(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Today, we continue telling about Bill Clinton, America's forty-second president. Bill Clinton began his first term as president of the United States in January of nineteen ninety-three. During his terms in office, he appointed more women and minority members to serve in government than any earlier president. Mister Clinton became the first Democratic president in twenty-five years to name associate justices to the United States Supreme Court. He chose Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to serve on America's highest court. Miz Ginsburg was only the second woman named to the court. Members of President Clinton's own Democratic Party controlled Congress for the first two years of his presidency. Still, Congress failed to consider a major administration proposal. The plan was meant to reform the health care system to provide health care for all Americans. Bill Clinton had promised during his presidential campaign to help more Americans receive health care. A committee led by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, proposed the new administration plan.
But Congress did not act on the proposal. Lawmakers decided it was too costly and too difficult to administer. Congress did pass some Clinton legislation during his first term. For example, legislators enacted his proposal to fight crime. This measure included a crime prevention program and increased law enforcement. It also provided money for building more prisons. Lawmakers also passed Mister Clinton's budgets for nineteen ninety-three and nineteen ninety-four. The budgets reduced federal spending. President Clinton's relations with Congress became more difficult after the nineteen ninety-four midterm elections. Voters throughout the country elected the first majority Republican Congress in forty years. Republicans controlled both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Republican-led Congress passed measures to reform social welfare in America. Mister Clinton also wanted to reform America's aid system. But he stopped Congress from cutting what he believed was too much money for some programs. These included help for education, poor people and old people needing medical care. The economy had slowed to recession level during the administration of President George Bush.
Under Mister Clinton the economy grew slowly at first. Then it recovered more quickly. Business earnings grew. New jobs were created. The economic crisis was ended. Mister Clinton had to deal with terrorism against the United States very early in his presidency. On February twenty-sixth, nineteen ninety-three, Islamic terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York City. They placed explosives in a car parked under the building. The huge explosion killed six people. More than one thousand others were injured. Repair of the damaged building cost millions of dollars. The government later captured and tried the bombers. Terrorism again struck the United States in nineteen ninety-five. On April nineteenth, a dissident American former soldier placed explosives that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. One hundred sixty-eight people died in the bombing. It was the most serious incident of terrorism on home territory in United States history. The bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was captured soon after the explosion. Another former soldier also was seized later in connection with the bombing.
Many Americans praised Mister Clinton for the way he led the nation after this tragedy. President Bill Clinton also had to deal with a number of foreign relations crises. For example, President Bush had sent American troops to Somalia in nineteen ninety-two. The troops were taking food to thousands of starving Somalis. The people were suffering because of lack of rain and a civil war. Fighting among ethnic groups was preventing the people from receiving food and other aid supplies. Then the United Nations took control of the aid efforts. President Clinton made American soldiers part of the U-N force. In nineteen ninety-three, eighteen American soldiers were killed in Mogadishu. They died in a battle with supporters of a local group leader. Mister Clinton ordered American troops to leave Somalia after Congress demanded their withdrawal. American foreign policy was more successful in other areas. For example, President Clinton helped return the first democratically elected leader of Haiti to office. In nineteen ninety-one, military officers in Haiti had ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The new rulers established a military dictatorship. Thousands of Haitian refugees tried to flee to the United States by boat. In nineteen ninety-four, President Clinton threatened to use military force against the dictators if they did not let President Aristide return to power. The dictators surrendered power. Mister Aristide again became president of Haiti. Some of Mister Clinton's most important foreign policy decisions involved the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, formerly a republic of Yugoslavia. A civil war began in Bosnia-Herzegovina in nineteen ninety-two. Bosnian Serb rebels were trying to oust the mainly Muslim government. The United Nations sent peacekeepers to Bosnia. Mister Clinton ordered the United States Air Force to aid Bosnian Muslims under attack and try to stop Serb aggression. In late nineteen ninety-five, Mister Clinton helped organize a meeting of the warring sides in the Bosnian civil war. They signed a peace plan that included a cease-fire. The plan called for NATO troops to help guard the cease-fire. The president sent American troops to aid in this effort. Mister Clinton gained one of the major foreign policy goals of his first administration in November of nineteen ninety-three. Congress approved NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The agreement called for ending most import taxes among the United States, Canada and Mexico. This was to be done over the next fifteen years. The agreement also called for ending restrictions on the flow of goods, services and investment among the three countries. President Clinton had another trade policy success the following year. Congress expanded GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The expansion permitted cuts in import taxes on thousands of products. They included electronics, wood products and metals. While Mister Clinton led the nation, he also had to defend his past. In the late nineteen-seventies, Mister and Missus Clinton had invested in the Whitewater Development Corporation in Arkansas. By the time Bill Clinton became president, others involved with this company were in legal trouble. Critics said President Clinton also had acted illegally. One accuser was a former judge in Little Rock, Arkansas. He owned a savings and loan company that received federal money. This man said Bill Clinton had secretly pressured him to make illegal loans to help the Whitewater company. President Clinton denied the accusation.
