VOA慢速英语2015 奥巴马将在国情咨文中讨论经济和外交政策

 

AS IT IS 2015-01-20 Obama to Discuss Economy, Foreign Policy in State of the Union 奥巴马将在国情咨文中讨论经济和外交政策

President Barack Obama is preparing to speak to the American people on Tuesday. The leader has traveled around the United States discussing issues he is likely to include in the annual State of the Union. The address is held before both houses of Congress and televised live for the nation.

Mr. Obama is expected to center the speech on his administration’s successes at home. The president’s popularity ratings have increased recently with U.S. economic improvements and lower unemployment.

However, experts say the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Americans’ concerns about threats from extremists give him reason to discuss foreign policy as well.

The attacks against the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris have shown that there is still much to do in the fight against terrorism.

In 2014, Mr. Obama launched a bombing campaign and sent military advisors¹ to help train allied² forces to fight Islamic State militants³. But that battle, the president has said, will take years. President Obama is also expected to discuss his effort for a deal to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons.

Larry Korb served as Mr. Obama’s campaign foreign policy adviser⁴. He says the president will see more of a reason to discuss domestic issues rather than international ones.

Among the foreign policy issues facing the administration are U.S. relations with Russia. They have been at a low point because of Russia's involvement in Ukraine. However, Mr. Korb says it is unlikely the president will speak too much about the complex relationship. He says that is especially the case after Russians assisted U.S. astronauts during an emergency on the International space station.

Mr. Obama is also expected to note his deal with China on climate change, and the deployment⁵ of U.S. troops to West Africa to help contain the Ebola virus outbreak.

At home, falling unemployment and increasing manufacturing has been good news.

Some manufacturers are reporting improved business conditions. Drew Greenblatt is the Chief of Marlin Steel Wire Products in Baltimore. The company uses American steel and robotic machinery⁶ to manufacture products for export. Drew Greenblatt says his company pays competitive wages, benefits and performance incentives⁷.

Mr. Greenblatt says American businesses need more trade deals, a better system of taxation⁸ and intellectual property protections to continue to grow.

President Obama noted⁹ American manufacturing gains while visiting a factory in Tennessee earlier this month. Mr. Obama said the economy had added 786,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 58 months. He also announced a new program to bring government, companies and colleges together to create more high-technology jobs.

Words in This Story

annual – adj. happening once a year

address – n. a formal or official speech

benefits – n. extra things that a company or government pays for as part of what a worker receives in return for the labor¹⁰

incentives - n. extra pay or other things paid to a worker

intellectual property - n. property that is an idea, invention or process that comes from a person’s mind

1 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

2 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

3 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

6 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

7 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。