美国国家公共电台 NPR 拜登推出1.9万亿美元经济援助计划

President-elect Joe Biden says if the U.S. is going to come back from this pandemic, it has to spend big. Biden outlined his strategy last night. It's an ambitious plan with a total price tag of $1.9 trillion in additional congressional aide.

当选总统乔·拜登表示，如果美国要从这次疫情中恢复过来，就必须投入大量资金。拜登昨晚概述了他的战略。这项雄心勃勃的计划打算增加1.9万亿美元的国会援助。

NPR's Scott Horsley is with us this morning. Hi, Scott.

NPR新闻的斯科特·霍斯利今天早上将和我们连线。你好，斯科特。

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE¹: Good morning, Rachel.

斯科特·霍斯利连线：早上好，蕾切尔

MARTIN: At this point, Congress has already allocated² around $4 trillion in federal relief aid for the pandemic, but Biden now clearly saying that's not enough.

马丁：目前，国会已划拨约4万亿美元的联邦救济援助资金，但拜登现在明确表示，这还不够。

HORSLEY: That's right. He acknowledged the fixes he's proposing won't come cheap, but he warned the cost of inaction would be even higher. He spoke³ at a time when we're losing more than 4,000 people every day to COVID-19 and more than 18 million Americans are still out of work.

霍斯利：没错。他承认，他提出的解决方案总额可能很高，但他警告称，不采取行动的代价会更高。他发表这番言论时，美国每天都有超过4000人死于新冠肺炎，而且有超过1800万美国人仍处于失业状态。

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JOE BIDEN: A crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight, and there's no time to waste. We have to act, and we have to act now.

乔·拜登：人类深受其害的危机显而易见，没有时间可以浪费。我们必须行动，现在就行动。

HORSLEY: In recent weeks, we've seen a frightening surge in both death and new infections. And beyond the illness and the loss of life, there's been a serious toll⁴ on the economy, Rachel. Just last week, more than 1.2 million people filed new applications for unemployment relief. You know, we're still short millions of jobs, and we actually lost jobs in December for the first time since April.

霍斯利：最近几周，我们看到死亡人数和新增感染人数出现激增，这令人相当恐惧。蕾切尔，除了疾病和生命损失，经济也受到了严重影响。上周有超过120万人提交新的失业救济申请。目前仍缺少数以百万计的工作机会，事实上，去年12月是自4月份以来首次出现工作岗位损失。

MARTIN: Let's focus in on specifically the pandemic. How does Biden propose getting ahead of that?

马丁：我们来特别关注一下疫情。拜登提议如何提前解决这个问题？

HORSLEY: He wants a more aggressive federal response. You know, President Trump⁵ put a lot of emphasis on developing new vaccines⁷ in record time. But once they were in hand, the administration really left it up to states to distribute them, and it's gone much more slowly than promised. In fact, Biden branded the rollout so far a, quote, "dismal⁸ failure." The president-elect is calling on Congress to spend $20 billion on a nationwide vaccine⁶ campaign, and he wants to hire 100,000 additional public health workers.

霍斯利：他希望联邦政府做出更积极的回应。特朗普总统非常重视以破记录的时间开发新疫苗。但获得疫苗后，政府就将分发工作交给了各州，而且进展比所承诺的要慢得多。事实上，拜登将迄今为止的推广称为“惨败”。当选总统呼吁国会在全美范围内投入200亿美元开展疫苗接种行动，并希望再雇佣10万名公共卫生工作者。

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BIDEN: We'll have to move heaven and earth to get more people vaccinated⁹, to create more places for them to get vaccinated, to mobilize more medical teams to get shots in people's arms, to increase vaccine supply and to get it out the door as fast as possible.

拜登：我们竭尽全力让更多的人接种疫苗，为人们创造更多的接种场所，要动员更多的医疗队为们注射疫苗，还要增加疫苗供应，并尽快把疫苗分发出去。

HORSLEY: You know, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell underscored that point yesterday, saying the single most important economic policy in the country right now is health care policy.

霍斯利：美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔昨天强调了这一点，他表示，美国目前最重要的经济政策是医疗保健政策。

MARTIN: Right. They're completely entwined. So even if Biden meets his goal of delivering 100 million shots in his first 100 days — which experts say is a stretch, right? — that's not suddenly going to fix the job market. What is Biden saying about that?

马丁：没错。二者紧密相连。因此，即使拜登实现在任期前100天内进行1亿次注射的目标——专家称这难以实现，对吧？——也不会立即改善就业市场。拜登对此有何评论？

HORSLEY: Right. So he's calling for another round of direct payments of $1,400 for most Americans. That's on top of the $600 payments that were approved last month. He also wants to increase unemployment benefits, and, importantly, he wants to extend those benefits through September or even longer if conditions warrant. He's also calling for hundreds of billions of dollars in spending to help schools reopen safely and help state and local governments keep teachers and police and firefighters on the job. And he's proposing some longer-term measures, including a boost in the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

霍斯利：没错。因此，他呼吁为大多数美国人提供1400美元的新一轮直接补贴。即在上个月批准的600美元补贴的基础上再提供1400美元补贴。他还希望增加失业救济金，更重要的是，如果条件允许，他希望将这些救济金的发放延长到9月份，甚至更长时间。他还呼吁投入数千亿美元，帮助学校安全地重新开学，帮助州政府和地方政府留住教师、警察和消防员。他还提出了一些长期措施，包括将最低工资提高到每小时15美元。

MARTIN: I mean, I guess he's got some support in Congress. It's tipping his direction. But what are the chances it actually gets through?

马丁：我想他在国会得到了一些支持。国会在向他的方向倾斜。但这项计划通过的几率有多大？

HORSLEY: Uncertain — you know, Democrats¹⁰ have the narrowest possible margin¹¹ in the Senate and a not much bigger majority in the House. As much as the president-elect is urging lawmakers to act quickly, he acknowledged this is not going to be like throwing a light switch when he takes office next week.

霍斯利：不确定，民主党人在参议院的优势可能最小，在众议院的优势也不大。尽管当选总统敦促议员尽快采取行动，但他同时承认，他下周就职时不会像扔掉电灯开关那样简单。

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BIDEN: We didn't get into all this overnight; we won't get out of it overnight. And we can't do it as a separated and divided nation. The only way we can do it is to come together — to come together as fellow Americans, as neighbors.

拜登：我们不是一夜之间卷入这一切的；我们也不会在一夜之间摆脱。国家分裂时我们无法做到。我们唯一能做的就是团结起来，美国同胞和邻居们团结在一起。

HORSLEY: That is obviously a very different tone than what we've been hearing in Washington lately. Certainly, parts of the Biden plan are not going to win bipartisan support. Parts of the Chamber¹² of Commerce, for example, are very skeptical¹³ of that $15 minimum wage. But the chamber put out a supportive statement, especially about the vaccine turbocharging. You know, everybody wants to put this pandemic behind them as quickly as possible.

霍斯利：这显然与我们最近在美国政府听到的声音截然不同。当然，拜登的部分计划不会赢得两党支持。例如，美国商会的部分成员对15美元每小时的最低工资持怀疑态度。但商会发表了一份支持性声明，特别提及疫苗涡轮增压。每个人都想尽快结束这场疫情。

MARTIN: NPR's Scott Horsley, thank you.

马丁：以上是NPR新闻的斯科特·霍斯带来的报道，谢谢你。

HORSLEY: You're welcome.

霍斯利：不客气。

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

3 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。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 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。

6 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

7 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

8 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

9 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

10 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》

11 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

12 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

13 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。