五角大楼准备面对启动预算裁减一托福阅读机经背景.docxVIP

智课网TOEFL备考资料五角大楼准备面对启动预算裁减一托福阅读机经背景 The U.S. defense department is bracing for massive cuts as a March 1 deadline draws near for the White House and Congress to reach a budget deal and avert automatic cuts to the entire federal budgetn, known as sequestration. 美国国防部正准备面对即将到来的大幅预算裁减。白宫和国会必须在逐渐逼近的3月1号限期之前达成协议，才能避免整个联邦政府的预算裁减被自动启动。 Among the early signs of tough times that sequester will bring: the Pentagon this month announced will not deploy the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman to the Persian Gulf. 预算裁减被自动启动后可能带来的财政艰难，可以从这个先期迹象看出：五角大楼这个月宣布，它将不会把哈利?杜鲁门号航空母舰部署到波斯湾。 The timing for the massive cuts is bad. A change of leadership at the Pentagon is under way and departing Secretary Leon Panetta leaves no doubt his successor will be walking into a budget mess. 巨幅裁减经费的时机不佳。五角大楼正在经历领导层的改变，准备离职的帕内塔毫不怀疑，他的继任者将面对一个一团糟的预算。 If these cuts happen, there will be serious disruption in defense programs and a sharp decline in our military readiness. We have already begun an all-out effort to plan for how to operate under such a scenario, but its also very clear that there are no good options, Panetta said. 美国国防部长帕内塔说：“如果这些裁减发生，防卫项目会被严重打断，我们的军事戒备也会大幅降低。我们已经开始努力计划如何在那种情况下运作，不过很清楚的是，我们没有什么好的选项。” Troop training and maintenance of aircraft and ships would be delayed or suspended. The defense department faces the deepest cuts: $46 billion in the next seven months alone. Panetta says the damage will be far-reaching. 部队训练和飞机、船舰的维修将被推迟或中止。国防部面对的是幅度最大的削减：单是未来7个月就要减掉460亿美元。帕内塔说，造成的伤害将会极为深远。 “We will furlough as many as 800,000 DOD civilians around the country for up to 22 days, Panetta said. They could face a 20 percent cut in their salary. You don’t think that’s going to impact on our economy? 美国国防部长帕内塔说：“我们必须让全国80万的国防部文职人员休多达22天的无薪假。他们的薪水可能会被减掉20%。这难道不会影响我们的经济吗?” The sequester reductions come on top of a 10-year program of cuts - totaling nearly $500 billion - which were announced earlier but have not yet begun. 在这个自动启动裁减之前，国防部已经有一个早些时候宣布，但还没开始的10年裁减项目，