时间:2019-02-04 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(一月)


英语课

By Jim Fry
Washington, DC
19 January 2007
 
watch Iraq Reconstruction 1 report


 
Iraq reconstruction underway
Government auditors 2 told Congress Thursday that waste and fraud in the reconstruction of Iraq have been rampant 3.  They predict they will uncover losses in the billions of dollars. Key Democrats 5 on the House Armed Services Committee demanded an accounting 6 within two months. 


You can see traffic flowing on some Baghdad streets--and evidence of progress.  In Baghdad the traffic lights are under repair.


Some reports say Americans and Iraqis have made headway reopening schools. The U.S. has pumped about $22 billion into Iraq reconstruction -- mostly between the years 2003 and 2005.   Many reports out of Iraq indicate the U.S. has little to show for the effort.


Democrats now running the House Armed Services Committee called government inspectors 8 general and auditors to explain.


 
Ike Skelton, chairman
Rep. Ike Skelton, a Democrat 4 from Missouri and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, explains. "The story on reconstruction is that it's not a total failure but it's not, by any means, a success."


The auditors said the assumption of those who planned reconstruction is that daily violence would be long over by now, but it is not.


Last week President Bush announced, in the face of mounting political opposition 10, that he plans to send more than 21,000 additional troops to Iraq to reduce the violence.


 
David Walker
Comptroller General David Walker said Iraq was expected to be a relatively 11 stable society. "That's the number one problem--the lack of adequate security.  And the lack of adequate security also impairs 12 the ability to make progress with regard to oil, electricity, potable water as well as employment." 


After years of anecdotal reports of waste and abuse, the Pentagon is now auditing 13 the overall performance of its largest contractors 14.


Special Inspector 7 General Stuart Bowen, Junior told Chairman Skelton the first of the findings will be reported sometime this year:


 
Stuart Bowen
Mr. Bowen added, "Then we can begin to parse 15 what the actual waste number is."


To which Mr. Skelton asked, "Do you have that figure as of this date?"


"No, I don't have that figure yet," said Bowen. "Do you have a judgment 16 as of this date?" he was asked.


"As I said, the potential loss could be 10 to 15 percent.  But we are waiting till we finish the actual hard analysis," Bowen answered.


Bowen said that losses at that rate would amount to perhaps $3 billion.  But Walker is more pessimistic. "I think the numbers, frankly 17, will be higher than you might expect. Given G.A.O.'s professional standards to have evidential matter, I can't give you an estimate right now.  I can tell you that it's billions," said the comptroller general.


The Iraqi government has allocated 18 another $14 billlion in oil revenue for reconstruction. Committee members asked Bowen how much of that has been spent wisely. He answered, "Given the fact that there's been three governments over the last three years in Iraq and the lack of accountability on the Iraqi side of how they've disposed of their funds, we don’t have a firm figure of how much as been spent since 2004."


One Democrat, Gene 9 Taylor of Mississippi, wanted to know if auditors would look not just at money squandered 19 by contractors, but at bad decisions: "My question is, in Iraq, how often do you look at something and say:  ‘Gee, that was a stupid way to spend money?’ " 


The congressman 20 did not get a clear answer. The comptroller did say that so-called "cost plus" contracts give government officials in Iraq the power to spend freely. He said that should be curtailed 21.


President Bush is asking for another $1.2 billion for rebuilding and jobs in Iraq. But with so much uncertainty 22, the committee chairman wants the government auditors to return in two months with estimates on how much money has been wasted in Iraqi reconstruction.



n.重建,再现,复原
  • The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后,该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
  • In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期,技术决定一切。
n.审计员,稽核员( auditor的名词复数 );(大学课程的)旁听生
  • The company has been in litigation with its previous auditors for a full year. 那家公司与前任审计员已打了整整一年的官司。
  • a meeting to discuss the annual accounts and the auditors' report thereon 讨论年度报表及其审计报告的会议
adj.(植物)蔓生的;狂暴的,无约束的
  • Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
  • You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员
  • 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。
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )
  • 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》
n.会计,会计学,借贷对照表
  • A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
  • There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。
n.检查员,监察员,视察员
  • The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
  • The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。
n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 );(英国公共汽车或火车上的)查票员;(警察)巡官;检阅官
  • They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过,通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.遗传因子,基因
  • A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
  • The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。
n.反对,敌对
  • 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。
adv.比较...地,相对地
  • 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。
v.损害,削弱( impair的第三人称单数 )
  • Smoking impairs our health. 吸烟会损害我们的健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Almost anything that impairs liver function can cause hepatitis. 任何有损于肝功能的因素,几乎都会引起肝炎。 来自辞典例句
n.审计,查账,决算
  • Auditing standards are the rules governing how an audit is performed.收支检查标准是规则统治一个稽核如何被运行。
  • The auditing services market is dominated by a few large accounting firms.审计服务市场被几家大型会计公司独占了。
n.(建筑、监造中的)承包人( contractor的名词复数 )
  • We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后,接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》
v.从语法上分析;n.从语法上分析
  • I simply couldn't parse what you just said.我完全无法对你刚说的话作语法分析。
  • It causes the parser to parse an NP.它调用分析程序分析一个名词短语。
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见
  • The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
  • He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
v.(指钱,财产等)浪费,乱花( squander的过去式和过去分词 )
  • He squandered all his money on gambling. 他把自己所有的钱都糟蹋在赌博上了。
  • She felt as indignant as if her own money had been squandered. 她心里十分生气,好像是她自己的钱给浪费掉了似的。 来自飘(部分)
n.(美)国会议员
  • 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。
v.截断,缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )
  • Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
  • Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物
  • Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
  • After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后,压力开始产生影响了。
学英语单词
a bad hand at
Amankaragay
automatically repaired computer
auxanometer
baked beef
Bambi bucket
Benicito, R.
blatt
broadbrimmed
bulletin advertising
bum-rushes
capillary collector
capnodium footii
cardinality of a fuzzy set
cascais
casing test pressure
central business intensity index
claim for additional security
committee of school curriculum development
Concemin
conchords
corfing
dispence
Douglas SBD
exempt from filing annual income tax returns
exponential amplification
expropriate
free-radical oxidation
gas utility
gas-filled stabilizer
grain magnesite
grey decision
harboring
Healon
hebephrenias
high courts
histoincompatibilities
hounskull
hydrothermal eruption
individual identification method
inverse distributions
it is a wise child that knows his own father
jung's disease
Lapland owls
like a bullet
Microstegiums
miseducation
morphographic map
Ne.
neagtive quantity
neck rot
neodata
norise
novoyes
NTTP
onboard repair part
one-sigma estimate
one-thousandth
ordinary grip
oronotus alboannulatus
ossa vesalianum
PBIP
pecherz (pitchblende)
pedicular
pheochromocytoma of bladder
plain indexing
play the violin
pombgranade
Pope Day
presternoidea
prewired program
prohibitionists
Psetta maxima
psychologic warfare task
Ramus pharyngeus
right of innocent passage
satellite reflection
scale rudiment
Schlosser injection
SEELONCE
self healing ring
sequence zoom shooting
short-neeked fiask
sitcom
spontaneous-potential log
sport competition
street girls
take ... into custody
tedding
thaliphenine
theory of strength
tooth saturation
tornilla
tribrachs
tuber of dwarf lilyturf
ultrarun
update control
urea solution filter
variable format part description
Vibble
Waldorfian
webzines