Some people suspected that Hillary Rodham Clinton was responsible for wrongdoing years earlier when she working as a lawyer in Little Rock, Arkansas. In January, nineteen ninety-four, Mister Clinton asked Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint a lawyer to lead an independent investigation of the Clintons' activities. She named Robert Fiske, a Republican. But critics charged that Mister Fiske was too friendly to the Clinton Administration. In August, three federal judges replaced him with lawyer Kenneth Starr, also a Republican. Some Americans expressed anger at the president about the Whitewater case. Others dismissed the accusations as political attacks. Opinion studies in spring and summer of nineteen ninety-six showed that many Americans would vote to re-elect their president in November. They said they wanted Bill Clinton to serve as president for four more years.
重点解析
1.federal spending 联邦支出
He would also hold federal spending at most agencies to current levels and cut wasteful programs.
他将把联邦用于多数机构的花费维持在现有的水平并且削减一些浪费项目。
2.GATT 关税暨贸易总协定
The United States recalled that in 1948 under the GATT, it was granted a waiver for duty-free treatment to products of the then Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
美国回顾其1948年就得到了GATT授予的豁免，可以对当时太平洋岛屿托管地的产品给予免税待遇。
3.NATO 北大西洋公约组织
But can we trust Nato or the US military?
但是我们能够信任北约或美国军队吗？
4.called for 呼吁
I called for the draft agreement you sent us one week ago.
我打电话是关于你一周前寄来的那份协议草案。
5.civil war 内战
The clergymen of the Christian Church were often rabbled in the civil war.
内战期间基督教教士常常受到袭击。
参考译文
今天，我们继续为您讲述美国第四十二任总统比尔·克林顿的故事。1993年1月，比尔·克林顿开始了担任美国总统的第一个任期。在其任期内，他任命了女性和少数民族成员在政府任职，人数比以往任何总统都多。克林顿先生成为25年来首位任命美国最高法院大法官的民主党总统。他选择了鲁思·巴德·金斯伯格和斯蒂芬·布雷耶担任美国最高法院法官。鲁斯·金斯伯格是美国史上第二位女大法官。在其总统任期的头两年，克林顿总统的民主党成员控制了国会。尽管如此，国会还是没有考虑一项重要的政府提案。该提案旨在改革医疗体系，为所有美国人提供医疗服务。比尔·克林顿在总统竞选期间曾承诺让更多的美国人享受医疗保险。他的妻子希拉里·克林顿领导的一个委员会提出了新的政府计划。但国会并没有实施该提议。议员们认为，这一计划成本太高，管理起来也颇为困难。在克林顿的第一个任期内，国会确实通过了他的一些立法。例如，他的打击犯罪的提案得到了颁布。措施包括预防犯罪和加强执法。它还提供资金，建造更多的监狱。
