口译时事：奥巴马主动要求减薪5%与降薪员工共患难

2013-04-09 00:00:00来源：沪江英语网

　　Sharing a bit of budget pain, President Barack Obama will return 5 percent of his salary to the Treasury in a show of solidaritywith federal workers smarting from government-wide spending cuts.

　　总统奥巴马将主动向财政部归还5%的薪水，以表明与受减赤影响而停工降薪的联邦政府职员同甘共苦。

　　Hundreds of thousands of workers could be forced to take unpaid leave – known as furloughs– if Congress does not reach an agreement soon to undo the cuts. The president is demonstrating that he will be paying a price, too, as the White House warns of dire economic consequences from the $85 billion in cuts – called a sequester– that started to hit federal programs last month after Congress failed to stop them.

　　如果国会还不能在减少预算上达成协议，那么成千上百位政府员工就要被迫实行无薪休假了。奥巴马总统自动退薪之举是为了证明他和其他人一样也要付出代价，以此来表示对上个月因两党无法达成协议而引发的850亿美元的自动减赤的警告。

　　A 5 percent cut from the president's salary of $400,000 per year amounts to $20,000. Obama will return a full $20,000 to the Treasury even though only a few months remain in the fiscal year, which ends in September.

　　奥巴马总统的年薪为40万美元，5%的减薪就是2万美元。尽管到九月份这一财年就结束了，奥巴马总统还是会上交给财政部2万美元。

　　The president and first lady Michelle Obama reported almost $790,000 in adjusted gross income in 2011, the most recent year for which their tax returns have been made public. That figure was down from the $1.7 million they brought in the year before and the $5.5 million they reported in 2009. About half of the family's income in 2011 came from Obama's salary, with the rest coming from book sales. The Obamas reported more than $172,000 in charitabledonations.

　　2011年，总统夫妇申报的财产大约是79万美元，近几年他们的退税也都基本公示了。这一数字已经从2010年的170万美元和2009年的550万美元下降了不少。美国第一家庭在2011年收入的一半来自于总统的收入，剩余的收入来自于出书。同时，奥巴马一家累计给慈善机构捐款达到17.2万美元。

　　"The salary for the president, as with members of Congress, is set by law and cannot be changed," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said late Wednesday. "However, the president has decided that to share in the sacrifice being made by public servants across the federal government that are affected by the sequester, he will contribute a portionof his salary back to the Treasury."

　　白宫发言人卡尔尼说，“总统和国会议员的收入都是法定的，不能改变的。但是，由于自动减赤机制的启动，政府工作人员将会受到影响，于是总统决定和大家同甘共苦，将自己的一部分收入退回给财政部。”

　　Wednesday's notice followed a similar move a day earlier by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who committed to taking a salary cut equal to 14 days' pay – the same level of cut that other Defense Department civilians are being forced to take. As many as 700,000 civilians will have to take one unpaid day off each week for up to 14 weeks in the coming months.

　　在奥巴马总统做出减薪声明的前一天，国防部长查克-哈格尔就承诺减少相当于14天工作的薪水。这一数字与国防部要求文职人员减薪的数量相同。自动减赤机制启动后，大约有70万名政府工作人员每周将减少一天带薪休假，总共持续14周。

　　Obama isn't the first president to give up part of his paycheck. Herbert Hoover put his salary in a separate account, then divviedit up, giving part to charity and part to employees he felt were underpaid. John F. Kennedy donated his presidential salary to various charities. George Washington refused pay during the latter part of his military career. He tried to refuse a presidential salary, but Congress required that the position pay $25,000.

　　奥巴马总统不是第一位要求减薪的总统。胡佛总统曾把自己的部分薪水单独放在一个账户里，然后把这笔钱分摊给慈善机构或者赠予他觉得收入过少的人。肯尼迪总统也曾把自己的总统收入捐给各种慈善团体。华盛顿总统在他军事生涯后期曾拒绝领取薪水，他也想过拒领总统薪资，但是国会规定要付给总统2.5万美元的报酬。

　　参加口译考试的同学们在平时要积累大量素材，尤其是像上文这样的双语时事内容。帮助同学们练习。

本文关键字: 奥巴马