英闻天下——362 US Sequester is to Start

 　　After an-hour closed-door meeting with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders at the White House, US President Barack Obama re-iterated that the all-across spending cuts will hurt the economy and the people.

 

　　"At a time when our businesses have finally begun to get some traction¹, hiring new workers, bringing jobs back to America, we shouldn't be making a series of dumb, arbitrary cuts to things that businesses depend on and workers depend."

 

　　President Obama notes that "not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away," but stresses that "the pain ... will be real." He stresses that it's not a win for anybody, but a loss for the American people. He blames the congressional Republicans for the impasse², saying they refused to include the discussion on tax breaks and loopholes in the overall budget negotiation³.

 

　　The Republicans, on the other side, insisted that the talk about revenue is over. Here is House speaker John Boehner after Friday's White House meeting.

 

　　"The discussion about revenue, in my view, is over. It's about to taking on the spending problems here in Washington."

 

　　The republicans said that the tax reform should be addressed separately and also demanded for an entitlement reform.

 

　　According to the budget control act passed by the congress in 2011, a super committee, comprised of congressmen from both parties, was entrusted⁴ to draft a plan to reduce 1.2 trillion US dollars of Federal deficit⁵ over the next decade. Otherwise, the government will face an all-across spending cuts starting 2013.

 

　　The Senate on Thursday failed to pass two separate bills put forward by the Democrats⁶ and the Republicans respectively and make the all-across spending cuts known as the sequester⁷ here in Washington inevitable⁸.

 

　　President Obama says the cuts are not necessary, and inexcusable.

 

　　urged lawmakers to take action to extend an unrelated "continuing resolution" to fund most government operations beyond the current expiration⁹ date which falls on March 27th.

 

　　House speaker John Boehner says the House is going to act next week.

 

　　"I did lay out the House is going to move a continued resolution next week to fund the government pass March 27th. And I'm hopeful that we won't have to deal with the threat of government shutdown while we're dealing¹⁰ with the sequester at the same time. The House will act next week. I hope the Senate will follow soon."

 

　　And President Obama says he will work hard to get things done.

 

　　"I think that over time people do the right thing. And I will keep on reaching out and seeing if there're other formulas or other ways to jigger this thing into place so that -- so that we get a better result."

 

　　The President believes that "common sense prevails" and that both parties will eventually move forward on a comprehensive plan that also addresses entitlement reform and tax reform.

 

　　For China Radio International, this is Xiaohong, reporting from Washington.

1 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

2 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

3 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

4 entrusted   

v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He entrusted the task to his nephew. 他把这任务托付给了他的侄儿。
• She was entrusted with the direction of the project. 她受委托负责这项计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

6 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》

7 sequester   

vt.使退隐，使隔绝

参考例句：

• Everything he owned was sequestered.他的所有财产都被扣押了。
• This jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months.预计这个陪审团将至少被隔离两个月。

8 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

9 expiration   

n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物

参考例句：

• Can I have your credit card number followed by the expiration date?能告诉我你的信用卡号码和它的到期日吗?
• This contract shall be terminated on the expiration date.劳动合同期满，即行终止。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。