VOA常速英语2007年-US Defense Chief Criticizes Congress for Short-

By Cindy Saine
Washington
21 December 2007

U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates has criticized the U.S. Congress for providing only three months worth of funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The short-term funding means President Bush will have to go back to the Democratic-controlled Congress for more war funding in March. VOA's Cindy Saine reports from Washington.

Congress this week approved $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as part of a massive government spending bill. Democratic lawmakers tried over and over again this year to link funding for the war in Iraq to a timeline for bringing U.S. combat troops home. But President Bush threatened to veto the entire spending bill if it included conditions for troop withdrawal², and Democrats³ do not have enough votes to override⁴ a veto.

Secretary Gates said unless Congress approves more funding early next year, the Pentagon will again face the risk of running out of money. He expressed his displeasure to reporters.

"I'm also very concerned that funding the war in fits and starts is requiring us to make short-term plans and short-term decisions, to forego needed actions and to put at risk critical procurement⁵, training and other activities important to deploying⁶ a ready and effective force," he said.

Gates said he hopes improving security conditions in Iraq will allow for a continuing drawdown of U.S. troops as planned. But he cautioned that withdrawals⁷ depend on the circumstances on the ground, and said there are still challenges ahead.

"The challenge in Iraq will be to sustain the military gains that we have achieved, and in the non-military area, to see what we can do to encourage the achievement of some important legislative⁸ actions on the part of the Iraqi government," he said.

Asked about the progress that has been made in efforts to close down the controversial U.S. detention⁹ center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Gates was not so optimistic. "The honest answer is that because of some of these legal concerns, some of which are shared by people in both parties on Capitol Hill, there has not been much progress in this respect," he said.

Gates referred to legal questions on what to do with some of the close to 300 suspects detained at Guantanamo if the prison is shut down.

At the end-of-the year-news conference, Gates was also asked about U.S. efforts to find al-Qaida's top leader. "I would say with respect to Osama bin¹⁰ Laden¹¹, we are continuing the hunt," he said.

Gates said for now, al-Qaida seems to be focused on Pakistan, on attacking the Pakistani government and Pakistani people.

1 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。

2 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

3 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》

4 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

5 procurement   

n.采购；获得

参考例句：

• He is in charge of the procurement of materials.他负责物资的采购。
• More and more,human food procurement came to have a dominant effect on their evolution.人类获取食物愈来愈显著地影响到人类的进化。

6 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

7 withdrawals   

n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻

参考例句：

• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句

8 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

9 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

10 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

11 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。