特朗普否认在白宫会议上使用粗俗的侮辱性词汇
时间：2018-12-01 作者：英语课 分类：2018年VOA慢速英语(一)月
Trump 1 Denies Using Vulgar Insult at White House Meeting
President Donald Trump has denied that he used a vulgar, insulting term in describing African nations and Haiti during a White House meeting.
American news media reported on Thursday that Trump used the term at talks on a U.S. immigration policy known as DACA.
DACA is short for Deferred 4 Action for Childhood Arrivals. It is meant for individuals who moved to the United States illegally before the age of 16. Under the policy, those immigrants are guaranteed protection and are not at risk of expulsion from the country.
Media reports said Trump used the offensive term when Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham reported to him about a newly-written immigration bill.
The vulgar term means extremely dirty and poor.
The president added that the U.S. government should accept more people from countries like Norway. Trump had met with the Norwegian prime minister on Wednesday.
Asked about the comments, White House spokesman Raj Shah did not deny them. “Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” he said.
In a tweet Friday morning, Trump suggested that he did not use the insulting term. He wrote, “The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback 6 for DACA!”
Trump later added, “Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!”
Senator Durbin, a member of the Democratic Party, was at the White House meeting on Thursday. The senator spoke 5 with reporters on Friday in Chicago, Illinois.
When asked what Trump had said in the meeting, Durbin said, "I cannot believe that in the history of the White House and of that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday. You've seen the comments in the press. I have not read one of them that's inaccurate 8."
Reactions from Africa
The African Union (AU) told the Associated Press it was “frankly alarmed” by Trump’s reported comment. A spokesman for the AU said, “This is particularly surprising as the United States of America remains 9 a global example of how migration 2 gave birth to a nation built on strong values of diversity and opportunity.”
The government in Botswana called Trump’s reported comment “reprehensible 10 and racist 11.” South Africa’s ruling African National Congress said the term is “extremely offensive.”
Not all African governments offered an opinion.
“Unless it was specifically said about South Sudan, we have nothing to say,” a spokesman for South Sudan told the Associated Press.
United Nations official Rupert Colville added “These are shocking and shameful 12 comments from the President of the United States. There is no other word one can use but ‘racist’.”
Reactions in the U.S.
U.S. Congressman 13 Steny Hoyer, a Democrat 7, said “President Trump’s comments are racist and a disgrace.” But Democrats 14 were not the only ones to object.
Like Trump, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is a member of the Republican Party. She said "It's incomprehensible that these words came out of the mouth of the president of the United States of America, a country that was founded on being free from discrimination and treating people fairly and having people come here, the land of the free."
Another Republican, Representative Mia Love of Utah, is a child of Haitian immigrants. She said “This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation.” And she called on Trump to apologize to the American people.
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, also a Republican, said he wanted more details of the president’s comments.
"Part of what makes America so special is that we welcome the best and brightest in the world, regardless of their country of origin," Hatch added.
I'm Pete Musto.
Words in This Story
vulgar - adj. lewdly 16 or profanely 17 indecent
defer 3 - v. to choose to do something at a later time
tough - adj. difficult
setback - n. a problem that make progress difficult or success less likely
derogatory - adj. expressing low opinion of someone or something
unfortunately - adv. used to say something bad has happened
inaccurate - adj. not correct or exact
alarm - v. to worry or frighten
opportunity - n. a situation in which something can be done
reprehensible - adj. very bad, deserving very strong criticism
incomprehensible - adj. impossible to understand
- 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。
- Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
- He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。
- We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
- We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。
- The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
- a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划
- 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。
- Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
- She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。
- 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。
- The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
- She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。
- 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。
- Lying is not seen as being morally reprehensible in any strong way.人们并不把撒谎当作一件应该大加谴责的事儿。
- It was reprehensible of him to be so disloyal.他如此不忠，应受谴责。
- a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
- His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。
- It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
- We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。
- He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
- The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。
- 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》
- She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
- The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。