2007年VOA标准英语-US House of Representatives Considers Foreign A

By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
20 June 2007

The House of Representatives is considering a $34-billion measure for U.S. international assistance programs and other foreign affairs priorities. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill.

US Capitol, Washington DC

Known as the foreign operations bill, the measure contains money for a range of global priorities, from AIDS treatment and prevention, and assistance to Darfur to peacekeeping and democracy-building.

Likely to be approved on Thursday, it provides just over $5 billion for the president's HIV/AIDS prevention treatment and care program, along with $550 million for the Global Fund for grants to help prevent AIDS, tuberculosis¹ and malaria², and hundreds of millions for child survival and health.

More than $6 billion goes for efforts to strengthen the worldwide public health infrastructure³, $750 million for grants to organizations supporting basic education programs and $300 million for safe water programs.

The measure also continues the strong commitment of Congress to assisting refugees and displaced people in Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region.

Lawmakers provide about $950 million for Sudan, including $210 million for humanitarian⁴ and peacekeeping in Darfur, $100 million above the figure requested by President Bush, with other funds aimed at economic development and democracy-building in Southern Sudan.

In providing $1.3 billion for United Nations peacekeeping missions, the measure funds U.S. contributions for operations in Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Haiti, East Timor, the Middle East and Kosovo.

Among the priorities is $100 million for what is called critical support of the African Union force in Darfur.

Among specific aid programs, House lawmakers are giving the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe just over $530 million, a reduction of $86 million and $59 million below President Bush's request.

Democrat⁵ Jim McGovern says this is part of a reordering of priorities for U.S. assistance placing more emphasis on economic development and administration of justice, along with drug interdiction⁶ and security aid.

"The 2008 bill re-balances our priorities in Colombia," said Jim McGovern. "It recognizes that the response to violence, narco-trafficking and instability in our South American neighbor must be multi-faceted, helping⁷ to guarantee lasting⁸ security through good governance.

In other bilateral⁹ assistance, lawmakers withhold¹⁰ $200 million in foreign military financing for Egypt, until the Secretary of State certifies¹¹ the Egyptian government is moving to address human rights concerns through judicial¹² reforms, and training of police, and addresses concerns about the smuggling¹³ of weapons from Egypt to Gaza.

In a disappointment for President Bush, lawmakers make a significant cut in the Millennium¹⁴ Challenge Corporation which helps countries showing progress in political and economic reforms.

The legislation, which must also be approved by the Senate, also contains money for U.S. government-funded international broadcasting, including Voice of America.

In providing about $32 million more than 2007 levels for broadcasting, and $14 million above the president's original request, lawmakers provide funding to roll back proposed cuts to specific language programs.

VOA English, which has been slated¹⁵ for elimination¹⁶, is described as making an essential contribution to U.S. public diplomacy¹⁷, and especially important since it provides accurate, objective and comprehensive news to a potential English-speaking audience of 1.6 billion people worldwide.

Lawmakers also recommend full restoration for VOA broadcasts in Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Greek, Macedonian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Uzbek, Hindi, Cantonese, Thai and Tibetan.

Similar recommendations are made regarding proposed cuts in Tibetan and Cantonese at Radio Free Asia, along with five European language services of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

The legislation also funds increased broadcasting to North Korea in accordance with the North Korea Human Rights Act approved by Congress in 2004.

Lawmakers are withholding¹⁸ funds to enhance the U.S. funded Al-hurra Arabic language television for the Middle East, in the wake of controversy¹⁹ over programming it aired, including anti-American and anti-Israel statements by Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.

That controversy led to the recent resignation of the station's top official in charge of news, and Congress is awaiting reports from the Broadcasting Board of Governors and the State Department Inspector²⁰ General on management and other changes.

1 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

2 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

3 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 interdiction   

n.禁止；封锁

参考例句：

• the Customs Service's drug interdiction programs 海关的毒品查禁方案
• In addition to patrol duty, blastboats are dispatched for planetary defense and interdiction missions. 除了例行巡逻，炮艇还被赋予行星防御和封锁的任务。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

9 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

10 withhold   

v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡

参考例句：

• It was unscrupulous of their lawyer to withhold evidence.他们的律师隐瞒证据是不道德的。
• I couldn't withhold giving some loose to my indignation.我忍不住要发泄一点我的愤怒。

11 certifies   

（尤指书面）证明( certify的第三人称单数 )； 发证书给…； 证明（某人）患有精神病； 颁发（或授予）专业合格证书

参考例句：

• Authority certifies the identity of sites on the internet. 权威负责向Internet网站授予其标识。
• The paper then certifies this algorithm by infrared image processing. 并且文中使用红外图像对这个算法进行了验证。

12 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

13 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

14 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

15 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

16 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

17 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

18 withholding   

扣缴税款

参考例句：

• She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
• The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。

19 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

20 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。