VOA标准英语2010年-Obama Tells Lawmakers to Curb Spending

U.S. President Barack Obama says to support economic growth, the government has to be willing to cut spending. He says lawmakers should lead by cutting back federal spending on local projects.
President Obama's weekly address to the nation comes as he concludes a trip to Asia aimed at opening up new, fast-growing markets for American products. He notes that the economic competition is fierce.
"But as I've said many times, America doesn't play for second place," said President Obama. "The future we're fighting for isn't as the world's largest importer, consuming products made elsewhere, but as the world's largest manufacturer of ideas and goods sold around the world."The U.S. president says in order to make the most of economic growth, the U.S. must reduce its budget deficit¹ and cut spending.
The Republican opposition² has repeatedly accused the administration of overspending. That message helped Republicans trounce President Obama's Democratic Party in recent Congressional elections.
Now, the President says he is calling on Democratic and Republican lawmakers to show they are serious about reform, and to stop funding projects in their own local districts through so-called "earmarks" inserted into federal spending bills.
"Earmarks like these represent a relatively³ small part of overall federal spending," added President Obama. "But when it comes to signaling our commitment to fiscal⁴ responsibility, addressing them would have an important impact."In the Republican weekly address, Representative Greg Walden promised to reform the way business is done in Congress when Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in January.
Walden, who leads the Republican transition team, emphasized that many of the incoming Republicans are Washington outsiders.
"The incoming republican freshman⁵ class, well, it's no ordinary group," said Walden. "Nearly half of its roughly 80 members have never served in elective office before. So they bring a fresh perspective and a lot of the energy, intelligence and experience that we want to incorporate into how we implement⁶ reforms that give the government back to the people."Walden outlined a number of ways Republicans plan to make the House of Representatives more transparent⁷, including installing public cameras in the Rules Committee, where lawmakers decide which bills and amendments⁸ will come to a vote.

1 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。

2 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。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

5 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

6 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

7 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

8 amendments   

（法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案

参考例句：

• The committee does not adequately consult others when drafting amendments. 委员会在起草修正案时没有充分征求他人的意见。
• Please propose amendments and addenda to the first draft of the document. 请对这个文件的初稿提出修改和补充意见。