【美国精神】第31期

Explanation:   

  “What would happen if the president died?” Many people enjoy thinking about these what-if scenarios¹, where they try to think about what might happen if certain other things happen. If the president dies, the vice² president becomes the new president. But what if the vice president dies? Then the Speaker of the House of Representatives becomes president. But what if his or her replacement³ dies? And his or her replacement? You get the idea.  

 

  The U.S. government needs leadership, so it is important to have a plan for succession⁴ (or a plan for who will become the next president if something is wrong with the current president). The Presidential Succession Act (or law) lists 15 people who will become president if the current president and his or her successors⁵ (or the people who come after that person) are not able to serve (or work in a public position) as president. 

 

  But then the question becomes: What happens if all 15 people die and are unable to serve as president? Actually, there is no answer to that question. U.S. law lists only these 15 positions. If they all die at the same time, then there wouldn’t be a clear president of the country. But instead of extending the list (or making it longer), our government tries to avoid (or not let happen) the possibility of all 15 people dying at once. 

 

  How does the government do this?  The government never lets the president and all of his or her successors be in the same place at the same time. For example, once a year the president makes a State of the Union Address, which is a long speech about how well the country is doing that year. Almost all of the important members of the government go to hear the State of the Union, but one of the people who is on the succession list is always kept away from the rest of the people that day. He or she has to go to another hidden (or secret) place while the president is speaking. That way, if the building is attacked during the State of the Union, there will still be one person alive who is on the succession list, and he or she can become president. 

 

问题：

If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?  Answer:   

The Speaker of the House 

1 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 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。

3 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

4 succession   

n.连续，一连串，一系列；v.接替，继任

参考例句：

• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
• His succession as headmaster was not in any doubt.他继任校长是确定无疑的。

5 successors   

接替的人或事物，继任者，继承人( successor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our cause is flourishing and has no lack of successors. 我们的事业兴旺发达，后继有人。
• His successors, however, were too weak to contain the Vikings. 但是，他的继承者们因太软弱而无力遏制海盗。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史