CNN 2010-12-21

Our first goal was to stop the big tax hike that was coming on January the 1st. I’ve made it clear going back over the summer that stopping all of the tax hikes was one of our main priorities for this lame-duck session. And while there was an agreement, considering that, Democrats¹ control the House, the Senate and the White House, I thought on balance it was worthy² of my vote, and I voted for it.

We don’t have to be popular, we just have to be right. Because I have been accused all over the world of a double rape³ allegation. And I'm the founder⁴ and most visible public face for this organization, a very successful smear⁵ campaign, 3.3 million Web pages out of 4.5 million Web pages that mention my name also mention the word rape. That's a, a serious issue and a serious, seriously successful smear campaign. But, I mean, I hope, when this process is over, that we're going to be very heavily armored in the, in the public view any further smear campaign because they’re trying to be won, but that’s going to fail.

Just a few minutes ago, a Manhattan federal judge approved a settlement agreement between my office and the estate of Jeffrey Picower. Monies we now know were the proceeds of the largest Ponzi scheme in all of history. The settlement represents the largest forfeiture⁶ recovery in U.S. history. More importantly, this settlement provides a significant measure of hope for the many victims of Bernard Madoff's horrific crimes, crimes which Judge Denny Chin described as extraordinarily⁷ evil. This settlement is the most substantial step to date in the ongoing⁸ effort to make the Madoff victims, whole. With the close to $10 billion now recovered, we have together collected close to 50 percent of the principle that victims lost to Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

It's not very often in my life I've been without words. I want to thank everybody associated with this program. When I started 25 years ago at a little studio in Washington, DC, I never thought it would ever last this long or come to this. So I'm going to go on, do a lot of other things. We're going to do specials here on CNN. I'm going to be seen in other places, do some radio work, be around baseball. So you're not going to see me go away. But you're not going to see me here on this set anymore. Thank you. And instead of goodbye, how about so long?

1 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》

2 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

3 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

4 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

5 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

6 forfeiture   

n.（名誉等）丧失

参考例句：

• Both face maximum forfeitures of about $1.2 million.双方都面临最高120万美元左右的罚金。
• If he should break his day,what should I gain by the exaction of the forfeiture?如果他到期不还我从这罚金中又能得到什么好处？

7 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。