41180 | Washington, Amnesty: The New Tax Shelter

The IRS has hailed as "historic" the response to its eight-month amnesty program for hidden offshore bank accounts. By the Oct. 15 deadline, some 14,700 Americans--twice the number officials expected--had disclosed billions of dollars held in 70 countries. Most account holders who pay taxes will avoid criminal penalties. As part of a U.S.-led crackdown on tax evasion, the Swiss bank UBS recently agreed to reveal the names of nearly 4,500 American clients with questionable accounts.

 

IRS 美国国税局 △

amnesty 大赦，赦免

offshore bank account 离岸银行账户

disclose 披露

criminal penalties 刑事处罚

tax evasion 逃税，c.f. 避税，tax avoidance

UBS 瑞士联合银行，属瑞银集团（UBS AG）

questionable accounts 可疑账户

 

42 Jerusalem, Symbolism vs. Reality

Palestinians in the West Bank gathered Nov. 15 to mark their Independence Day, the anniversary of Yasser Arafat's largely symbolic declaration of statehood in 1988. Meanwhile, officials announced their intention to press the U.N. for recognition, citing frustration with stalled peace talks. But with the initiative likely to be rejected, the reality for Palestinians isn't improving. Two days later, Israel defied international demands for a freeze on settlement construction in disputed territory, approving 900 housing units in East Jerusalem.

 

West Bank （约旦河）西岸 △

declaration of statehood 宣布建国

stall 拖延，陷入僵局

initiative 倡议

defy 无视，公然反抗

a freeze on settlement construction 冻结定居点建造

 

43 | Washington, Hunger in America

More than 14% of U.S. families--17 million households--struggled to put food on the table last year, according to a USDA report that found Americans' food insecurity at its highest level since the government started keeping statistics on hunger in 1995. Nearly 7 million households skipped meals or experienced disrupted eating patterns. Most food-insecure households saw adults go without food to shield children from hunger, although 500,000 families reported that their children were also affected.

 

USDA 美国农业部，United States Department of Agriculture

disrupted eating patterns 这里表示不得不改变饮食习惯

 

44 | Washington, Where Did Thanksgiving Come From?

American Indian peoples, Europeans, and other cultures around the world often celebrated the harvest season with feasts to offer thanks to higher powers for their sustenance and survival. But it's the 1621 Plimoth Thanksgiving that's linked to the birth of our modern holiday. The truth is the first "real" Thanksgiving happened two centuries later.

 

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863. In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt established the current date for observance, the fourth Thursday of November.

 

feast 宴席

sustenance and survival 维持生计

observance 遵守，庆祝

 

45 | Washington, Dems Notch Health Care Win

Health care reform legislation cleared an important hurdle on Nov. 21, when the U.S. Senate voted to open full debate on a proposed 10-year, $848 billion overhaul of the industry. Democrats relied on a coalition of centrists and liberals to advance the measure with a filibuster-proof 60-to-39 vote; all the nays came from Republicans. Maintaining the fragile Democratic alliance could mean weeks of legislative haggling and debate: four key moderate Senators oppose the inclusion of a public-insurance option, which some colleagues on the left consider nonnegotiable. A final vote is probably a month or more away.

 

Dems 即Democrats，民主党人

notch 本意“刻痕”，这里notch …win表示“取得胜利”

clear an important hurdle 清除一大障碍

overhaul 彻查，大修

coalition 联盟

centrists 中间派议员

liberals 这里指自由派议员

filibuster-proof 防冗长发言 △，filibuster多指美国议会政治中，以冗长发言来阻挠议案通过

fragile 脆弱的

haggling 争论不休

moderate 温和派

nonnegotiable 不可谈判的

 

46 | Philippines, Election Violence Kills 46

Members of a convoy on their way to file candidacy papers for a local politician were attacked by up to 100 gunmen in what officials are calling a political massacre "unequaled in recent history." A dozen journalists were slain, along with the wife of gubernatorial hopeful Ismael Mangudadatu. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a local state of emergency and vowed to pursue the perpetrators, who were alleged to be connected to the region's current governor, an Arroyo ally.

