VOA标准英语2008年-McCain Agrees to Attend Debate as Bailout Talks

Republican presidential nominee¹ John McCain has reversed his earlier decision and decided² to participate in Friday's long scheduled debate with Democrat³ candidate Barack Obama. McCain had said he would not attend the debate unless there was agreement on a controversial $700 billion plan to shore up the U.S. financial system, something U.S. lawmakers continue to struggling to achieve. VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington.
　
John McCain leaves meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, 26 Sep 2008

Senator John McCain announced Friday he will take part in Friday night's debate with fellow Senator Barack Obama at the University of Mississippi. Earlier in the week, McCain said he was suspending his presidential campaign and wanted to postpone⁴ the debate until a bailout agreement had been reached.

Both McCain and Obama stopped making campaign appearances and returned to Washington Thursday to meet with President Bush and other officials about the administration's proposed $700 billion rescue plan for the financial industry.

Before leaving for the debate site in Mississippi Friday, Obama repeated his view that he and McCain should debate as planned.

"My strong sense is that the best thing that I could do, rather than to inject presidential politics into some delicate negotiations⁵, is to go down to Mississippi," he said.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry⁶ Reid said Friday McCain was not contributing to a solution. "The insertion of presidential politics has not been helpful," he said. "All he has done is stand in front of the cameras. We still do not know where he stands on the issue."

Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell disagreed, saying both McCain and Obama helped the process along.

"Both presidential candidates coming back [to Washington] was actually helpful," he said. "It underscored the significance of moving forward and moving forward on a bipartisan basis and doing it quickly. So I think Senator McCain's role has been entirely⁷ constructive⁸."

Top Republican and Democratic lawmakers continued meeting with Treasury⁹ Secretary Henry Paulson and other administration officials Friday, to try to work out an economic rescue plan.

U.S. President George Bush urged lawmakers Friday to rise to the occasion and reach agreement soon. "There are disagreements over aspects of the rescue plan," he said. "But there is no disagreement that something substantial must be done. The legislative¹⁰ process is sometimes not very pretty, but we are going to get a package passed."

Much of the opposition¹¹ to the proposal has come from within President Bush's own party. Republicans in the House of Representatives are demanding "serious consideration" of a proposal which would sharply limit government assistance to financial institutions that are in trouble because of bad loans they made.
　
House Republican Leader John Boehner responds to reporters' questions on the status of legislative negotiations regarding the financial crisis,on Capitol Hill in Washington, 26 Sep 2008

House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner said Friday he is being bullied¹² by the White House. "I do not know what games were being played at the White House yesterday, ganging up on Boehner, but if they thought they were rolling me, they were kidding themselves," he said.

Boehner says he and fellow House Republicans are protecting the taxpayers¹³' best interests. "There are a lot of proposals out there that will work," he said. "What we have got to do is to do our best on behalf of taxpayers."

Public opinion polls show that the president's economic rescue plan is not popular. Only 30 percent of Americans polled say they support the bailout package. Another 45 percent oppose the plan, and 25 percent are unsure about it.

Republicans and Democrats¹⁴ in the Senate said publicly Friday they will work together to find an acceptable solution quickly.

The latest news from the U.S. economy highlights the urgency of the situation. The Commerce Department reported Friday that the U.S. gross domestic product increased at a 2.8 percent annual rate from April to June, less than the 3.3 percent growth estimate made one month ago.

Also, Thursday saw the largest single bank failure in U.S. history. Washington Mutual¹⁵ collapsed¹⁶, and its $307 billion in assets were sold to JP Morgan Chase for $1.9 billion.

 

1 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 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。

4 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

9 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

10 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

14 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》

15 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

16 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。