VOA常速英语2007年-President Bush Enters Final Year in Office

By Scott Stearns
White House
18 December 2007

With fewer than 400 days left in office, President Bush says he is sprinting¹ to the finish line. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns looks ahead to the president's final year.

President Bush opened his second term vowing² to spend political capital on reforming the federal retirement³ system and U.S. immigration law. But White House influence failed to deliver either, and frustration⁴ over the war in Iraq helped opposition⁵ Democrats⁶ win control of Congress two years later.

Mr. Bush now enters the final year of his presidency⁷ without major legislation passed in his second term.  He still hopes to revive Middle East peace talks and build on signs of progress in Iraq, all the while resisting suggestions that he is increasingly irrelevant⁸.

"Quite the contrary. I've never felt more engaged and more capable of helping⁹ people recognize - American people recognize that there's a lot of unfinished business," said Mr. Bush.

Brandice Canes-Wrone is a professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.

"No president is going to stand up and say, 'I'm a lame¹⁰ duck. I have no influence,'" she said.

She says a year of record-low public approval ratings makes it harder for the president to influence legislators by appealing directly to their constituents¹¹.

"In Bush's case, his ability to rally people around his proposals is clearly diminished by the fact that he is so disliked by such a large portion of the public," she added.  "And so his threats of making public appeals are just not the same as let's say Ronald Reagan's or Bill Clinton's were later in their term."

Attorney and online columnist¹² Glen Greenwald is the author of an examination of the Bush presidency titled A Tragic¹³ Legacy¹⁴. He told the Libertarian Cato Institute that one of the few things the president's supporters and detractors agree on is the depth of his impact on the nation.

"Whatever else you think about this presidency, it is going to be one of the most consequential¹⁵ presidencies¹⁶ in American history," he said.  "The Bush legacy that he will leave when he leaves office in 2009 will be the legacy of the United States for many, many years to come, probably at least an entire generation."

That legacy will include the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the long-lasting insurgency¹⁷ there.  On the domestic side, the U.S. government's budget has grown astronomically¹⁸ and is now recording¹⁹ huge annual deficits²⁰. 

President Bush says he is not concerned about history.

"I know, look, everybody is trying to write the history of this administration even before it's over. I'm reading about George Washington still.  My attitude is, if they're still analyzing²¹ number 1, 43 ought not to worry about it and just do what he thinks is right," noted Mr. Bush.

Making those choices may be more difficult with the past year's departure of long-time advisors²² Karen Hughes, Dan Bartlett and Karl Rove.

Rove told Fox News Channel that President Bush will finish his term with enthusiasm.

"He is a bold leader who is going to be milking every single moment that he has got in this office," he said.  "He knows the powers of the office.  He knows the levers that he has got.  He didn't come here simply to occupy it. He came here to do things.  And he is going to keep doing things right up to the moment that he leaves January 20, 2009."

But Ken²³ Walsh, an author on the presidency and White House correspondent for US News & World Report, says the president is limited in what he can do.

"He can prevent bad things from happening, in his mind, but he can't implement²⁴ what he would consider good things and push them through because Congress will not go for them," he said.

Walsh says the president is moving to small initiatives he can implement through executive order or administration action.

"President Bush sort of derided²⁵ that sort of notion as 'small ball,' but it worked for Bill Clinton and it can work for President Bush," he added.  "It's just not a big historic, sweeping²⁶ series of changes which President Bush wanted to be known for."

Walsh says Mr. Bush, like many presidents, is turning to foreign affairs in his final year where he has more latitude²⁷ to act without Congress.

"Even if he doesn't get a lot of particular agreements out of these trips, at least it provides a sense that there is some movement, and he is not giving up. And that is what presidents want to do in their last year," he explained.  "They want to show that they can still get things done or at least show that they are still trying."

The first of what may be as many as seven trips in the coming year will be a visit to the Middle East in January.

1 sprinting   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stride length and frequency are the most important elements of sprinting. 步长和步频是短跑最重要的因素。 来自互联网
• Xiaoming won the gold medal for sprinting in the school sports meeting. 小明在学校运动会上夺得了短跑金牌。 来自互联网

2 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

3 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

4 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 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》

7 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。

8 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。

11 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

13 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

14 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

15 consequential   

adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的

参考例句：

• She was injured and suffered a consequential loss of earnings.她受了伤因而收入受损。
• This new transformation is at least as consequential as that one was.这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。

16 presidencies   

n.总统的职位( presidency的名词复数 )；总统的任期

参考例句：

• The Dalai Lama previously visited the island during the presidencies of Chen Shui-bian and Lee Teng-hui. 曾经获得诺贝尔和平奖的达赖喇嘛，此前曾在李登辉和陈水扁主政期间访问台湾。 来自互联网

17 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

18 astronomically   

天文学上

参考例句：

• The bill was astronomically high. 账单上的金额高得没谱儿。
• They have only been read as the multitude read the stars, at most astrologically, not astronomically. 它们之被群众阅读，有如群众之阅览繁星，至多是从星象学而不是从天文学的角度阅览的。

19 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

20 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

21 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

22 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

23 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

24 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

25 derided   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His views were derided as old-fashioned. 他的观点被当作旧思想受到嘲弄。
• Gazing up to the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity. 我抬头疑视着黑暗，感到自己是一个被虚荣心驱使和拨弄的可怜虫。 来自辞典例句

26 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

27 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。