VOA常速英语2021--德州出现天价电费

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Nigeria's air force said one of its planes crashed just outside Abuja airport after reporting engine failure on Sunday, killing¹ all seven people on board. The plane was on its way to the city of Minna, 110 kilometers northwest of the capital when it reported engine failure. The chief of the air force has ordered an investigation². President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement said he was "deeply saddened by the fatal crash" and sent his condolences to the air force and to the families of the victims. Officials are investigating the cause of the crash.

尼日利亚空军称，周日，一架军用飞机在阿布贾机场外报告发动机出现故障后坠毁，机上7人全部遇难。该飞机在飞往位于首都西北110公里的明纳市途中报告发动机故障。空军司令已下令进行调查。穆罕默杜·布哈里总统在一份声明中说，他“对这次致命的坠机事件深感悲痛”，并向空军和遇难者家属表示慰问。官方正在调查坠机原因。

Millions of Texans are still without safe water on Sunday as officials field angry complaints over shockingly large power bills spawned³ by a cold weather crisis. The mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, said Sunday that the crisis was largely "preventable" as has long been clear that the state's electric grid⁴ was vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. The frigid⁵ air mass that paralyzed parts of the southern and central United States early in the week claimed more than 70 lives, left millions temporarily without power, rather, and froze water lines. Turner said Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city, was making progress in restoring service despite a lack of repair supplies and enough people to do the work. Both Houston and nearby Galveston on Sunday lifted orders for residents to boil drinking water. But some 28,000 households remain without electricity and many Texans are suffering an added insult - residential⁶ electric bills sometimes running into the thousands of dollars.

周日，数百万德州人仍然没有安全饮用水，官员们愤怒控诉寒冷天气危机引发的巨额电费。休斯顿市长西尔维斯特·特纳周日表示，这场危机基本上是“可以预防的”，因为长期以来，德州的电网明显很容易受到极端天气条件的影响。本周早些时候的寒潮引发美国南部和中部部分地区瘫痪，造成70多人死亡，数百万人遭遇暂时断电，水管冻结。特纳表示，美国第四大城市休斯顿在恢复服务方面取得了进展，尽管仍然缺乏维修物资和足够的人力来恢复服务。休斯顿和附近的加尔维斯顿周日都取消了居民烧开饮用水的命令。但仍有约2.8万户家庭停电，许多德州人正遭受更大的难堪——居民电费有时高达数千美元。

President Joe Biden's nominee⁷ for attorney general says the Justice Department must ensure laws are "fairly and faithfully enforced" and that the rights of all Americans are protected. Judge Merrick Garland, who is set to appear Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, is expected to tell senators that the attorney general must act as a lawyer for the people of the United States, and not for the president. The Justice Department released a copy of Garland's opening statement late Saturday. In his prepared remarks, Garland, a federal appeals court judge who was a candidate for a seat on the Supreme⁸ Court in 2016, laid out his plan to prioritize the department's civil rights work after the nationwide protests last year over the deaths of Black Americans by police. He highlighted a key mission for the division - to protect the rights of all Americans and particularly the most vulnerable. If confirmed, Garland would inherit a Justice Department that endured a tumultuous time under President Donald Trump⁹ and criticism from Democrats¹⁰ over what they saw as the politicizing of the nation's top law enforcement agency. You can find more on this and all the stories we're covering at our website voanews.com. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton, VOA news.

乔·拜登总统提名的司法部长候选人表示，司法部必须确保法律得到“公平和忠实的执行”，确保所有美国人的权利得到保护。梅里克·加兰法官将于周一出席参议院司法委员会，预计他将告诉参议员，自己必须作为美国人民的司法部长，而不是总统的私人律师。美国司法部周六晚些时候公布了加兰的开场陈词。曾在2016年成为最高法院席位候选人的联邦上诉法院法官加兰，在事先准备好的讲话中阐述了自己的计划，即在去年美国黑人遭到警察杀害引发的全国性抗议活动之后，优先考虑司法部的民权工作。他强调司法院的一项重要使命：保护所有美国人的权利，特别是最弱势群体的权利。如果得到确认，加兰将继承司法部。司法部曾在总统唐纳德·特朗普的领导下经历了一段动荡时期，民主党人也因目睹美国最高执法机构的政治化而对其大肆批评。您可以通过网址voanews.com浏览更多相关新闻及其他新闻。我是玛丽莎·梅顿，为您远程报道美国之音新闻。