VOA常速英语2013--本周华盛顿聚焦财政问题之争

 

Washington Week: Focus on Fiscal¹ Battles 本周华盛顿聚焦财政问题之争

WASHINGTON — After weeks focused on Syria, Washington is turning its attention to fiscal deadlines that, if not met, could provoke a limited U.S. government shutdown and another downgrade of America’s credit rating.

President Barack Obama is expected to address this very topic in remarks on Monday. The drama is a replay of partisan² battles over federal spending and the president's signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare, a major component³ of which will be activated⁴ October 1.

President Obama says America’s fiscal picture is improving.

奥巴马总统表示美国的财政前景正得到改善。

“The deficit⁵ has been cut in half since I came into office. It is continuing on a trend line of further reductions. If we want to do more deficit reduction, I have already put out a budget that says ‘let us do it’,” said Obama.

“自从我当选为总统以来赤字已被削减了一半。现在呈现继续进一步削减的趋势。如果我们想削减更多的赤字,我已经制定了一个让我们这样做预算。”奥巴马说道。

Republican lawmakers are not satisfied. House Speaker John Boehner:

但共和党议员们并不买总统的账。众议院议长约翰·博纳这样说道: 

“For the sake of our economy, we will continue to do everything we can to repeal⁶, dismantle⁷, and defund Obamacare. Another important part of our plan for jobs is reining⁸ in the massive deficits⁹ and debt that is hurting our economy and jeopardizing¹⁰ the American dream for our kids and grandkids,” said Boehner.

“为了我们的经济,我们将继续竭尽所能来废除、取消和撤资奥巴马医改。我们工作计划的另一个重要部分是控制伤害我们的经济并危及我们的孩子及子孙美国梦的巨额赤字和债务。”贝纳说道。

So far, House Republicans appear divided on how best to pursue those goals. Further domestic spending cuts sought by Republicans will get no Democratic support, says House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

到目前为止,众议院共和党人就如何最好地实现这些目标仍存在分歧。众议院少数党领袖南希·佩洛西表示共和党人进一步削减国内开支人将不会寻求民主党人的支持。

“This is one of the dumbest ideas you could advance: cut education to reduce the deficit. No! Invest in education to grow the economy and bring money to the Treasury,” said Pelosi.

“这是你可以提前的最愚蠢的想法之一:削减教育以减少赤字。荒谬至极! 投资教育经济增长之后给财政部带来收益,” 佩洛西说道。

And the White House says it will not negotiate on the Affordable¹¹ Care Act as  Obamacare is formally known.

而白宫表示不会就可支付医疗法案，即统称的奥巴马医改进行谈判。

Spokesman Jay Carney said, “We will not accept anything that delays or defunds Obamacare. Threatening a government shutdown over an ideological¹² position is not something most Americans would believe is the right thing to do."

发言人杰·卡尼说道:“我们不会接受奥巴马医改的任何延迟或撤资。威胁政府放弃这一想法并不是大多数美国人认为应该去做的正确事情。

Without a funding extension, the U.S. government’s spending authority expires at the end of this month. The federal government will reach its borrowing limit weeks later. 

没有资金扩展,美国政府的财务开支授权将会于本月底到期。几周后联邦政府将达到其借款限额。

1 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

2 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

3 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

4 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

5 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

6 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。

7 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

8 reining   

勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的现在分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理

参考例句：

• "That's a fine bevy, Ma'm,'said Gerald gallantly, reining his horse alongside the carriage. "太太！好一窝漂亮的云雀呀！" 杰拉尔德殷勤地说，一面让自己的马告近塔尔顿的马车。
• I was a temperamental genius in need of reining in by stabler personalities. 我是个需要由更稳重的人降服住的神经质的天才。

9 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

10 jeopardizing   

危及，损害( jeopardize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Plans may also become inefficient in the attainment of objectives by jeopardizing group satisfactions. 用危及群体利益方法去达到目标的计划，也是无效率的。
• That boosted government revenues in the short term, but is now jeopardizing them. Morales将天然气工业，电信业和部分采矿业收归国有的举措吓跑了投资者们。

11 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

12 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。