PBS高端访谈:希拉里·克林顿在政治上是如何变得更活跃的?

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Now we turn to the second part of our series exploring Hillary Clinton's life — tonight, the eight years she spent in the White House.

　　Her tenure¹ as first lady can be categorized as atypical, and even controversial at times. She logged many firsts, first presidential spouse² with a graduate degree, first to testify before a grand jury, and the first to have an office in the West Wing of the White House.

　　Before the Clintons ever stepped foot into the White House in 1993, and she was given her own West Wing office, there were hints Hillary Clinton would be a different kind of first lady.

　　HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), Presidential Nominee³: I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided⁴ to do was to fulfill⁵ my profession.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: That candid⁶ comment early in the '92 campaign didn't go over well with voters, so she shifted to a more traditional role until Election Day. But as soon as her husband was elected, she was again a public player.

　　HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Hello. This is Hillary Clinton. I want to thank you for letting me speak with you about an issue that is central to our children's future.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Early on, President Clinton tapped his wife to steer⁷ a major initiative, running the Task Force on National Health Care Reform.

　　David Gergen was an aide to the president at the time.

　　DAVID GERGEN, Former White House Aide: She's an extraordinarily⁸ competent woman. She is very much on — she knows the issues better than anybody I know, including her husband. That was threatening to some people, to some voters.

　　Men would — of the older generation would say, I would be really proud if my daughter grew up to be like Hillary Clinton, to be the kind of pathbreaker she is, but I sure as hell am glad that my wife isn't.

　　希拉里·克林顿在政治上是如何变得更活跃的?

　　HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: In the beginning, the health care effort looked promising⁹, says author Rebecca Traister.

　　REBECCA TRAISTER, Author, "All The Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation": When she first took on the project, and initially¹⁰ testified in front Congress about health care reform, it actually looked like it might go well. She was already a very divisive figure. People hated her. People loved her. She was so clearly smart, competent. Her approval ratings went way up. People liked it.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: But as weeks passed, Clinton's health care plan was attacked by the right and the left. Conservatives called it a government takeover. Even with a Democratic majority in Congress, the bill never made it out of committee.

　　Hillary had recruited dozens of experts to help craft an elaborate plan for universal coverage¹¹, but she had insisted most of the work be done in secret.

　　David Gergen says it was that and the lack of political outreach that led to failure.

　　DAVID GERGEN: She hadn't learned yet to play the Washington game.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: The collapse¹² of the health care initiative was one of the major factors in the GOP's takeover of Congress the following year.

　　During Bill Clinton's second term, Hillary was successful in her push for a program that enabled Washington to partner with states to ensure health coverage for uninsured children.

　　But, unlike the first four years, she spent less time in the West Wing, and more time traveling abroad, much of it promoting women's rights.

　　HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: It is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Traister describes it as a retreat into a more traditional first lady role.

　　REBECCA TRAISTER: She and Chelsea did a lot of traveling around the world. She wrote a book called, "Dear Socks, Dear Buddy," notes to the White House pets. She was blamed so enthusiastically for what happened with health care reform, and she was really attacked so forcefully, that it precipitated¹³ a real retreat by Hillary from this divisive public role that she had held within the administration.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Hillary was also at the center of a string of controversies¹⁴. The Clintons' involvement in a failed Arkansas land deal known as Whitewater would follow both of them through his presidency¹⁵.

　　DAVID GERGEN: I think one of the most troubling moments for me at the White House came over the Whitewater issue.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Former White House aide David Gergen:

　　DAVID GERGEN: I had a conversation with the president, and we got his assent¹⁶ to give over the documents to The Washington Post.

　　But then the president said: "Before we do this, you got to remember this. Both Hillary and I were involved in this. We can't release the documents without her blessing¹⁷ as well. And, by the way, David, you ought to go get it."I made the effort to see her, and try to persuade her to give over the documents, and I was ultimately very, very unsuccessful.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: For years, Hillary Clinton resisted calls to release documents related to Whitewater and other controversies. That, in turn, drew more attention from the news media and ultimately led to the appointment of a special prosecutor¹⁸.

　　DAVID GERGEN: If you stick to secrecy¹⁹ too much in the White House — and there's a temptation for every White House to do that — but if you stick too closely to temptation, you can pay a big, big price. And she paid a price for it.

　　HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: The conventional wisdom about Whitewater always is, take any straw you can to go on. So, I don't have any doubt that there are those who will say this should go on. I just would like to tell them, go on where? We have been going on for four years.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: The investigation²⁰ ended after it was declared there was insufficient²¹ evidence to prove any wrongdoing.

　　But the prolonged struggle led to a far more damaging controversy²², brought to light by independent counsel Kenneth Starr.

　　DAVID GERGEN: Had it not been for Kenneth Starr, we would have never heard of Monica Lewinsky. And if we had never heard of Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton would have not been impeached²³.

　　BILL CLINTON, Former President of the United States: I didn't have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: As the story of the president's involvement with a young White House intern²⁴ unfolded, it set off a firestorm of headlines about the state of the Clinton marriage. Gergen describes their relationship as being a bit like a seesaw²⁵.

　　DAVID GERGEN: As long as the seesaw was in equilibrium²⁶, they worked well together. When Hillary sort of got hurt and lost a couple of things, lost the Congress, and the seesaw tipped like this, and Bill was up sort of on top, that's when I think he allowed himself to get — to succumb²⁷ to some of the temptations.

　　There was a lot of volatility²⁸ in that relationship. How did she — how well did she handle it? Well, she stuck by her man.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: As the end of Bill Clinton's presidency approached, sympathy for the first lady helped boost her image. She began openly planning her own political career.

　　HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Bill and I are closing one chapter of our lives, and soon we will be starting a new one. For me, it will be up to the people of New York to decide whether I will have the privilege of serving them in the United States Senate.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: One year later, Hillary Clinton added yet another first to her resume, the first presidential spouse to run for elected office.

 

1 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

2 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

3 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

4 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。

5 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

6 candid   

adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的

参考例句：

• I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
• He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。

7 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

8 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

9 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

10 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

11 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

12 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

13 precipitated   

v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀

参考例句：

• His resignation precipitated a leadership crisis. 他的辞职立即引发了领导层的危机。
• He lost his footing and was precipitated to the ground. 他失足摔倒在地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

15 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。

16 assent   

v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• I cannot assent to what you ask.我不能应允你的要求。
• The new bill passed by Parliament has received Royal Assent.议会所通过的新方案已获国王批准。

17 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

18 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

19 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

20 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

21 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

22 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。

23 impeached   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

• Elected officials can be impeached. 经过选举产生的官员可以被弹劾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The judge was impeached for taking a bribe. 这个法官被检举接受贿赂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

24 intern   

v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生

参考例句：

• I worked as an intern in that firm last summer.去年夏天我在那家商行实习。
• The intern bandaged the cut as the nurse looked on.这位实习生在护士的照看下给病人包扎伤口。

25 seesaw   

n.跷跷板

参考例句：

• Prices have gone up and down like a seesaw this year.今年的价格像跷跷板一样时涨时跌。
• The children are playing at seesaw.孩子们在玩跷跷板。

26 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。

27 succumb   

v.屈服，屈从；死

参考例句：

• They will never succumb to the enemies.他们决不向敌人屈服。
• Will business leaders succumb to these ideas?商业领袖们会被这些观点折服吗？

28 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。