美国国家公共电台 NPR--After Texas shooting, Biden reiterates the U.S. has to stand up to gun makers

After Texas shooting, Biden reiterates¹ the U.S. has to stand up to gun makers²

Transcript³

President Biden urged the nation to pray for the families of the children shot at their school in Ulvade, Texas. He says Congress needs to get a backbone⁴ and pass tougher laws.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

President Biden has been talking about getting tougher gun laws for decades - first as a senator, then as vice⁵ president, after the Sandy Hook school shooting 10 years ago and more recently as president. Last night, he spoke⁶ again after Uvalde and said there's no reason that the U.S. should have so many mass shootings, other than a failure to stand up to gun-makers.

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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Where in God's name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with and stand up to the lobbies?

FADEL: But will this mass shooting change the deep-set politics of gun control? I spoke about the president's reaction with NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE⁷: He started out by speaking about the pain that parents feel when they lose a child, and he urged Americans to pray for the families and the young children who saw their classmates murdered. But it did not take him long to express frustration⁸ that politically, the issue of gun safety is stuck. In the '90s, when he was in the Senate, Biden shepherded through two pieces of legislation, including what was known as the assault weapons ban. But that expired after 10 years. Last night, he talked about how the number of mass shootings has only gone up since that ban sunsetted. You know, after Sandy Hook in 2012 - that shooting that left 20 small children and six school staff dead - as vice president, he led efforts to revive the assault weapons ban as well as to strengthen background checks. But those measures and other efforts failed in Congress.

FADEL: Yeah, and this was an issue he ran on. And not much has changed in a polarized Congress. So what can the president do about it now?

KEITH: He has already taken executive actions, what he can do, including rules to ban untraceable ghost guns, more funding for violence intervention⁹ programs. But big change doesn't come from executive orders. It would take Congress to limit the types of guns that can be sold or expand background checks or put in red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of someone who's a danger to themselves or others. Last week, after the mass shooting in Buffalo¹⁰, he said that it's going to be hard, but he said he's not going to give up. Last night he said it's time to act. He said, quote, "We can do so much more. We have to do more." But a reminder¹¹ here - Democrats¹² only have the narrowest majorities in Congress.

FADEL: Yeah. And you mentioned Buffalo, which is less than two weeks ago, another mass shooting. This one, so many young children were killed. So does this moment, this shooting in an era of one mass shooting after another, change the politics at all?

KEITH: You know, after Sandy Hook, people thought that could be the moment that would shake up politics, but it didn't. And there was a similar moment after the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., which really mobilized young people to stand up and push for change.

FADEL: Right.

KEITH: Now, the country is at another point where this question is being raised, but the old talking points came back out with incredible speed. A majority of Americans do support tougher gun laws. There is a minority of people who intensely believe that such measures infringe¹³ on their constitutional rights. And that group is highly motivated to vote on that single issue. It's hard to see anything getting 60 votes in the Senate, and there are even some Democrats who oppose getting rid of the filibuster¹⁴ rule.

FADEL: NPR's White House correspondent Tamara Keith, thank you so much.

KEITH: You're welcome.

1 reiterates   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The Chinese government reiterates that the question of Taiwan is China's internal affair. 中国政府重申，台湾问题是中国的内政。 来自汉英非文学 - 汉英文件
• Wang Jianzhou reiterates a fact and a viewpoint in Davos. 王建宙在达沃斯重申一个事实和一个观点。

2 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

5 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。

6 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。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 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。

9 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

10 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

11 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

12 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》

13 infringe   

v.违反，触犯，侵害

参考例句：

• The jury ruled that he had infringed no rules.陪审团裁决他没有违反任何规定。
• He occasionally infringe the law by parking near a junction.他因偶尔将车停放在交叉口附近而违反规定。

14 filibuster   

n.妨碍议事，阻挠；v.阻挠

参考例句：

• A senator dragged the subject in as a filibuster.一个参议员硬把这个题目拉扯进来，作为一种阻碍议事的手法。
• The democrats organized a filibuster in the senate.民主党党员在参议院上组织了阻挠议事。