 

convoy 这里表示车队

file candidacy papers 提交竞选报告

massacre 大屠杀

slain 屠杀slay的过去分词

gubernatorial hopeful 这里表示地方长官候选人，有希望赢得地方选举的人

state of emergency 紧急状态

vow 发誓，承诺

pursue 这里表示追捕

perpetrator 犯罪者

 

47| China, What They're Opening in China

For a country that censors reports on the scope of its HIV/AIDS crisis and until 2001 deemed homosexuality a mental illness, China's announcement on World AIDS Day that it would open its first state-sanctioned gay bar came as a shock--especially after officials divulged that $18,000 in public funds would be used to create a lounge that would offer free condoms and lectures on safe sex. The bar in Yunnan province--a region that contains nearly a quarter of China's reported HIV and AIDS cases--was set to open Dec. 1, but the launch has been delayed following an outcry over the cost to taxpayers.

 

homosexuality 同性恋

World AIDS Day 世界艾滋病日

state-sanctioned gay bar 政府许可的同性恋酒吧

divulge 泄露

lounge 休息室

outcry 抗议

 

48 Washington, Tribal Justice

A 13-year-old lawsuit over royalties owed to Native Americans for use of tribal lands has finally drawn to a tentative close. The U.S. announced it would pay $3.4 billion to settle claims that it underpaid beneficiaries and mismanaged revenue from land it holds in trust for more than 300,000 Native Americans under an 1887 law. (The government oversees leases of land for mining, oil and gas drilling, livestock grazing and other uses.) The Federal Government also agreed to create a $60 million higher-education scholarship fund for Native American students. President Obama called the proposed settlement in Cobell v. Salazar--one of the largest and most complex class actions ever brought against the government--an "important step toward a sincere reconciliation" between the U.S. and Native Americans. The pact must be approved by a federal court and authorized by Congress.

 

royalties 这里表示使用费

Native Americans 美国原住民，美洲印第安人

tribal lands 部族土地

tentative 试探性的，暂时的

beneficiary 受益人

livestock grazing 放牧

class actions 集体诉讼

reconciliation 和解

pact 协议，条约

 

49| Somalia, Sinister Seas

Pirates operating off Somalia's lawless coast have taken in more than $100 million in ransom payments since 2007, and this year their attacks became ever more brazen. Somali pirates targeted close to 100 ships in 2009, ranging from supertankers to fishing boats. In April, a raiding party seized the U.S. cargo ship M.V. Maersk Alabama--the first American ship to be successfully hijacked since the 1800s--but all the pirates were killed or captured in the ensuing standoff with a U.S. Navy destroyer. The navies of more than two dozen nations now patrol the Gulf of Aden, and cargo ships have begun to carry onboard deterrents like firearms and electrified handrails. Somalia's barely functioning government, however, remains incapable of stopping pirates, and many analysts fear that the number of attacks will increase again in 2010.

 

sinister 险恶的，不吉利的

lawless 无法无天的

ransom 赎金

brazen 厚颜无耻的

supertanker 超大型油轮

ensuing 接下来的，接踵而至的

standoff 僵局

the Gulf of Aden 亚丁湾

deterrent 威慑物

electrified handrails 通电的（船舶舷梯）扶手

 

50 | Atlanta, Don't Sneeze So Close to Me

By the time the pathogen colloquially known as swine flu had bounced to almost every corner of the world in April, health officials were girding for a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic with the potential to kill millions. H1N1 ripped through the U.S., prompting President Obama to declare a national emergency. But while the virus has been formidable--some 50 million Americans have been sickened since April, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, and about 10,000 have died--it hasn't been the seismic event some feared. At least not yet.

 

sneeze 打喷嚏

pathogen 病原体

colloquially 口语地，通俗地，俗称

bounce 跳跃，反弹

gird 做准备，本意“束腰，佩戴”

rip 撕破

formidable 可怕的

seismic event 这里表示可怕的、影响重大的事件，seismic原意“地震的”