万花筒 2011-02-21&02-23 福利遭砍，美威斯康辛万名公务员大抗议

 Protest continued today with state employees were renouncing¹ proposed budget cuts, and now the Tea Party, well, they are getting set to jump into the fray². Barbara Pinto is live with the latest from the state capital in Madison good morning, Barbara.

 

Good morning, Bianna. The city has become the epicenter of the national debate over who suffers most when states run out of money. The protest has been going on for nearly a week here, and today those demonstrations⁴ are expected to get more intense and more polarizing. We are watching police officers are arrived here this morning, and that is because the Tea Party is staging a counter demonstration³ of its own today.

 

They are not leaving, camping out of the state house overnight, forging the streets with protests all day. Crowd of 40,000 paralyzed the capital on Friday, union workers upset with the governor's plan to slash⁵ their benefits in bargaining rights.

 

We are going to fight tooth and nail to make sure that we kill the bill.

 

The mass of crowds drew cameras and high profile support.

 

Still on the lam, all 14 democratic senators who fled the state to stall the vote, police search for them,but many hold up across the border in Illinois.

 

Given the magnitude of the legislation, the only option we had to slow things down, so people could be heard and read this thing, was to do what we did.

 

For Jim and Nancy Thomson, retired⁶ state workers, this budget battle is personal.

 

We’ve taken less pay for the benefits, so now simply to cut our benefits is just unjust and totally unfair.

 

Kim Lee who runs a small business is siding with the governor.

 

Let’s be serious about it and you can’t keep spending more than it’s coming in.

 

And the embattled governor is holding his ground.

 

We have bill collectors waiting for us to collect bills, and it’s time we step up and take care of the bills that we owe. We’re gonna do what it takes to get this budget on track.

 

Now last night there was a hint of compromise. The head of the largest public employees union agreed to cave in on cuts to pensions and health care if the governor agreed not to touch the collective bargaining rights, but the governor flatly declined. And that leaves no one here inside.

1 renouncing   

v.声明放弃( renounce的现在分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃

参考例句：

• He enraged the government by renouncing the agreement. 他否认那项协议，从而激怒了政府。 来自辞典例句
• What do you get for renouncing Taiwan and embracing Beijing instead? 抛弃台湾，并转而拥抱北京之后，你会得到什么？ 来自互联网

2 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

3 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

4 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

5 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。