奥巴马每周电视讲话：总统呼吁确保美国引领世界开拓新边疆（02）

That's why it's so backward when some folks choose to stick their heads in the sand about basic scientific facts.

也因此,当一些人就基本的科学事实都逃避现实,是如此的落后。

It's not just that they're saying that climate change a hoax¹ or trotting² out a snowball on the Senate floor.

不仅仅他们在说,气候变化是骗局,或者在参议院炫耀冬天的雪球。

It's that they're also doing everything they can to gut³ funding for research and development,

他们也在做着他们能做的事情,阻挠为研究和开发提供资金支持,

the kinds of investments that brought us breakthroughs like GPS, and MRIs, and put Siri on our smartphones.

包括把我们带到突破性时代类型的投资,比如GPS,核磁共振,把Siri应用到智能手机中。

That's not who we are.

这不是我们的样子。

Remember, sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn't deny Sputnik was up there.

请记住,60年前,当俄罗斯人击败我们进入太空,我们并没有否认人造卫星的存在。

We didn't haggle⁴ over the facts or shrink our RD budget.

我们没有就事实争论不休或者压缩我们的研究开发预算。

No, we built a space program almost overnight and beat them to the moon.

不,我们几乎在一夜之间建立起太空计划,并击败他们登上了月球。

And then we kept going, becoming the first country to take an up-close look at every planet in the solar system, too. That's who we are.

之后,我们继续前行,成为第一个在太阳系能够近距离看到所有行星的国家。这才是我们的样子。

And that's why, in my first inaugural⁵ address, I vowed⁶ to return science to its rightful place.

也因此,在我的第一份就职演说中,我发誓让科学回归到它应有的地位。

It's why in our first few months, we made the largest single investment in basic research in our history.

也因此,在我就职的前数个月里,我们做出了历史上对基础研究最大的投资。

1 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

2 trotting   

小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• The riders came trotting down the lane. 这骑手骑着马在小路上慢跑。
• Alan took the reins and the small horse started trotting. 艾伦抓住缰绳，小马开始慢跑起来。

3 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

4 haggle   

vi.讨价还价，争论不休

参考例句：

• In many countries you have to haggle before you buy anything.在许多国家里买东西之前都得讨价还价。
• If you haggle over the price,they might give you discount.你讲讲价，他们可能会把价钱降低。

5 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

6 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。