PBS高端访谈:雇包机惹众怒 美卫生部长普赖斯辞职

 　　But now let's return to the resignation of Tom Price, and similar questions being raised about other members of the Trump¹ Cabinet.

　　Price stepped down after it was revealed he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on private airplane flights for himself and his staff.

　　Just yesterday, he pledged to pay back about $50,000, but only for his seat.

　　In the past few days, other Cabinet members have come under scrutiny² for air travel,

　　including EPA Administrator³ Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, and Treasury⁴ Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

　　Just before Price's departure was announced today, President Trump signaled to reporters why he was in trouble.

　　It's not a question of confidence.

　　I was disappointed, because I didn't like it, cosmetically⁵ or otherwise. I was disappointed.

　　And, you know, this is an administration that saves hundreds of millions of dollars on renegotiating things.

　　So, I don't like to see somebody that perhaps there's the perception that it wasn't right.

　　And now our John Yang is here to help bring us up to speed.

　　So, John, this has come all about very quickly. We were just saying it just was disclosed a few days ago.

　　What have you learned from the White House about what's behind this?

　　Well, despite the president saying on the lawn to reporters that he was going to make a decision tonight,

　　White House officials are now saying that Secretary Price submitted his resignation earlier today.

　　And, by the way, in his letter, he referred to the controversy⁶ as recent events.

　　The president was already a little bit down on Price because of the failure to repeal⁷ and replace the Affordable⁸ Care Act,

　　but he was very unhappy over these reports that, in the space of three days earlier this month,

　　Price took five chartered flights including a $25,000 round-trip between Washington and Philadelphia.

　　He, of course, had prided himself, the president, on saving taxpayers⁹ money.

　　And, John, what makes this even more striking is that Tom Price,

　　before he was in the Trump Cabinet, member of Congress from Georgia, conservative, often very critical of government waste.

　　That's right. Typical is this speech that Price made on the House floor in 2005.

　　He said: "Too often, money that comes to Washington never gets back home because it is eaten away by waste, fraud and abuse."

　　And, of course, Price had been talking about -- as HHS secretary,

　　had championed big cuts in federal spending proposed by the Trump administration and had talked about bringing efficiency to HHS..

　　So, John, we just listed these other -- four other Cabinet members now who had been identified as using private charter jets to go somewhere. Are they in trouble, too?

　　Well, earlier today, one of those Cabinet secretaries, Ryan Zinke of Interior, said he had done nothing wrong.

　　The flights were only booked after extensive due diligence by the career professionals and the department's General Law and Ethics¹⁰ Division.

　　There are inspector¹¹ generals investigations¹² going on at EPA into Scott Pruitt, at Treasury into Steven Mnuchin.

　　And the White House has put down -- laid down the law. They say no more private chartered planes until they have a chance to review this whole thing.

　　So, we don't know whether other Cabinet members may have been engaged or sub-Cabinet, for that matter, may have been engaged in the same thing?

　　That's exactly right. The White House said they were not involved in these decisions before they took place.

　　They do sometimes get involved about military planes, which are sometimes used for the security of the Cabinet official,

　　or if the Cabinet official needs to have secure communications for national security reasons.

　　But they had no role, they say, in these private charters.

　　Not a quiet week at the White House. No. John Yang, thank you. 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 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

3 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 cosmetically   

参考例句：

• She does not wear too much makeup, she is cosmetically oversaturated. 她没有化浓妆，只是化妆品过饱和了。
• It is used cosmetically by many women. 它被许多女性用作化妆品。

6 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

7 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

8 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

9 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

10 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

11 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。

12 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。