VOA标准英语2009年-Obama Announces $5 Billion in Medical Rese

By Kent Klein
White House
30 September 2009

 
President Obama makes remarks about stimulus¹ funding for biomedical research, 30 Sep 2009, at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
U.S. President Barack Obama is announcing $5 billion in new government grants, to help fight cancer, autism and heart disease. The grants come from the $787 billion Recovery Act, and the president says they will also stimulate² the economy.

President Obama visited the sprawling³ National Institutes of Health, near Washington, and said the expenditure⁴ is vital to improving public health.

"To unlock treatments to diseases that have long plagued humanity, to save and enrich the lives of people all over the world. This represents the single largest boost to biomedical research in history," he said.

The grants include $175 million for the Cancer Genome Atlas⁵, to map the way genetic⁶ changes affect cancer. The White House says the cancer study involves more than 150 scientists at dozens of institutions around the country.

"Collecting more than 20,000 tissue samples, to sequence the DNA⁷ of more than 20 types of cancer. And this has extraordinary potential to help us better understand and treat this disease," said the president.

Mr. Obama says much of the research being conducted at the National Institutes of Health would not have taken place in the corporate⁸ world.

"Some research does not lend itself to quick profit, and that is why places like the NIH were founded. And that is why my administration is making a historic commitment to research and the pursuit of discovery," he said.

The president also promoted the grants as a way to stimulate the economy by putting researchers, educators and medical equipment makers⁹ to work.

"They will create new jobs, tens of thousands of jobs; conducting research and manufacturing, and supplying medical equipment, and building and modernizing¹⁰ laboratories and research facilities all across America," he said.

Before he spoke¹¹ about the grants, Mr. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius toured a cancer-research laboratory. The president looked through a microscope at brain cells as researchers explained the difference between healthy and cancerous cells.

 

1 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

2 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

3 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

4 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。

5 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

6 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

9 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 modernizing   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的现在分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• Modernizing a business to increase its profitability and competitiveness is a complicated affair. 使企业现代化，从而达到增加利润，增强竞争力的目的，是一件复杂的事情。
• The young engineer had a large share in modernizing the factory. 这位年轻工程师在工厂现代化的过程中尽了很大的“力”。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。