PBS高端访谈:特朗普可能签署法案加强对俄罗斯的制裁

 　　The White House said today President Trump¹ supports the bill working its way through Congress to toughen sanctions on Russia for meddling² in last year's election and for its military aggression³ in Syria and Ukraine.

　　The bill, which also contains new sanctions for Iran and North Korea, would limit the president's ability to end the sanctions on his own.

　　"New York Times" reporter Matt Flegenheimer joins me now from Washington to discuss the legislation.

　　Matt, let's first talk about what's in these sanctions.

　　It's essentially⁴, I think, some of these we've seen against other countries, obviously, this is a package that includes North Korea and Iran as well.

　　Essentially on the Russia front, singling out corrupt⁵ actors who sort of undercut American interests, to those who supplied arms to the Assad regime in Syria,

　　cyber security issues obviously, including during the elections last year. So, it's casting a pretty wide net here.

　　And this is -- it also includes, I mean, Congress has kind of baked in this, in these sanctions bill, that the president couldn't necessarily undo⁶ them on his own.

　　Right. I mean, that's really the piece of this the Democrats⁷ have been most adamant⁸ about and they've gotten buy in from Republicans as well.

　　If you step back, it's really quite remarkable⁹ to think that six months into an administration with majorities form Republicans in both chambers¹¹ of Congress,

　　that you are seeing essentially a handcuffing of a sitting president on an issue so central to the sort of public understanding of this president with Russia.

　　And essentially the message is that he cannot be trusted not to sort of undo these sanctions that at this point have pretty broad bipartisan support among both parties in Congress.

　　So, by the time this gets through a vote on Tuesday, this is also going to include sanctions against Iran and North Korea,

　　which are also things that have kind of a bipartisan consensus¹². It makes it very, very tough to veto it.

　　It does and the White House has been very supportive for months of toughening sanctions against those two countries. So, it does make it a difficult position for him.

　　I mean, the White House has acknowledged privately¹³ I think for a few weeks from now that it's pretty untenable politically in this environment for him to veto.

　　Today for the first time as you said, we've seen them signal that he would actually support this.

　　The president, and actually many presidents have said, you know, this is a purview¹⁴ of the presidency¹⁵. This should be my right to be able to do this, this is my executive power.

　　In this piece of legislation, it's kind of at least in these particularly sanctions, we are seeing that power limited.

　　Sure, and President Trump is certainly not the first president to chafe¹⁶ at any kind of shackles¹⁷ put on him in foreign policy by Congress.

　　And again, having Republicans in Congress whom the administration has lobbied for months now against these measures really makes this a pretty extraordinary in moment of the Republican Congress this early in the administration,

　　setting this check against president, when they've been often disinclined to confront him.

　　And there were disagreements at least on the House side when this bill got there. And what were those compared to what already had passed through Senate?

　　It was a combination of things. Initially¹⁸, Speaker Ryan and the Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy raised concerns about sort of technical issues with which chamber¹⁰ originates bills that have to do with raising revenue.

　　There is some other concerns concerning American businesses, a lot of oil and gas companies lobbied against these measures, arguing that it would undercut their profits, defense¹⁹ contractors²⁰ as well.

　　So, you saw a little bit of a tweak on that in the House version of this.

　　Not certainly what the White House had hoped to get out of this bill once it moved through the Senate in the first place.

　　All right. Matt Flegenheimer of "The New York Times", joining us from Washington -- thanks so much. Thanks, Hari. undefined

1 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。

2 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

3 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

6 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

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》

8 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。

9 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

10 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。

11 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

12 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

13 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

14 purview   

n.范围；眼界

参考例句：

• These are questions that lie outside the purview of our inquiry.这些都不是属于我们调查范围的问题。
• That,however,was beyond the purview of the court;it was a diplomatic matter.但是，那已不在法庭权限之内；那是个外交问题。

15 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

16 chafe   

v.擦伤；冲洗；惹怒

参考例句：

• The foaming waves chafe against the rocky shore.汹涌的波涛猛烈地冲击着礁岸。
• A stiff collar may chafe your neck.硬的衣领会擦伤你的脖子。

17 shackles   

手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊

参考例句：

• a country struggling to free itself from the shackles of colonialism 为摆脱殖民主义的枷锁而斗争的国家
• The cars of the train are coupled together by shackles. 火车的车厢是用钩链连接起来的。

18 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

19 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

20 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》