VOA标准英语--众议院议长的作用是什么

众议院议长的作用是什么

The Speaker of the House is second in line of succession for the presidency¹ after the vice² president. He's also the top officer of the entire House of Representatives.

众议院议长是排在副总统之后的总统第二位继承人。他还是整个众议院的最高官员。

Matt Wasniewski, the House Historian, said the Speaker’s role is crucial.

众议院历史学家Matt Wasniewski表示，议长的作用非常关键。

"The Speaker also over the decades has become the chief administrator³ of the House side of the Capitol. The Speaker makes final decisions pretty much on everything on our (House) side," said Wasniewski.

“数十年来，议长成为国会大厦众议院的行政长官。议长对众议院的所有事宜作出最后决定。”

Catholic University professor Matthew Green said part of the Speaker’s job is representing the House with the Senate, the President and the public.

美国天主教大学教授Matthew Green表示，议长的部分工作是面对参议院，总统和公众时代表众议院。

"And then on top of that, he is the top leader of his party, which is usually how we get him selected. So he's responsible ultimately for helping⁴ the party get its legislation enacted⁵, helping with recruiting candidates to run for office, raising money for people to run for office in his party. So he has a lot of responsibilities,” said Green.

“除此之外，他还是自己所在党派的最高领导人，这也是他通常被选举的方式。所以他最终担负着帮助所在党派通过立法，帮助招募总统候选人，为自己党派总统候选人筹集资金的责任。所以，议长担负着许多责任。”

Frederick A.C. Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania became the first House Speaker on April 1, 1789. At the beginning, speakers played more of a parliamentary role than a political one. But time has changed.

1789年4月1日，来自比宾西法尼亚州的Frederick A.C. Muhlenberg成为首任众议院议长。最初，议长在议会方面的作用超过在政治方面的作用。但是时代发生了变化。

"They were, sort of, supposed to keep out of politics or partisan⁶ conflict. But gradually in the 19th century, as parties got stronger, Speakers took on more role as party leader. That started in the latter half of the 19th century, and it's continued more or less continually since that," explained Green.

“他们似乎应该立足于政治或党派冲突之外。但是在19世纪，随着党派逐渐变强，议长们在党派领导人方面发挥了更大的作用。这一点是从19世纪下半叶开始的，自那开始一直继续下去。”

Wasniewski notes other roles of the modern Speaker.

Wasniewski还指出了现代议长的其他作用。

"In more modern Congress, he's someone who can drive policy, someone who is a deal maker⁷, who is able to negotiate with various factions⁸ within the party and reach out to the other party," he said.

“在更加现代的国会，他可以推动政策，可以达成协议，能够与党内不同派系谈判，也能与其他党派交涉。”

Important as it is, anyone can be elected for this position, not just the members of the House.

尽管其作用非常重要，然而任何人都可以当选该职位，而不仅仅是众议院成员。

"The Constitution is pretty vague about who can be Speaker. All it says is the House shall choose a Speaker. So as I just pointed⁹ out, in theory, anyone can be Speaker. You don't even have to be member of congress," said Green. "You could be Speaker if you wanted. I could run for Speaker if I wanted."

“关于谁可以成为议长，宪法的规定非常模糊。宪法只是规定议长应该由众议院选择。所以，就像我指出的，理论上讲，任何人都可以成为议长。你甚至可以不必是国会成员。如果你想，你就可以成为议长。如果我想的话，我也可以参加议长竞选。”

But both experts say, up until now, all 53 Speakers have been members of the House.

但是两位专家都表示，目前为止，所有53位议长都是众议院成员。

The current Speaker, John Boehner, announced his resignation last month -- bringing a tumultuous end to his nearly six-year tenure¹⁰ marked by frequent tension within his own Republican caucus¹¹.

现任议长约翰·博纳上月宣布辞职——为他近六年的喧闹任期画上句号。任期内，他与自己的共和党核心集团一直关系紧张。

"This prolonged leadership turmoil¹² would do irreparable harm to the institution,” said Boehner.

“这种长期的领导动乱将对整个机构造成不可挽回的损害。”博纳说。

 

Traditionally, the Speaker of the House is the leader of the majority party. But he is chosen by a majority vote of all 435 members of the House of Representatives.

传统来说，众议院议长是多数派党派的领导。但是他是被所有435位众议院成员中的大多数选票选择的。

1 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。

2 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。

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 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。

5 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

7 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

8 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

9 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

10 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。

11 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

12 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。