VOA标准英语2013--美国政府关门两党相互指责

 

No Shutdown Resolution in Sight 美国政府关门两党相互指责

WASHINGTON — The standoff that has shut down non-essential U.S. government operations is showing no signs of a resolution. As the shutdown entered its second day on Wednesday, Republicans and Democrats¹ in Congress were still blaming each other, and many Americans were blaming them all.

The partisan² bickering³ in the nation's legislature has sidelined everything from trade negotiations⁴ to medical research and has further eroded⁵ Americans' opinion of their lawmakers.

At issue is the President’s health care law, known as "Obamacare," which provides health insurance to millions of people who do not have coverage⁶. Congressional Republicans want it repealed⁷ or at least delayed before they will agree to pass a new budget.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday he will not give in to what he called ransom⁸ demands by the Republicans.  He said the law was passed in Congress and is unrelated to the budget issue. 

"I'm not going to allow anybody to drag the good name of the United States of America through the mud just to re-fight a settled election or extract ideological⁹ demands," said Obama.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner blamed the Democratic-led Senate for the shutdown, saying his party has offered compromise. 

"Last night they not only rejected that, but they also rejected our call to sit down and resolve our differences under the Constitution, which makes it clear that if the two Houses disagree, we should sit down and discuss and try to resolve those matters," said Boehner.

Analysts¹⁰ say the Republicans may lose some voter support if the shutdown continues.  Rachel van Dongen, an editor for Politico, a media outlet¹¹ focused on the U.S. government, claimed a small faction¹² of the House Republicans is driving the shutdown.

"The leadership in the Republican Party, [Speaker of the House] John Boehner and his lieutenants¹³, were always concerned about potentially losing the House majority in 2014 because of a shutdown, but they were really egged on to do this -- sparked into having a shutdown -- by the house conservative minority here.  Thirty-to-40 members of the so-called Tea Party movement are really the impetus¹⁴ behind the shutdown," claimed van Dongen.

Americans are increasingly annoyed with partisan battles in Congress.

Paul Sacker, an engineer at the Environmental Protection Agency in New York, is just one of the many public sector¹⁵ employees who will take a financial hit from the government shutdown.

"I'm going to start digging into my savings¹⁶ as the pay-checks stop coming. I'm going to have to dig into my savings to pay my mortgage, pay my bills.  My daughter is in college, we have expenses to cover for her," said Sacker. 

David Poppert works for the Department of Labor¹⁷ in Wisconsin, and says that his being furloughed will also hurt employees in the private sector.

"Part of it is I'm not going to be going to McDonald's and spending a dollar. I'm not going to be going to Home Depot¹⁸ and spending money on home renovation¹⁹ projects.  So for every dollar I don't spend at a business, that business is not making money to pay its employees," said Poppert.

Because of the shutdown, about 800,000 U.S. federal employees have been placed on unpaid²⁰ leave for an indefinite period of time.  The last federal shutdown was in 1995 and 1996, lasted 21 days and was the longest in U.S. history. 

1 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》

2 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

3 bickering   

v.争吵( bicker的现在分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The children are always bickering about something or other. 孩子们有事没事总是在争吵。
• The two children were always bickering with each other over small matters. 这两个孩子总是为些小事斗嘴。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

6 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

7 repealed   

撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Labour Party repealed the Act. 工党废除了那项法令。
• The legislature repealed the unpopular Rent Act. 立法机关废除了不得人心的租借法案。

8 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

9 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

10 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

11 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

12 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

13 lieutenants   

n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员

参考例句：

• In the army, lieutenants are subordinate to captains. 在陆军中，中尉是上尉的下级。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Lieutenants now cap at 1.5 from 1. Recon at 1. 中尉现在由1人口增加的1.5人口。侦查小组成员为1人口。 来自互联网

14 impetus   

n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力

参考例句：

• This is the primary impetus behind the economic recovery.这是促使经济复苏的主要动力。
• Her speech gave an impetus to my ideas.她的讲话激发了我的思绪。

15 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

16 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

17 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

18 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

19 renovation   

n.革新，整修

参考例句：

• The cinema will reopen next week after the renovation.电影院修缮后，将于下星期开业。
• The building has undergone major renovation.这座大楼已进行大整修。

20 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。