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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Arizona Senator John McCain is undergoing treatment for a deadly form of brain cancer, but you'd never know it by watching him work. As the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, McCain is managing the Senate debate on the annual defense1 bill. It sets the priorities for the Pentagon. McCain is also using the bill to make a point about how he believes the Senate should work. NPR's Susan Davis reports.
SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE2: The annual defense bill gives John McCain a chance to do two things he enjoys the most - boost the U.S. military and chastise3 his fellow senators.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN MCCAIN: For too long, partisanship4 and politics have triumphed over principle and policy. This legislation is an opportunity for us to reverse that trend and restore regular order in the United States Senate.
DAVIS: Regular order. McCain has made this his battle cry in recent months ever since he cast a decisive vote back in July that effectively derailed his party's effort to undo5 the Affordable6 Care Act. McCain said of that bill's many offenses7 that it ran afoul of regular order in the Senate. The vote also came just days after his brain cancer diagnosis8. Ever since, McCain has been hounding his colleagues to do better at legislating9, so now that it's his bill on the floor it's been a week of McCain pounding the podium - literally10 - with this message.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MCCAIN: This is the way that the United States Senate should conduct business.
DAVIS: The way for McCain means moving bills through the committees and with buy-in from the Democratic minority. The result is a national defense bill that passed unanimously out of the Senate Armed Services Committee and incorporated 277 amendments12 from committee members in both parties. Speaking to CNN earlier this week, McCain said that committee work summed up his regular-order philosophy this way.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MCCAIN: And we fought, and we argued, and we're still mad at each other. But we came up with a bill that all of us could support.
DAVIS: McCain and his Democratic counterpart, Rhode Island Senator Jack13 Reed, are on track to together incorporate over 100 more amendments into the bill when it comes up for a floor vote. That kind of bipartisan collaboration14 leaves Democrats15 like Reed sounding like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JACK REED: I don't think any of this would have been done without the leadership of the chairman and his insistence16 that we adhere not only to regular order but that we don't forget this is ultimately about the men and women who serve us overseas.
DAVIS: It hasn't all been "Kumbaya" moments. One of McCain's longtime sparring partners on foreign policy, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, used delay tactics to try and force a vote on his amendment11. He wanted to repeal17 the 2001 and 2003 war authorizations that have been used to justify18 military actions ever since. Here's Paul.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RAND PAUL: These wars are costing trillions of dollars. They're unauthorized. We have not voted on them. And I say, look; let's pay attention to some of the problems we've got here at home.
DAVIS: McCain, of course, opposed it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MCCAIN: I cannot support anything that fails to provide our men and women in uniform with everything they need, including the legal authority to keep our nation safe.
DAVIS: To no surprise, the amendment failed. Even under regular order, chairmen still usually get their way. As for McCain's health, a Monday MRI concluded that additional radiation and chemotherapy is needed. McCain's office says the senator will undergo treatment at the nearby National Institutes of Health instead of back in Arizona. That way he can maintain a regular work schedule in the Senate. Susan Davis, NPR News, the Capitol.
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1
defense
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n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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2
byline
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n.署名;v.署名 | |
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3
chastise
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vt.责骂,严惩 | |
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4
Partisanship
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n. 党派性, 党派偏见 | |
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5
undo
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vt.解开,松开;取消,撤销 | |
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6
affordable
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adj.支付得起的,不太昂贵的 | |
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7
offenses
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n.进攻( offense的名词复数 );(球队的)前锋;进攻方法;攻势 | |
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8
diagnosis
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n.诊断,诊断结果,调查分析,判断 | |
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9
legislating
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v.立法,制定法律( legislate的现在分词 ) | |
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10
literally
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adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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11
amendment
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n.改正,修正,改善,修正案 | |
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12
amendments
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(法律、文件的)改动( amendment的名词复数 ); 修正案; 修改; (美国宪法的)修正案 | |
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13
jack
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n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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14
collaboration
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n.合作,协作;勾结 | |
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15
democrats
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n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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16
insistence
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n.坚持;强调;坚决主张 | |
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17
repeal
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n.废止,撤消;v.废止,撤消 | |
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18
justify
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vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
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