VOA标准英语2008年-White House, Press Remember Tony Snow

 
For 17 months, until he left the job in September 2007, Tony Snow was the White House press secretary, the voice of the Bush administration. Now, he is being remembered and mourned by the president he served, and the reporters who sparred with him in the White House briefing room. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports Snow died Saturday from colon¹ cancer at the age of 53.
　
Tony Snow (file photo)

The sense of loss was evident in President Bush's voice, as he spoke² of the passing of his former press secretary and friend.

"I came to know Tony as a very smart and capable man," said President Bush. "He had good values. He was an honest guy. He had a wonderful sense of humor. He loved to laugh. He loved his country and he loved his family."

Snow had another love. Even on his last day at the White House - when the thinning hair and gaunt face of a cancer patient were so evident - he stressed how much he loved his job.

"Everybody talks about what a horrible job it is to brief the press," said Tony Snow. "I love these briefings!"

Tony Snow had two careers that somehow intertwined. He served two presidents - both the current President Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush. And both before and between his stints³ at the White House, he was a journalist.

He brought the skills of a newspaper columnist⁴ and talk-show host to the press secretary's office. It was a bit of showmanship - combined with an inquisitive⁵ spirit - that led to packed briefing rooms during his tenure⁶, and some spirited sparring with reporters.

Tony Snow was treated for colon cancer a year before taking the job. Ten months into his tenure, the disease returned.

He left for about five weeks of treatment. When he came back, it was evident the disease was taking its toll⁷. In September of last year, he resigned and called his last briefing.

"This job has been the most fun I have ever had, the most satisfying, fulfilling job," he said. "I am sorry I have got to leave it. But I have got to say it has been a real honor and pleasure to work with everybody in this room."

He got a standing⁸ ovation⁹ that day - not just in the press room, but from the entire White House staff.

Just hours after his passing, Vice¹⁰ President Dick Cheney taped an appearance on the television talk show Snow once hosted. He told the Fox News Sunday program that Tony Snow was a one-of-a kind press secretary.

"He had this rare combination of intelligence, of commitment and loyalty¹¹ to the President that he was working for, but also this great love of going out behind that podium and doing battle with what in effect were his former colleagues," said Vice President Cheney. "And it was this capacity that he had to be unfailingly polite, to maintain good humor under the most trying of circumstances, and do it, I thought, better and more effectively than anybody I have ever seen in that post."

Tony Snow conducted his fight against cancer largely in public, saying he wanted to encourage others with the disease to fight back. He lost his own long battle early Saturday at a Washington, DC. hospital.

 

1 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 stints   

n.定额工作( stint的名词复数 )；定量；限额；慷慨地做某事

参考例句：

• He stints himself in [of] sleep. 他节制睡眠。 来自辞典例句
• She never stints herself of money to buy books for her children. 她从不吝惜掏钱让子女们买书。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 inquisitive   

adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的

参考例句：

• Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
• A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。

6 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

7 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 ovation   

n.欢呼，热烈欢迎，热烈鼓掌

参考例句：

• The hero received a great ovation from the crowd. 那位英雄受到人群的热烈欢迎。
• The show won a standing ovation. 这场演出赢得全场起立鼓掌。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。