克林顿1993年和1994年的预算也得到了通过。联邦开支的预算减少了。1994年中期选举后，克林顿总统与国会的关系变得更加紧张。40年来，全国选民第一次选出了多数选票的共和党国会。共和党控制着参议院和众议院。共和党领导的国会通过了改革美国社会福利的措施。克林顿先生还想改革美国的援助体系。但他阻止了国会削减他认为用于某些项目的资金。包括对教育、穷人和需要医疗照顾的老年人的援助。乔治·布什执政期间，美国经济已放缓至衰退水平。在克林顿的领导下，经济起初增长缓慢，后来迅速恢复。业务收入增长，新的就业机会增加。经济危机结束。克林顿在执政初期必须处理针对美国的恐怖主义问题。1993年2月26日，伊斯兰恐怖分子袭击了纽约市的世贸中心。他们在停在大楼下面的一辆汽车里安放了炸药，巨大的爆炸致6人死亡。另有1000多人受伤。修复损坏的建筑物花费了数百万美元。政府随后逮捕并审判了袭击者。
1995年，恐怖主义再次袭击美国。4月19日，一名持不同政见的美国前士兵在俄克拉何马城炸毁了默拉联邦大楼。爆炸致168人丧生。这是美国历史上最严重的一次恐怖事件。事件发生后不久，袭击者蒂莫西·麦克维被抓获。另一名退役士兵后来也因参与爆炸事件而被捕。许多美国人称赞克林顿先生在爆炸发生后的处理方式。克林顿总统还必须处理一些外交危机。例如，1992年，布什总统派军到索马里，给成千上万饱受饥饿的索马里人运送食物。干旱和内战使得民不聊生。内战使得食物和其他援助物资短缺。接着，联合国掌管了援助工作。克林顿总统让美国士兵加入联合国部队。1993年，18名美国士兵在摩加迪沙被杀。这些人在与当地一个组织领导人支持者的斗争中丧生。国会要求美军撤离，克林顿先生命令美军撤离索马里。美国的外交政策在其他领域更为成功。例如，克林顿总统帮助海地首位民选领导人复职。1991年，海地军官罢黜了总统——让-贝特朗·阿里斯蒂德。让-贝特朗·阿里斯蒂德建立了军事独裁政权，数以千计的海地难民试图乘船逃往美国。
1994年，克林顿总统威胁说，如果独裁者不让阿里斯蒂德总统重新掌权，就对他们使用武力。独裁者们放弃了掌权，阿里斯蒂德先生再次成为海地领导人。外交上，克林顿先生最重要的决策包括处理波斯尼亚-黑塞哥维那——前南斯拉夫共和国的冲突，1992年，波斯尼亚-黑塞哥维那爆发了内战。波斯尼亚塞族叛军试图推翻以穆斯林为主的政府。联合国向波斯尼亚派遣了维和部队。克林顿先生命令美国空军援助遭受攻击的波斯尼亚穆斯林，并试图阻止塞尔维亚人的侵略。1995年末，克林顿组织了一次会议，波斯尼亚内战的交战双方出席了本次会议。双方签署了停火和平计划，要求北约士兵帮助维护停火。克林顿派遣美军援助。1993年11月，克林顿实现了其在第一次任期内设立的主要外交政策目标之一。国会批准了北美自由贸易协定。该协定要求美国、加拿大和墨西哥停止征收大部分进口关税。今后15年内都将实施该协定。该协议还呼吁结束对美国、加拿大和墨西哥的货物、服务和投资流动的限制。次年，克林顿总统在另一项贸易政策上取得了成功。国会扩大了关贸总协定。这一扩张削减了数千种产品的进口税。包括电子产品、木制品和金属。克林顿执政期间，他也不得不为他的过去辩护。
上世纪70年代末，克林顿夫妇投资了阿肯色州的关於白水开发公司。比尔·克林顿成为美国总统时，该公司的其他相关人士都惹上了官司。批评人士表示，克林顿总统的行为也是非法的。原告是阿肯色州小石城的前法官，他拥有一家接受联邦资金的储蓄贷款公司。这名男子说，比尔·克林顿曾秘密向他施压，要求他提供非法贷款来帮助关於白水开发公司。克林顿总统否认了这一指控。一些人表示，希拉里·罗德姆·克林顿多年前在阿肯色州小石城当律师时，对自己的不当行为负有责任。1994年1月，克林顿先生请司法部长珍妮特·雷诺任命一名律师对克林顿夫妇的活动进行独立调查。共和党人罗伯特·菲斯克受命。但批评人士指控菲斯克和克林顿政府的关系过于友好。今年8月，接替他的是三名联邦法官和律师肯尼斯·斯塔尔，该律师也是共和党人。一些美国人对关於白水开发公司事件表示愤怒。其他人则认为这些指控属于政治攻击。1996年春季和夏季，民意调查显示，许多美国人会在11月再次选举总统。他们表示希望比尔·克林顿能够连任。
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