PBS高端访谈:就解决卫生保健和俄罗斯干预问题的讨论

 　　For more analysis of the health care debate, "NewsHour Weekend" special correspondent Jeff Greenfield joins us from Santa Barbara, California.

　　Jeff, here we are, a sixth of the U.S. economy depends on healthcare and we have a piece of legislation that could be decided¹ by maybe two, three votes, it's coming down to this?

　　Yes, and it's remarkable². You know, in the old days, big social legislation like Social Security and Medicare used to pass by overwhelming margins⁴.

　　But for the last 25 years, we've seen this down to the wire kind of situation. Clinton got his tax bill through with a one or two-vote margin³.

　　President George W. Bush got his prescription⁵ drug plan through the House with one vote to spare.

　　Obama's stimulus⁶ and his healthcare bill needed 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster⁷. That's exactly what's he got.

　　So, that's what has happened and that reflects I think, in part, political polarization.

　　But there's also something to remember, all those bills passed because members of the president's party in Congress are very reluctant to see the president fail.

　　This idea of party versus⁸ country and what you should put first, how does it play out in this vote?

　　I think you can see it dramatically with Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, who is the most endangered Republican senator next year in the midterms.

　　With the prodding⁹ of the Republican governor, he has said he's no on this bill because of Medicaid.

　　So, what's happening, a pro-Trump¹⁰ PAC is going to launch a seven-figure media buy against him.

　　And what happens now is for him and for the other Republicans who expressed reluctance¹¹.

　　What it comes down to is Mitch McConnell looking for ways to pacify¹² them with concessions¹³ at the last minute and the problem, of course,

　　is that any time you concede to the moderates, the conservatives don't like it and vice¹⁴ versa.

　　All right. From politics to policy, when you look into the meat of it,

　　whether it's the House version or the Senate version, you have these huge constituencies that are going to be hurt by it — the poor, the elderly.

　　Who wins going forward or is this just a calculation of figuring out the bare minimum to get it over the line?

　　Look, I think what you — every independent analysis says this is big distribution away from middle class and the poor toward the affluent¹⁵,

　　who got hit in the Obama plan because their taxes were increased to pay for the subsidies¹⁶.

　　But two things to remember: first, the tax cuts kick in immediately.

　　The bites with Medicaid expansion later and reduced subsidies and higher premiums¹⁷,

　　they don't begin to kick in until after the 2018 midterms. I think that's a very critical point.

　　The second thing I'd say is that for a lot of Republican base, repealing¹⁹ Obamacare, whatever that means, has become the be all and the end all.

　　It's like Vince Lombardi once said, winning this and everything, it's the only thing.

　　Anything they can call Obama repeal¹⁸, they want, because not to do it betrays the central promise they made to the Republican base.

　　Shifting gears a little bit, the president back on Twitter.

　　In a couple of tweets, he seems to acknowledge the Russian interference in the context of blaming the Obama administration for not doing anything about it,

　　which is a different tactic²⁰ than what the White House and the administration and President Trump has been pushing with the past few months.

　　So, for months, Donald Trump was saying there is nothing to the story of hacking²¹. Maybe it's the Chinese. Maybe it's some guy in his parents' basement.

　　Now, he seems to be he's saying, of course, there was hacking, and the reason the Obama administration didn't talk about it much was to help Hillary by not talking about it.

　　That makes no sense. Had they exposed Russian effort to push the electorate²² away from Hillary, that would have helped her politically.

　　And one of the reasons they didn't do it, according to the intelligence chiefs that served Obama was,

　　had they raised that issue, they would have been accused of politicizing the story in an effort to help Hillary Clinton.

　　I think it's an illustration also, more broadly, of how Trump uses social media,

　　to convince his millions of followers²³ that his version of reality is right and, by definition, anyone pushing back against that story is a product of fake news.

　　And I think that's just become a kind of running theme of this administration. There's no reason to think it's going to stop.

　　All right. Jeff Greenfield joining us from California — thanks so much. Thank you. undefined

1 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。

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

4 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

5 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

6 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

7 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。

8 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

9 prodding   

v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
• The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

12 pacify   

vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰

参考例句：

• He tried to pacify the protesters with promises of reform.他试图以改革的承诺安抚抗议者。
• He tried to pacify his creditors by repaying part of the money.他为安抚债权人偿还了部分借款。

13 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

14 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

15 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

16 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

19 repealing   

撤销，废除( repeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• In addition, repealing the alternative minimum tax would also help. 此外，废除替代性最低税也会有所帮助。
• Repealing the investment tax credit. 取消投资税款扣除。

20 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

21 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

22 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

23 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。