在线英语听力室

豆知识 2011-11-20&11-26 美国政府破产的故事 (1/3)

时间:2012-04-19 07:26:29

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

 These last few years, I’ve had to get a lot more careful about how I spend my paycheck. Everyone has. Like I’m eating out less often, holding back on expenses I don’t really need, and saving for my kid’s college. I’m getting more responsible, taking control of how I spend. But one thing I can’t control is that every month a big chunk1 of my paycheck goes off to our government. It’s not the most fun part of my budget, but I believe in paying taxes. Not just because it’s the law, but because it’s how I invest in a better future that I can’t afford to build on my own. You know, that future that we all want, and nearly every candidate promises us: great schools, a healthy environment, clean energy, good jobs. But a funny thing happens to our money on its way to that better future. It seems to disappear. And by the time we get around to investing in that future, all I hear is, “sorry, not this year, we’re broke.” In fact, we’re so broke, they say, that we have no choice but to side backwards2, cutting things that made this country great, like schools and the EPA, maybe even social security and Medicare. 

 
 
 
Wait a minute. Broke? I’m sending in my fair share of hard-earned cash every month and so are you. If everyone did, we’d have plenty of money. Now, what we’ve got to work with shrinks a lot thanks to corporate3 tax loopholes and unprecedented4 tax breaks for the richest 1%. But even after those, we’ve still got over a trillion dollars. So if we’re broke, what’s happening to all that money? 
 
 
 
I decided5 to look into it, and it turns out this whole broke story hides a much bigger story. A story of some really dumb choices being made for us, choices actually work against us. The good news is these are choices, and we can make different ones.

分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 chunk Kqwzz     
n.厚片,大块,相当大的部分(数量)
参考例句:
  • They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
  • The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。
2 backwards BP9ya     
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地
参考例句:
  • He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
  • All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。
3 corporate 7olzl     
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
参考例句:
  • This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
  • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
4 unprecedented 7gSyJ     
adj.无前例的,新奇的
参考例句:
  • The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
  • A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。
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。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。