万花筒 2013-01-08&0111 奥巴马提名共和党人Chuck Hagel为新一任国防部长

 Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve. He is an American patriot¹, enlisted² in the army and volunteered for Vietnam. As a young private and then a sergeant³, he served with honor alongside his own brother. When Chuck was hit by shrapnel, his brother saved him. When his brother was injured by a mine, Chuck risked his life to pull him to safety. 

To this day, Chuck bears the scars and the shrapnel from battles he fought in our name. Chuck Hagel's leadership of our military would be historic. He'll be the first person of enlisted rank to serve as Secretary of Defense⁴, one of the few Secretaries who have been wounded in war and the first Vietnam veteran to lead the department. As I saw during our visits together to Afghanistan and Iraq, in Chuck Hagel our troops see a decorated combat veteran of character and strength. They see one of their own. 

Chuck is a champion of our troops and our veterans and our military families. As a leader at the VA, he fought to give our veterans the benefits they deserved. As head of the USO, he devoted⁵ himself to caring for our troops. Having studied under the GI Bill himself, he helped lead the fight from post-911 GI Bill,so today's returning heroes can get their education, too. Having co-chaired my intelligence advisory⁶ board, he knows that our armed forces collect, analyze⁷ and depend on good intelligence. 

Chuck recognizes that American leadership is indispensable in a dangerous world. I saw this in our travels together across the Middle East. He understands that America stands strongest when we stand with allies and with friends. As a successful businessman, he also knows that even as we make tough fiscal⁸ choices, we have to do so wisely, guided by our strategy and keep our military the strongest fighting force the world has ever known. 

Maybe the most importantly, Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction. He understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary. "My frame of reference", he said, "is geared towards the guy at the bottom who's doing the fighting and the dying." With Chuck our troops will always know, just like Sergeant Hagel was there for his own brother, Secretary Hagel will be there for you. 

And finally, Chuck represents the bipartisan tradition that we need more of in Washington. For his independence and commitment to consensus⁹, he's earned the respect of national security and military leaders, Republicans and Democrats¹⁰, including me. In the Senate, I came to admire his courage, his judgement, his willingness to speak his mind, even if it wasn't popular, even if it defied the conventional wisdom. That's exactly the spirit I want on my national security team: a recognition that when it comes to the defence of our country, we are not Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans. "Each of us has a responsibility", Chuck has said, "to be guided not by the interest of our party, or our president even, but by the interest of our country."So Chuck I thank you and Lilibet for agreeing to serve once more,in the interest of our country.

1 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

2 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

7 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

8 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

9 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

10 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》