VOA慢速英語:US Government Shutdown: Week One

From VOA Learning English, this is In the News.

這里是美國之音慢速英語新聞報道。

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，華盛頓的一場政治爭端導致美國政府近20年來首次部分停擺。各政府機構把80多萬員工差遣回家 -- 這一數字大約占到聯(lián)邦政府員工總數的1/3。

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 change the Affordable Care Act, the new health care law often called Obamacare. The Democrats refused.

美國新財年始于十月一日。但國會中的共和黨甚至駁回了許多政府運作的短期開支。他們要求民主黨修改平價醫(yī)療法案(Affordable Care Act)，即被稱作奧巴馬醫(yī)保的新衛(wèi)生保健法。而民主黨拒絕了這一要求。

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.

政府雖然停擺，但周二根據該法推出的被稱為exchanges的在線交易市場并未停止。聯(lián)邦政府和各州開設了網站，讓數百萬未投保的美國人購買醫(yī)療保險計劃或支付稅務罰款。

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

奧巴馬醫(yī)保的反對者表示，它會迫使市民和小企業(yè)購買違背自己意愿的保險單。

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.

爭議的焦點是兩黨之間就中央政府在美國人生活中所扮演角色的沖突。

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

民主黨和共和黨之間的政治爭斗在上世紀90年代開始激化，始于民主黨人比爾·克林頓當選總統(tǒng)。兩黨在政府支出和政府作用上的不同看法，讓美國政府兩度停擺。

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.

2000年富有爭議性總統(tǒng)選舉讓共和黨人喬治·W·布什登上前臺。弗吉尼亞大學專家拉里·薩巴托(Larry Sabato)表示，在布什的第二任期內，政治斗爭更加深化。

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

薩巴托說，“毫無疑問，布什的總統(tǒng)任期首次促進了兩黨分化，這是因為伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭和他對卡特里娜颶風的處理。然后奧巴馬當選總統(tǒng)讓兩黨分化加速。”

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.

當奧巴馬總統(tǒng)于2010年在沒有一位共和黨人投票支持的情況下，推動他的醫(yī)療保健改革法案在國會通過時，兩黨之間的鴻溝變得更深。這反過來又助長了全國各地茶黨組織的興起。茶黨是共和黨內的保守派投票團體。

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.

共和黨人已經數次嘗試廢除平價醫(yī)療法案或延緩它的執(zhí)行。該法是奧巴馬總統(tǒng)任期最重要的舉動之一。

Peter Brown of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut studies public opinion.

康涅狄格州昆尼皮亞克大學的彼得·布朗從事輿論研究。

"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."

他說，“共和黨人想要實行小政府和降低政府支出，因此比較反對奧巴馬醫(yī)保。民主黨往往更支持政府解決問題，他們認為奧巴馬醫(yī)保是有助于解決醫(yī)保問題的正確方案。”

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

目前，共和黨人控制眾議院，而民主黨人控制參議院和白宮。

A group of conservative Republicans in the House have been leading the opposition to the health care law. Many of them now depend on strong support from Tea Party activists 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.

眾議院一群保守派共和黨人一直帶頭反對該衛(wèi)生保健法案?，F在他們中的許多人都依靠著茶黨活動人士的強力支持而當選。薩巴托表示，現在他們中的許多人至少目前都愿意接受迫使政府關閉的政治指責。

"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."

薩巴托表示，“他們將付出更大的代價，但他們似乎愿意付出這種代價，部分是因為他們多數成員都在完全安全的國會選區(qū)。他們唯一需要擔心的是共和黨初選權利的挑戰(zhàn)。所以他們不希望讓任何人獲得該權利。”

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

薩巴托認為就目前而言，停擺不會很快結束。

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

政治觀察人士查理·庫克說，一些共和黨反對派還受到了反對奧巴馬總統(tǒng)的濃厚情緒驅使。

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

庫克說，“很多共和黨人只要奧巴馬說左他們就會說右。”

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

上一次政治驅使的政府停擺始于1995年12月，持續(xù)了三個星期。

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.

而目前還有另外一個問題。國會很快必須提高借貸限額，否則美國將承擔債務違約的風險。國會必須恢復政府借貸的權力，否則將導致有史以來首次聯(lián)邦政府違約。