美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-04-15

 I’m Carl Azuz and welcome to CNN Student News. It’s Thursday, and today the U.S. Senate could start debating the issue of guns. Two senators, Democrat¹ Joe Manchin and Republican Pat Toomey, have come up with a compromise on background checks. The current law requires background checks for people who buy guns from licensed² dealers³. This new plan would expand the checks to include sales at gun shows and sales online. Private sales, like those from one person to another would not require a background check.

 

And the common ground rests on a simple proposition and that is that criminals and the dangerously mentally ill shouldn’t have guns.

 

And this is common sense. This is gun sense. 

 

The NRA, the National Rifle Association, describes Senators Toomey and Manchin as strong supporters of gun rights. But it says their proposal would not affect the core problems of gun violence.

 

First Lady Michelle Obama was also talking about guns yesterday. She was in Chicago, a city that’s been affected⁴ by a wave of gun violence. 535 people in Chicago were killed in gun violence last year. That’s about 100 more people than the year before. Mrs. Obama visited a school yesterday where 29 current and former students had been shot in the past year. 

 

I’m not talking about something that’s happening in a war zone halfway⁵ around the world. I am talking about what’s happening in the city that we call home. If our kids keep waking up in neighborhoods where they don’t feel safe on their own front porches, if they’re still attending schools with crumbling⁶ ceilings and ripped-up text books, if there’s nowhere safe for them to go when that afternoon bell rings, then nothing speaks louder than that.

 

The first lady’s husband, President Obama, was speaking yesterday too, talking about his proposal for the U.S. government’s budget. It includes the president’s suggestions for how the country would spend and save money. And it’s getting some criticism from Republicans and Democrats⁷. The president’s plan is just one proposal in just one part of the federal budget process. Most years, it starts from the president’s proposal. This year, there are three budget proposals - one from the White House, one from the U.S. Senate, and one from the U.S. House of Representatives. The House and Senate released their proposals about a month ago. 

 

Once the proposal, or this year proposals, come out, then the House and Senate budget committees work on figuring out what’s in and what’s out. Those committees are responsible for coming up with a single budget resolution. If the full House and Senate both pass that resolution, and the president agrees, then the budget goes into effect. If the resolution doesn't pass, and that’s not unusual, then the government can use a continuing resolution - basically the budget numbers from the past year continue into the new year.

1 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。

2 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

3 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

6 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

7 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》