PBS高端访谈:在拜登推动下,美国两党有望再次合作

Congress returns from recess¹ this week, and, as we reported earlier, the first stop for a bipartisan group of lawmakers was the White House,

国会本周结束休会，正如我们早些时候报道的那样，两党议员小组的第一站是白宫，

invited by the president, as he works to sell his American Jobs Plan on infrastructure² and climate.

受总统的邀请，他正在推销他关于基础设施和气候的美国就业计划。

Lisa Desjardins has joins us now for an update. So, hello, Lisa.

丽莎·德斯贾丁斯现在和我们连线带来最新消息。你好，丽莎。

This was not the usual group of bipartisan lawmakers we see going to the White House. Tell us what is going on. What are we learning from this?

这不是我们平时看到的前往白宫的两党议员团体。跟我们讲讲发生了什么，我们能够从中获悉什么？

Right. We know that this is a huge effort for the Biden administration.

没错。我们知道这是拜登政府的巨大努力。

This is something that they see as a once-in-a-generation investment in this country, $2.4 trillion, none of it related to the COVID crisis, all just about infrastructure, jobs, different elements of American life.

在他们看来这是美国“一代一次”的投资，2.4万亿美元，这笔钱和新冠病毒危机没有任何关系，只跟美国的基础设施、就业以及生活的不同元素有关。

And let's look at the photo of who was there. It was Republicans and Democrats⁴ both.

我们来看看当时在场人的照片。共和党和民主党的成员都有。

There you see two senators on the couch, House members, senators on the right, House members on the left.

大家能看到有两个参议员坐在沙发上，众议员，参议员在右边，众议员在左边。

For social distancing, you can't see all of them in that photo.

为了保持社交距离，照片里看不到所有人。

But I can tell you, those numbers were generally people involved in transportation in some way or another in Congress.

但我可以告诉你，这些人通常是在国会中以某种方式参与运输之人。

But I noticed something else important about this group, because the president doesn't just need to sell it to members of Congress. They are critical. He has to sell it to the country.

但我注意到关于这个组织还有一些重要的事情，因为总统不仅仅需要向国会议员推销它，他们是至关重要的，他必须把它卖给全国。

So, look at a map of where the eight members of Congress who were at this meeting are from.

所以，看看参加这次会议的8名国会议员来自地图的哪里。

The blue and red represent Democrats and Republicans who were in the meeting.

蓝色和红色代表参加会议的民主党和共和党人。

You see, this is a geographic⁵ spread, not just Republican and Democrat³.

大家看，这是地理分布图，不仅仅是共和党和民主党。

The president here is clearly trying to bring together the whole country and point out that one thing all these lawmakers have in common is needs for infrastructure, water, all of this kind of stuff.

总统在这里显然是想把整个国家团结起来，并指出所有这些立法者有一个共同点，那就是对基础设施、水、所有这类东西的需求。

So, it is a very high-stakes kind of negotiation⁶ here. And he's trying to bring in people from all ends of the spectrum⁷.

所以，这是一种高风险谈判，他试图吸引来自各大领域之人。

So, Lisa, where do things stand? What does it look like for this proposed measure?

所以，丽莎，现在情况如何？这个提议的措施看起来如何？

This meeting told us a lot. We know that President Biden, one of the representatives in the meeting, Representative Payne,

这次会议告诉了我们很多事情。我们知道，拜登总统以及会议代表人之一佩恩代表

told me and other reporters that he actually -- he was very open to many different ideas for this large plan, including potentially an increase in the federal gas tax.

告诉我和其他记者，他实际上——他对这个庞大计划的许多不同想法持开放态度，包括可能增加联邦汽油税。

Apparently⁸, President Biden says 5 cents is a possibility.

显然，拜登总统表示5美分是有可能的。

He didn't stick to it, but he said this is something he would consider, also raising fees for perhaps electric vehicles, which now don't pay, of course, into a gas tax.

他没有坚持这样做，但他说会考虑这样做，可能还会提高电动汽车的费用，当然，现在电动汽车不需要缴纳汽油税。

That is something Republicans liked. But, Judy, at the end of the day, there was still a clear difference inside.

这正是共和党人曾经想要的。但是，朱迪，说到底，还是有明显的内在差异。

Republicans think this proposal is way too large. President Biden wants to go big.

共和党人认为这个提议太大了。拜登总统想要做大。

But everyone came away from this meeting saying they do feel the president was sincere in trying to get some kind of agreement going between both parties.

但是会议结束后的每个人都表示，他们觉得总统在试图让双方达成某种协议方面是真诚的。

It is going to be hard to do. Overall, where are we? I think we are still months away from really knowing exactly how this shapes up.

这是很难做到的。总的来说，我们在哪儿？我认为我们还需要几个月的时间才能真正了解事态的发展。

They're really deciding the menu here. To talk about dinnertime across America, it is like they are figuring out the menu of a very large buffet⁹.

他们在商量菜单，谈论美国各地的晚餐时间，就像在弄清楚一份大型自助餐的菜单一样，

They are not really even cooking on the stove yet. These are early days, but very important ones.

但他们还没有把饭架在炉子上做。这些举措还处于早期阶段，不过非常重要。

We like the analogy of cooking, since it's dinnertime.

我们喜欢用烹饪来做比喻，因为现在是晚餐时间。

I'm hungry.

我饿了。

Lisa Desjardins, thank you very much.

丽莎·德斯贾丁斯，非常感谢。

1 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 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》

5 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

7 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

9 buffet   

n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台

参考例句：

• Are you having a sit-down meal or a buffet at the wedding?你想在婚礼中摆桌宴还是搞自助餐？
• Could you tell me what specialties you have for the buffet?你能告诉我你们的自助餐有什么特色菜吗？