2021年经济学人 拜登的基础设施法案--悬而未决(1)

United States

美国版块

The infrastructure¹ bill

基础设施法案

It's a deal

成交

Joe Biden's bipartisan dream stays alive, for now

目前，乔·拜登的两党合作梦还在

Even before the Senate voted overwhelmingly to advance a bipartisan $1.2trn infrastructure agreement, President Joe Biden hailed it as proof "that our democracy can function, deliver and do big things".

甚至在参议院以压倒性多数投票通过一项1.2万亿美元的两党基础设施协议之前，美国总统乔拜登就曾称赞它是“我们的民主能够发挥作用、实现并做大事”的证据。

In fact, given the legislative² hurdles³ ahead, the deal supplied evidence—tentative at that—for just the first claim.

事实上，考虑到今后的立法障碍，该协议仅为第一个索赔提供了证据——暂时的证据。

Yet for a country aghast at its own toxic⁴ partisanship⁵, that is significant progress.

然而，对于一个党派之争十分激烈的国家来说，这是一个重大进步。

In a procedural step required to prevent a filibuster⁶, all 50 Senate Democrats⁷ were joined by 17 Republicans, including their leader, Mitch McConnell, who has called himself the Grim Reaperfor his opposition⁸ to Democratic policy-making.

在阻止阻挠议事的程序步骤中，17名共和党参议员加入了所有50名民主党参议员的行列，其中包括他们的领袖米奇·麦康奈尔。麦康奈尔因反对民主党的政策制定而自称为“死神”。

During the presidency⁹ of Donald Trump¹⁰, Mr McConnell resisted Mr Trump's own hopes of investing in infrastructure.

在唐纳德·特朗普担任总统期间，麦康奈尔拒绝了特朗普投资基础设施的希望。

But Mr Trump's infrastructure initiative was so inchoate¹¹ it became a national punchline¹².

但特朗普的基础设施倡议太过稚嫩，成了全美的笑料。

This time, months of painstaking¹³ negotiation¹⁴ among a small group of Democrats and Republicans, coaxed¹⁵ with compromises from Mr Biden, resulted in a package likely to be broadly popular with the public, if not with activists¹⁶ of either party.

这一次，一小群民主党人和共和党人经过几个月的艰苦谈判，拜登做出了妥协，最终达成了一项可能会受到公众广泛欢迎的方案，即便两党活动人士都不喜欢。

In contrast to the dysfunctional policymaking under Mr Trump, "in this case you had the Biden White House, the Senate Republicans and the Senate Democrats," says Scott Jennings,

共和党顾问、麦康奈尔的长期顾问斯科特·詹宁斯表示，与特朗普领导下功能失调的政策制定相比，“这一次，

a Republican consultant¹⁷ and longtime adviser¹⁸ to Mr McConnell, "they all had the appetite and the attention span to work things out."

拜登领导下的白宫、参议院共和党人和参议院民主党人都有解决问题的意愿和持续的关注。”

This is, he adds, how the Senate is meant to work, patiently shaping consensus¹⁹.

他补充说，这就是参议院的工作方式，耐心地达成共识。

In all, the bill would add some $550bn in spending across eight years on top of other projected infrastructure investments.

总的来说，该法案将在未来8年增加约5500亿美元的支出，此外还将增加其他预计的基础设施投资。

There would be $110bn for roads, bridges and other such projects, $73bn for the electric grid²⁰, $65bn for universal broadband access, $55bn for clean drinking water, $42bn for ports and airports,

1100亿美元将用于道路、桥梁和其它此类项目，730亿美元用于电网，650亿美元用于通用宽带接入，550亿美元用于清洁饮用水，420亿美元用于港口和机场，

and $7.5bn for a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The deal also includes $39bn for public transit²¹.

75亿美元用于全国电动汽车充电站网络。该协议还包括390亿美元用于公共交通。

Democrats and Republicans say the spending would be paid for with a mix of sources including unused pandemic-relief money, unspent unemployment benefits and changes to prescription-drug rules.

民主党和共和党表示，这些支出将由多种来源支付，包括尚未使用的流行病救济资金、未使用的失业救济金和对处方药规定的修改。

1 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。

2 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

3 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学

6 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。

7 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》

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 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。

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 inchoate   

adj.才开始的，初期的

参考例句：

• His dreams were senseless and inchoate.他的梦想根本行不通，很不成熟。
• Her early works are inchoate idea,nothing but full of lush rhetoric.她的早期作品都不太成熟，除了华丽的词藻外就没什麽内容了。

12 punchline   

n.（笑话、故事等的）结尾警语，点睛之笔

参考例句：

• Even then,the magical pause can strengthen the punchline.即使这样，有魔力的停顿依然可以增强笑点。
• A good joke or a mystery novel has along wind up to the final punchline.好的笑话或神秘小说都是一路曲折，直至最后的笑料或真相。

13 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

14 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。

15 coaxed   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer. 她哄着那匹马让它再靠近了一点。
• I coaxed my sister into taking me to the theatre. 我用好话哄姐姐带我去看戏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

18 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

19 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

20 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

21 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。