美国国家公共电台 NPR The Senate Will Resume Under New COVID-19 Guidelines

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

U.S. senators come back to Washington today after a long break because of COVID-19. They'll start work tonight. NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales is following this one. Good morning, Claudia.

CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE¹: Good morning, Noel.

KING: So Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been very eager to get the Senate back to work. Tell me some of what he's been saying.

GRISALES: He said it's time to get back to work for the American people. Here he is on Friday on WKYX radio in Kentucky.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MITCH MCCONNELL: My view is this if doctors and nurses show up and people in the grocery stores manning the grocery stores show up so that we can keep the food supply going, the Senate can show up.

GRISALES: He shared new health guidelines on Friday from the attending physician to Congress. That includes avoid gatherings² and wearing masks when possible, maintaining 6 feet of distance, limiting their staff and visitors in their offices and taking their temperatures before they come in. But we should note these are just suggestions. And there won't be widespread testing.

KING: Won't be widespread testing. So some of the measures that they're talking about - wearing masks, avoiding gatherings - is the things that all of us are doing. And yet, there are people who think the Senate coming back, in particular, is a really bad idea. What are they arguing?

GRISALES: Yes, they are worried about the repercussions³. I spoke⁴ with Dr. David Relman. He's a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University. And he said he thought the plan was, quote, "crazy" and the measures should be mandatory⁵, not voluntary. Here's what he told me.

DAVID RELMAN: In this particular case, these essential workers are not embracing the known measures that will reduce risks down to some reasonable level for them. I think it's sort of capricious and dangerous.

GRISALES: Dr. Relman added that the average age of the Senate is over 60. And several senators are over 80. And we know risk increases with age. And then again, there's this lack of widespread testing to know who among the senators or their staff or even the Capitol workers might be infected in these close quarters. And this is part of a persistent⁶ problem nationally, of course. And with the incubation period of this illness, the Senate may not find out about a problem until it's too late. And over the weekend, the Trump⁷ administration offered for a thousand tests to go to Congress. But in a rare statement, McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said they declined the offer and these tests should go to front-line workers. So that means a Senate will be running quite a gamble when they convene⁸ this afternoon. And they may not find out how risky⁹ that gamble is until weeks from now.

KING: Oh, dear. Well, you know, the argument that Mitch McConnell is making is fundamentally not a medical argument. He's saying the Senate has work to do. What's the work that he's talking about?

GRISALES: So that's another point of contention¹⁰. McConnell is focused on approving nominations¹² from President Trump for various agency posts. Today, he has a vote scheduled on the inspector¹³ general of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He also wants the Senate to take up other nominees¹⁴ for President Trump. Later this week, a Senate panel will take up the nomination¹¹ of Texas Representative John Ratcliffe to become the next director of national intelligence. Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, says the Senate should be focused on coronavirus aid and its oversight¹⁵, not these nominations. But McConnell wants any new legislation to include new liability protections for businesses. This is something Democrats¹⁶ are opposed to. They want aid for state and local governments facing budget shortfalls. So this return to regular business highlights how these negotiations¹⁷ have stalled over a next package.

KING: And before I let you go, this, we should note, is just the Senate, right? The House has said we're not coming back.

GRISALES: Exactly. They reversed course. They were due to return, but they postponed¹⁸ plans. This was after hearing from the attending physician. And, of course, the House is much larger, so that would bring back hundreds more people to the Capitol, and it was a scenario¹⁹ they wanted to avoid for now.

KING: Fair enough, worse odds²⁰. NPR's Claudia Grisales. Claudia, thanks.

GRISALES: Thanks for having me.

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 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

3 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

6 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

7 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。

8 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

9 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

10 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

11 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

12 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

13 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

14 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

15 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

16 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》

17 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。

18 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

19 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

20 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？