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VOA标准英语2012--Florida Seniors Split on Medicare Debate

时间:2012-11-01 08:44:48

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Florida Seniors Split on Medicare Debate

The Republican Party's 2008 presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, has been campaigning for Mitt1 Romney in southern Florida. He says new leadership is needed to reduce the more than one-trillion-dollar federal deficit2.

“We have mortgaged our children, our grand-children's futures3 and there is now a debt of $51,000 per every man, woman and child in America. We cannot stand that," he said.

Republican deficit reduction plans rely heavily on cutting government spending. Vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan once proposed cutting $716 billion from Medicare, but the Republican candidates say they will protect benefits for today's seniors and strengthen the plan for the next generation.

Many Republican seniors in Florida, like Larry Stoltenberg, support reducing benefits for current recipients4.

“We have got to do something as a nation. I have got three sons and two grandchildren. I do not expect to see them $100,000 or $200,000 in debt because we decided5 that we want to give free medical care to everybody in the world. I do not think that is right," he said. 

Robert Schaab says health care for seniors should not bankrupt the next generation. "There has to be some changes made. The seniors are going to have to give in. I mean we can not absolutely destroy the younger class. I mean, they have been awful generous to us. And I think we got to give something back," he said.

Republicans would like to eventually make Medicare a voucher6 program, guaranteeing a limited amount of money for health care.

But critics, like 88-year-old Democrat7 Eufaula Fraizer, fear the vouchers8 would not cover costs and would hurt the poor.

“I do not like the voucher plan. I prefer letting it stay just like it is. I do not like the voucher plan. Not even for nothing," she said.

Republicans say President Obama is cutting $700 billion from Medicare to pay for what they call 'Obamacare' - to give more citizens access to health insurance. The president says he has been working to decrease medical costs, not coverage9 for seniors.

Many Democrats10, like 82-year-old Helen Portner, support the president's efforts. And Portner says she would be willing to pay more taxes to do it.

“I am willing right now, willing to give an additional amount of money to Medicare if I thought it was going to help those people that did not have enough money to bear the cost of what medical expenses are today, and as you know they are extremely high," she said.

Analysts11 say Florida seniors' opinions on the Medicare debate reflect their individual political ideologies12 and are not likely to give either presidential candidate an advantage. 


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1 mitt Znszwo     
n.棒球手套,拳击手套,无指手套;vt.铐住,握手
参考例句:
  • 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。
2 deficit tmAzu     
n.亏空,亏损;赤字,逆差
参考例句:
  • The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
  • We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。
3 futures Isdz1Q     
n.期货,期货交易
参考例句:
  • He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
  • Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。
4 recipients 972af69bf73f8ad23a446a346a6f0fff     
adj.接受的;受领的;容纳的;愿意接受的n.收件人;接受者;受领者;接受器
参考例句:
  • The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
5 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
6 voucher ELTzZ     
n.收据;传票;凭单,凭证
参考例句:
  • The government should run a voucher system.政府应该施行凭证制度。
  • Whenever cash is paid out,a voucher or receipt should be obtained.无论何时只要支付现金,就必须要有一张凭据或者收据。
7 democrat Xmkzf     
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员
参考例句:
  • 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。
8 vouchers 4f649eeb2fd7ec1ef73ed951059af072     
n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 );证人;证件;收据
参考例句:
  • These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
  • This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分(高二)
9 coverage nvwz7v     
n.报导,保险范围,保险额,范围,覆盖
参考例句:
  • There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
  • This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。
10 democrats 655beefefdcaf76097d489a3ff245f76     
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • 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》
11 analysts 167ff30c5034ca70abe2d60a6e760448     
分析家,化验员( analyst的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
  • I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。
12 ideologies 619df0528e07e84f318a32708414df52     
n.思想(体系)( ideology的名词复数 );思想意识;意识形态;观念形态
参考例句:
  • There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态,都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比,才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

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