VOA标准英语2012--Some Discontented Texans Talk Secession
时间：2019-01-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(十一月)
Some Discontented Texans Talk Secession
Texas barbecue is on the menu and secession from the Union is the topic at this restaurant near Houston.
The Texas Nationalist Movement is pushing the idea, though the group did not originate the petition for Texas to leave the U.S. Executive director Cary Wise says people here are worried about government debt.
"When the federal government can no longer sustain that debt, then that rolls back on the states, not just Texas, but all the states," Wise said.
Some here complain about a spendthrift, intrusive 1 federal government.
But most Texans seem to dismiss the idea of secession.
"I don't think I would sign it," said one young man.
"Oh, please! No, that would be ridiculous!," said a woman
"I don't think we have the resources to completely rely on ourselves," another man said.
The petition calling for Texas' secession is among several from other states that appeared on the White House Web site after President Obama's re-election.
Most support appears to come from states that voted for his Republican rival, Mitt 2 Romney, and, like Texas, seceded 4 from the Union once before -- sparking the American Civil War.
Obama's re-election is not mentioned as a reason to secede 3.
But the Texas petition claims, among other things, that the federal government has overstepped its power. More than 115,000 signatures are on the petition.
Political Science professor Mark Jones, at Houston's Rice University, doubts that Texas will ever secede.
"This is just more theater, political theater, than reality. It is not a real secessionist movement. You don't have any serious political actor getting behind the movement to secede," Jones said.
Jones notes that the signatures on the petition represent a tiny fraction of the state's more than 25 million people.
"This petition was started as a lark 5 (a joke) by a college student up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and many of the people signing it are not even Texans," Jones said.
That's because anyone can register on the White House web site and sign the petition.
At the the nationalists' barbecue lunch, about 20 people attended, but some like Gina, came mainly to listen.
"I don't really know that secession is really a possibility, that it really could happen, but if any place in the country could do it, I know that it could be done here," Gina said.
And while not everybody agrees, the Texas professor says signing is an easy way to vent 6 frustration 7 with official Washington.
- The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
- Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。
- I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
- Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。
- They plotted to make the whole Mississippi Valley secede from the United States.他们阴谋策划使整个密西西比流域脱离美国。
- We won't allow Tibet to secede from China and become an independent nation.我们决不允许西藏脱离中国独立。
- The Republic of Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903. 巴拿马共和国于1903年脱离哥伦比亚。
- One of the states has seceded from the federation. 有一个州已从联邦中退出。 来自辞典例句
- He thinks it cruel to confine a lark in a cage.他认为把云雀关在笼子里太残忍了。
- She lived in the village with her grandparents as cheerful as a lark.她同祖父母一起住在乡间非常快活。
- He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
- When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。
- He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
- He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。