VOA慢速英语2013 美国政府关门第一周

US Government Shutdown: Week One 美国政府关门第一周

From VOA Learning English, this is In the News.

这里是美国之音慢速英语新闻报道。

This week, a political dispute in Washington led to a partial shutdown of the United States government for the first time in almost 20 years. Agencies sent home more than 800,000 workers -- about one-third of the federal work force.

本周，华盛顿的一场政治争执导致美国政府出现近20年来首次部分关门事件，各机构暂时让80多万员工停工，占联邦工作人员总量的近三分之一。

The new budget year began Tuesday, October 1. But Republicans in Congress blocked even short-term spending for many government operations. They demanded that Democrats 2 change the Affordable 3 Care Act, the new health care law often called Obamacare. The Democrats refused.

新的预算年于10月1日即周二开始，但国会的共和党甚至连用于多个政府机构短期运转的开支都加以阻扰。他们要求民主党修改平价医疗法案，也就是通常被称为“奥巴马医改”的新医疗法案。民主党表示拒绝。

The shutdown did not stop Tuesday’s launch of online marketplaces, called exchanges, at the center of the law. The federal government and states started websites for millions of uninsured Americans to buy health plans or pay a tax penalty.

关门并未阻止周二根据该法推出的名为exchanges的在线交易市场，联邦政府和各州为数百万未投保的美国人购买医疗方案或支付税务罚款。

Opponents of Obamacare say it will force people and small businesses to buy insurance policies against their will.

奥巴马医改的反对者称该法案迫使人们和小企业违背自身意愿的保险单。

At the heart of the dispute is a clash between the two major political parties over the role of the central government in American life.

这场争议的核心是两大政党就中央政府在美国人生活的角色问题的争执。

The political fighting between Democrats and Republicans began to intensify 4 during the 1990s. That followed the election of Democrat 1 Bill Clinton as president. Differences over spending and the role of government led to two government shutdowns.

民主党和共和党的政治斗争在20世纪90年代开始加剧，当时比尔·克林顿刚当选为总统。两党在开支和政府角色上的分歧导致政府两度关门。

The disputed presidential election of 2000 brought Republican George W. Bush to office. University of Virginia expert Larry Sabato says the political battles only deepened during his second term.

共和党小布什在2000年有争议的总统选举成为总统，维吉尼亚大学专家拉里·萨巴托说政治斗争在他的第二任期内进一步加剧。

“There is no question that the polarization increased first with the Bush presidency 5, because of the Iraq war and his handling of Hurricane Katrina. Then it accelerated once President Obama was elected.”

“毫无疑问，由于伊拉克战争和布什对卡特里娜飓风的处理，两极化在布什任期内加剧了，然后在奥巴马总统当选后进一步加强。”

The divide grew wider when President Barack Obama pushed his health care reform law through Congress in 2010 without a single Republican vote. That in turn helped to fuel the rise of Tea Party groups around the country. The Tea Party is a conservative voting group within the Republican Party.

两党分歧在总统巴拉克·奥巴马2010年推出医改法案后进一步加大，当时没有一个共和党人投票支持，结果就导致茶党组织在全国各地出现，茶党是共和党内保守的投票团体。

Republicans have made several attempts to either defund the Affordable Care Act or delay it. The law is one of the most important acts of Barack Obama’s presidency.

共和党曾几次试图取消对评价法案的资金支持或是延缓实施，该案是巴拉克·奥巴马在任期间最重要的举动之一。

Peter Brown of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut studies public opinion.

康涅狄格州昆尼皮亚克大学的彼得·布朗从事舆论研究。

“Republicans like smaller government and lower government spending and therefore are more opposed to Obamacare. Democrats tend to be more supportive in general of government solutions to problems, and they see Obamacare as the right thing to do to help on the health care issue.”

“共和党喜欢小政府和低的政府开支，所以反对奥巴马医改。民主党往往更支持由政府来解决问题，他们认为奥巴马医改是有助于解决医疗问题的正确办法。”

Currently, Republicans control the House of Representatives; Democrats hold the Senate and the White House.

目前，共和党控制了众议院，民主党控制参议院和白宫。

A group of conservative Republicans in the House have been leading the opposition 6 to the health care law. Many of them now depend on strong support from Tea Party activists 7 to get elected. Larry Sabato says many of them are willing, at least for now, to accept the political blame for forcing the government to shut down.

众议院一群保守民主党人一直带头反对医改法，许多人现在依靠茶党人士的有力支持获得当选。拉里·萨巴托说许多人至少目前都愿意接受迫使政府关门的指责。

“They will pay a bigger price, but they seem willing to pay it in part because most of their members are in completely safe [congressional] districts. The only thing they have to worry about is a challenge from the right in the Republican primary. So they do not want to let anybody get to their right.”

“他们将付出更大的代价，但他们似乎愿意付出这个代价，部分因为他们的多数成员在安全的国会选区。他们唯一担心的是共和党初选权利的挑战，所以他们不希望任何人获得这个权利。”

For the moment, Larry Sabato sees no quick end to the shutdown.

拉里·萨巴托说目前还看不到关门会很快结束。

“They are so deeply polarized by party and by institution that it is difficult to see, if people stick to the principles they have articulated, how this is going to be resolved.  It could go on and on.  And of course it will do tremendous damage, not just to our economy but to our image around the world.”

Political observer Charlie Cook says some of the Republican opposition is also driven by deep feelings against President Obama.

政治观察人士查理·库克说，有的共和党反对派还受到反对总统奥巴马的强烈情绪所驱使。

“There are a lot of Republicans where if President Obama said ‘up,’ they would say ‘down.’ 

“有许多共和党人，如果总统奥巴马说东他们就会说西。”

The last politically driven government shutdown began in December of 1995. It lasted three weeks.

上次因政治问题导致政府关门是在1995年12月，关门持续了三周。

And right now there is another issue. Congress will soon have to raise the borrowing limit or risk the United States not being able to make all of its loan payments. Congress must renew the government's power to borrow money by October 17 or risk a first-ever federal default.

目前还存在另一个问题，国会将很快提高借债限额，否则美国将承担债务违约的风险。国会必须恢复政府借债的权力，否则将出现有史以来首次联邦政府违约。

And that's In the News from VOA Learning English. I’m Avi Arditti.

这里是美国之音慢速英语新闻报道，我是Avi Arditti。