2006年VOA标准英语-Former Aide to Disgraced US Lawmaker Resigns Am

By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
04 October 2006

An ethics¹ committee in the House of Representatives meets Thursday amid the continuing scandal involving a former U.S. congressman², Mark Foley, and sexually explicit³ e-mails he allegedly sent to congressional pages. The scandal has claimed a senior staffer to a key Republican who resigned on Wednesday, as federal authorities move to examine e-mails and other records as part of their investigation⁴

The resignation of Kirk Fordham, chief of staff to Republican Congressman Tom Reynolds, comes slightly less than a week after Foley abruptly⁵ resigned amid revelations about e-mails he sent to teenage male congressional pages.

Fordham was a longtime chief of staff to Foley, before working for Reynolds, who heads the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee responsible for overseeing efforts to maintain the Republican majority in Congress.

Since the scandal broke, there have been allegations that Republicans, encouraged or helped by key staff members, tried to keep the story quiet to protect Foley and others.

In a written statement, Fordham denies trying to stop any investigation by House officials or authorities, adding he resigned to avoid becoming a political issue for Democrats⁶.

The development comes as the Department of Justice steps up its investigation, ordering House officials to preserve all records in Foley's office.

House Republicans had already vowed⁷ to cooperate fully⁸ with the investigation.

But the Republican House Speaker, Dennis Hastert, continues to face calls to resign, with some conservative leaders and organizations asserting he failed to act soon enough after learning of Foley's activities with teenage pages.

Questions remain too about explanations Hastert and others, including Congressman Reynolds, have given about when they received information and what they did with it.

Hastert received support Wednesday from some key House Republicans, Congressman Mike Pence and Joe Pitts, who called him a man of integrity

who should not resign.

On Thursday, the bipartisan House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, also known as the Ethics Committee, meets behind closed doors to consider the Foley matter.

It will meet in the wake of another potentially significant development late Wednesday, an Associated Press report quoting Fordham as saying he alerted the speaker's senior staff two years ago about Foley's conduct.

Responding to that, a Hastert spokesman said the Speaker "fully expects" that the Ethics Committee "will do what it needs to do to investigate this matter and protect the integrity of the House."

With less than five weeks to go before the November 7th congressional election, in which Republicans are already in danger of losing control of one or both chambers⁹ of Congress, the scandal poses the risk of further damage.

A Reuter/Zogby poll, one of many in the run-up to the election, showed Democrats leading Republican candidates in 11 of 15 state races that could decide control of the House. Democrats need to gain 15 seats to gain control there, and six in the Senate.

After resigning, Foley checked into an alcohol and mental health facility. His lawyer said [Tuesday] that the former lawmaker had been molested¹⁰ as a teenager by a clergyman.

The attorney also provided the first public acknowledgment that Foley is a homosexual. He added that Foley accepts full responsibility for his actions.

1 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

2 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

3 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

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 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

10 molested   

v.骚扰( molest的过去式和过去分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵

参考例句：

• The bigger children in the neighborhood molested the younger ones. 邻居家的大孩子欺负小孩子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He molested children and was sent to jail. 他猥亵儿童，进了监狱。 来自《简明英汉词典》