VOA标准英语2013--削减食品券让人欢喜让人忧

 

In Kentucky Some Fear, Some Cheer Proposed Food Stamp Cuts 削减食品券让人欢喜让人忧

LOUISVILLE — Depending on one’s political perspective, the $40 billion cut to the U.S. food stamp assistance program - recently passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and now under consideration by the Democrat-led Senate - is either a measure to curb¹ a growing culture of dependency or is cold indifference² to those most in need.  The debate over food stamps continues in Kentucky, a southern state with one of the highest poverty rates in the United States.

The Shively Area Ministries³ near Louisville, Kentucky, operates a food distribution program in an area where the poverty rate has risen from 11 to 18 percent in the last decade.  Marvin Pogue, a disabled veteran, depends on this private charity to supplement the $34 a month in food stamps he receives.  Cutting his assistance further, he says, would be punitive⁴.

“That’s crazy. I mean we’re not getting enough now to get by through the month," he said. "That is why we are having to go to outside facilities.”

Coordinator⁵ Sister Jean Anne Zappa says the program feeds 20,000 families a year.  The ministry⁶ was able to increase private contributions after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its donations to food banks almost in half last year.  She says it will not be able to fill the gap if the proposed cuts to the food stamp program go through.

“We cannot do it alone. We need to be in partnership⁷ with the government because we are our brother’s keeper," she said. "We are our sister’s keeper.  We are one people.”

But many working class people at a Louisville veterans' picnic expressed support for the proposed food stamps cuts, especially the provision that would require adults to find jobs or job training, or lose their benefits.  

Christina Shank, a mother of two, says too many people are too dependent on government hand-outs.

“The people that work deserve a chance to receive food stamps," she said. "And the people who don’t work, I mean, people need to get up and work for what they have.  I think it is a good decision.”

Zappa says most of the people who receive food stamps are working, and many are single mothers taking care of children.  They are just not making enough money in this stagnant⁸ economy to support their families.   

“There is a thing called 'food insecurity' that we are looking at," she said. "So you may be a working person and you just don’t have enough food for the end of the month for your family.  That is different than someone who is in dire⁹ poverty all of the time.”

She says as the economy improves, the number of people needing food stamps will drop. But critics say pushing people off assistance and into the workforce¹⁰ will lead to economic improvement. 

1 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

2 indifference   

n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎

参考例句：

• I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
• He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。

3 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

4 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

5 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

9 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

10 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。