote. Show up and vote. Vote in the off year. And vote, vote, vote. That's how we'll change it.

DETROW: And as we've covered, this has really frustrated a lot of Democratic voters. There are Democratic majorities in the House and Senate right now, and this right got taken away. Biden did make some news today, saying that he would support carving¹⁵ out an exception to the filibuster¹⁶ to pass laws guaranteeing abortion rights, as well as laws guaranteeing other rights based on privacy that could now be in danger. But remember; that's exactly what he called for earlier this year when it came to voting rights. He urged the Senate to take a vote to carve out an exemption¹⁷ to the filibuster. The Senate did that. The vote failed. The filibuster remains¹⁸ in place.

MARTIN: So let's pivot¹⁹ a bit because the president was speaking at the end of this NATO summit. He and others have called it historic. Is that a correct characterization?

DETROW: Yeah, I think that is a fair way to put it. NATO cleared the way for two new members to join - Sweden and Finland. And at the same time, the U.S. and other NATO countries agreed to a larger and more aggressive military presence in Europe in order to deter Russia from attacking other countries. And Biden pointed²⁰ out again that Vladimir Putin has now unwittingly given a new focus and urgency to NATO.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: He's getting exactly what he did not want. He wanted the Finlandization of NATO; he got the NATO-ization (ph) of Finland. Think about this. That's what he thought. Now NATO and Sweden are closer than ever.

DETROW: And just to briefly²¹ explain what Biden meant - that term Finlandization was Cold War foreign policy, shorthand for Finland's neutral policies. So Biden's pointing out here that by invading Ukraine, Putin has now created a situation where a large country bordering Russia has decided²² it wants to join NATO, and that effectively doubles the NATO border with Russia.

MARTIN: So he's got these successes in this summit abroad, but, I mean, as we noted²³, it's not just the overturning of abortion rights; the president keeps facing these huge economic challenges.

DETROW: Yeah.

MARTIN: I mean, inflation is a real problem for him.

DETROW: Yeah. And one thing that he acknowledged was that some of the big factors in Europe are not going away anytime soon. The war is going to continue. That means Russian oil will stay off the markets. And as he pointed out, that means a lot of grain will remain trapped in Ukraine, and that adds to scarcity²⁴ problems around the world.

MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Scott Detrow. Thank you.

DETROW: Sure thing.

1 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

4 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

5 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

6 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

9 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

12 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

14 codify   

v.将法律、法规等编成法典

参考例句：

• The noble,Dracon,was asked to codify the laws.贵族德拉古被选为立法者。
• The new government promised to codify the laws.新政府应允要编纂法典。

15 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

16 filibuster   

n.妨碍议事，阻挠；v.阻挠

参考例句：

• A senator dragged the subject in as a filibuster.一个参议员硬把这个题目拉扯进来，作为一种阻碍议事的手法。
• The democrats organized a filibuster in the senate.民主党党员在参议院上组织了阻挠议事。

17 exemption   

n.豁免，免税额，免除

参考例句：

• You may be able to apply for exemption from local taxes.你可能符合资格申请免除地方税。
• These goods are subject to exemption from tax.这些货物可以免税。

18 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。

19 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。

20 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

21 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

22 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

23 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

24 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。