CNN 2009-07-12

Another story now. In a Philadelphia area, it has some people scratching their heads, disturbed as well. The president of this swim club says that safety not racism¹ was the reason for canceling swimming privileges for minority children. The kids from a predominantly African American day care center pay to swim each week at this private club. During their first visits, some of the children reported hearing racial comments. Days later, the club returned the day care center's money and withdrew its membership. The club's president says there were too many kids for the size of the pool and the number of lifeguard. Take a listen.

I apologize deeply for any misunderstanding, was never on intention to hurt anyone or for anyone to be offended here. And this is a terrible misunderstanding. And I would actually, I would send my best wishes to the camp and all the camps really because they have gotten an outpouring of support from all over the country. " "And they deserve it, she's doing wonderful work, giving these children a safe place to be which is what we are trying to do also.＂

Alright, well, Pennsylvanian State officials now investigating the club’s actions.

President Obama, he spoke² to the Canadian parliament a little earlier, also speaking to this country in his weekly address, directing his message to all the Americans. And in it, the president brushing aside, talked of a second stimulus³ bill. He is asking for patience however for that first stimulus bill, that's 787-billion-dollar package that he signed in February. He says however that it is showing progress.

In low over 100 days, this recovery act has worked as intended. It's already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who've lost their jobs in this recession. It's delivered 43 billion dollars in tax relief to American working families and businesses. Without the help, the recovery act is provided to struggling states. It's estimated that the state deficits⁴ would be nearly twice as large as they are now, resulting in tens of thousands of additional layoffs⁵, layoffs that would affect police officers, teachers and firefighters." As he has done in the past, the president tied the economic crisis to the last administration, the Bush administration. However, this is now Mr. Obama's economy to deal with. At least according to Republican, they said they put it in their own weekly address the House Republican Whip Eric Cantor calls the stimulus bill nothing but pork waste and massive borrowing. The plain truth is the President Obama's economic decisions have not produced jobs, have not produced prosperity and simply have not worked. President Obama has already asked you to borrow trillions of dollars. And so far nearly 3 million jobs have been lost alone this year. Remember the promises? They promised you that if you pay for their stimulus, jobs would be created immediately. In fact they said the unemployment would stay under 8%. Yet just months later, they are telling us now to brace⁶ for unemployment to climb over 10%" Now the GOP did have its own version of the stimulus bill cost about 478 billion dollars. Not a single House Republican voted for the president's stimulus bill.

1 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

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 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

4 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

5 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

6 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。