VOA常速英语2019--政府停摆僵持不下 公务员难以养家糊口

President Donald Trump¹ has backed away from a simple demand for border wall funding. Now, he is offering a three-year extension of programs for refugees and immigrants brought illegally to America as minors² known as dreamers. If we are successful in this effort, we will then have the best chance in a very long time at real bipartisan immigration reform. Democrats³ demand permanent protections for all dreamers: Not just those who registered in an Obama administration program known as DACA that shielded them from deportation⁴.

特朗普总统回避了为建造边境墙出资的简单要求。现在，他主动提出为年少时非法进入美国的难民和移民延长3年期限的项目。这类人有一个别称，叫梦想家。如果我们此举能获成功，；那么我们接下来就会获得长时间以来最好的一次机会，可以进行两党移民的真正改革。民主党要求为所有梦想家提供永久的保护：不只是那些在奥巴马在任期间注册过DACA项目的人。该项目是为了保护他们不被驱逐出境。

He, Democrats say, Trump’s proposal, is a non-starter. We wanted a pathway to citizenship⁵ for all dreamers. He’s just taking a small section of that. Those are the DACA recipients⁶ and he’s only giving them a temporary stay. If he really wants to work on comprehensive immigration reform, open the government and then sit down with Democratic leaders to actually work on the stuff that needs to get done. Last year, Trump moved to terminate the very programs. He is now offering to extend and demanding Democrats agree to his terms for doing so. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy tweeted a comparison quote: Imagine if a dude drove his truck into your house on purpose and then told you he would fix the hole for five billion dollars. What would you say?

民主党称，特朗普的提案，还没开始，就已结束。我们希望所有梦想家都有获得公民身份的渠道。但特朗普对这方面考虑的很少。这些都是参加过DACA的人，而特朗普只让他们暂时逗留。如果特朗普真地想实行全面的移民改革，他就应该大开政府之门，然后坐下来与民主党领袖谈话，真正地做实事。去年，特朗普叫停了这些移民项目。现在，他又主动要求延长项目期限，还要求民主党同意他这样做的条件。民主党参议员克里斯·墨菲发推文进行了对比：这不就是一个人开着卡车撞进你的房子，然后跟你说他会花50亿美元修补这个漏洞吗？大家觉得是不是？

For Republicans, Democrats’ complete rejection⁷ of new physical border barriers is perplexing and hypocritical since an assortment⁸ of barriers went up under both Republican and Democratic administrations in recent decades. President Clinton built fencing. President HW Bush built fencing. President George W Bush built fencing. President Obama built fencing. This has not been an immoral⁹ issue, and the president’s been very clear he’s talking about 234 miles of fencing along a 2,000 mile border. It’s only in the priority areas.

对于共和党来说，民主党否决设置新边境障碍的举动匪夷所思，是伪善的表现，毕竟最近几十年来，共和党和民主党政府都设立了很多边境障碍。克林顿总统、老布什总统、小布什总统、奥巴马总统都建造了围墙。这一直都不是个道德问题，而且特朗普总统一直都很清楚自己所说的边境墙是在2000英里的边境线上建造234英里的边境墙而已，涉及到的都是优先地区。

When Congress reconvenes, the republican-led Senate and the democratically-led House of Representatives are both expected to take up funding bills that would be dead on arrival in the other chamber¹⁰. With Congress deadlocked¹¹ in the White House, showing no signs of surrender, a deal to reopen shuttered federal agencies and pay government workers remains¹² elusive¹³.

国会再次开会的时候，由共和党领导的参议院和由民主党领导的众议员都会着手讨论拨款法案的事儿，但等议案到彼此手里的时候都不会通过。国会的议案总会卡在政府的那一关上，双方僵持不下。这时候，结束政府停摆并为公务员支付工资的协议达成希望就渺茫了。

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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》

4 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

5 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

6 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

8 assortment   

n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集

参考例句：

• This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from.该店各色货物俱全，任君选择。
• She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes.她穿着奇装异服。

9 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

10 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

11 deadlocked   

陷入僵局的；僵持不下的

参考例句：

• The plan deadlocked over the funds. 这个计划由于经费问题而搁浅了。
• The meeting deadlocked over the wage issue. 会议因工资问题而停顿下来。

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。