美国国家公共电台 NPR In Dog-Eat-Dog World Of Congress, 2 GOP Lawmakers Spar Over Canine Training Facility

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

In the foothills of the Blue Ridge¹ Mountains, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms runs an academy for dogs. They're trained to detect explosives and chemical accelerants used in arson² cases. A powerful senator wants the facility moved to his state, and a powerful congressman³ is fighting back. NPR's Brian Naylor reports on a dog-eat-dog battle in Virginia.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Good dog. Good dog.

BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE⁴: A half-dozen dogs are demonstrating their training at the ATF's Canine⁵ Training Center. They run around a large gymnasium-like room. On the floor are metal cans and suitcases, some of them with traces of explosives. But good dogs stop and sit by the containers with the explosive traces and are rewarded with a handful of treats.

SHAWN CRAWFORD: We get the dogs that don't make it as a guide dog. They're usually too high energy. There's nothing wrong with them. We just say they're making a career change.

NAYLOR: Shawn Crawford is a trainer with the ATF. He says the dogs are all one breed - Labrador retrievers.

CRAWFORD: We get them when they're about 14 months old - male, female. If we look at breed history, they're hunting dogs. So if I have a gun in a school or an explosive device in a school, it's in a locker⁶, the dog's hunting with its nose to find that odor. So why not use a hunting dog to hunt for explosives?

NAYLOR: The dogs trained here have had some high-profile assignments lately. They were deployed⁷ after the Parkland School shooting last February to search for possible bombs and spent ammunition⁸. In March, they were used during the Austin bombings. The ATF's Cody Monday says, aside from their sniffing⁹ abilities, Labs are used for another reason.

CODY MONDAY: They won't bite you. They'll lick you to death. And that's one of the reasons that we like Labradors is they're friendly, you can take them just about anywhere, and you don't have to worry about anything like that.

NAYLOR: The biggest qualification for the dogs is that they like food, which may explain why few of them fail their training. The ATF has trained more than 1,100 dogs here for its use and thousands more for the military. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, represents the district here and is proud of the facility but is worried about its future. That's because the chairman of the Senate Appropriations¹⁰ Committee, Richard Shelby of Alabama, also a Republican, has shown interest in moving it to his state. It's an idea Goodlatte says makes no sense but needs to be taken seriously.

BOB GOODLATTE: The fact that the request was made and the fact that it seems to be an ongoing¹¹ interest caused us to want to put on the record all the reasons why this is a great facility here and why it would not be a good idea to spend $40 billion or more to move this facility to a place where they'd basically have to start from scratch.

NAYLOR: Shelby has suggested moving the dog-training facility to the Redstone Arsenal¹² where bombs have been tested and manufactured since World War II. But Goodlatte says you just can't train a bomb-sniffing dog at a place where everything smells like a bomb. Shelby's office says the senator is not actively¹³ pursuing moving the dog-training center but wants to make sure it's spending taxpayer¹⁴ dollars wisely. A study conducted by the ATF concluded it would cost 40 million of those taxpayer dollars to move the facility from Virginia to Alabama. And while it's unclear how the dogs would react, people in Virginia would be howling in protest.

Brian Naylor, NPR News.

1 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

2 arson   

n.纵火，放火

参考例句：

• He was serving a ten spot for arson.他因纵火罪在服十年徒刑。
• He was arraigned on a charge of arson.他因被指控犯纵火罪而被传讯。

3 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

4 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。

5 canine   

adj.犬的，犬科的

参考例句：

• The fox is a canine animal.狐狸是犬科动物。
• Herbivorous animals have very small canine teeth,or none.食草动物的犬牙很小或者没有。

6 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

7 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

8 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

9 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 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

11 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

12 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

13 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

14 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。