VOA标准英语2009年-US Senate Approves Funding For Afghanistan

The U.S. Senate has approved a $91 billion package that will continue funding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and provide assistance to Pakistan by a vote 86-3 late Thursday. The measure will have to be reconciled with a House-passed version before a final bill is sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.
　
US soldiers stand during ceremony at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan, 15 May 2009

Most of the funds are to help pay for continued U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some $400 million are to go toward training Pakistan's counterinsurgency forces, while $500 million are to be spent on economic aid to Pakistan.

The bill also includes funding for peacekeeping operations in Somalia, security programs along the U.S.-Mexico border and for the global fight against AIDS.

Senator Inouye praises bill

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations¹ Committee, Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, praised the bill.

"This is a good bill, and it is necessary to deal with a myriad³ of problems," he said.

But the measure does not contain everything President Obama had wanted.

Money to close Guantanamo withdrawn⁴

The Senate earlier this week followed the lead of the House of Representatives and took out $80 million to close the U.S. detention⁵ center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Lawmakers argued that it was premature⁶ to fund the closure before a plan was established on what to do with the 240 detainees housed there.

Earlier Thursday, the Senate approved a $100 billion U.S. line of credit to the International Monetary⁷ Fund, rejecting a Republican-sponsored amendment⁸ to remove the commitment from the bill. The IMF could use the line of credit to shore up the ability of countries to cope with financial crises.

Kerry supports IMF provision

Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat² and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke⁹ in support of the IMF provision.

"The fact is that if those emerging markets start to fade, not only do we lose the economic upside of those markets, but we also run the risk that governments fail," Kerry said.

The House and Senate will be in recess¹⁰ next week, but negotiators for both chambers¹¹ are expected to reach a compromise on the legislation soon after lawmakers return in early June.

1 appropriations   

n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• More commonly, funding controls are imposed in the annual appropriations process. 更普遍的作法是，拨款控制被规定在年度拨款手续中。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Should the president veto the appropriations bill, it goes back to Congress. 假如总统否决了这项拨款提案，就把它退还给国会。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

4 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

5 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

6 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

7 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

8 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

11 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网