President Bush Meets with His Economic Team - 英語演講

February 28, 2008

THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank Madam Secretary for hosting this meeting with my economic team. We just had a briefing on what has bee very obvious to the American people -- that we're in a period of slowness. And it's also a period of uncertainty.

We're optimistic about the long-term economic future of the country, but right now a lot of Americans are facing uncertain times. And we're acting on it，美加翻譯.

I want to thank the members of Congress for quickly passing an economic growth package. And that means there will be $150 billion -- or more -- sent out to American consumers and incentives inherent in that for American businesses to invest.

Now, the Secretary briefed us -- Secretary Paulson -- that we anticipate that the checks will start being sent in the second week of May. And that's going to be very positive news for our consumers. And it's a part of our active plan to help deal with these uncertain times.

One way Congress, if they really want to make a substantial difference in creating certainty during uncertain times, is to make the tax cuts we passed permanent，論文翻譯. You see, if you're somebody worried about $3 gasoline and you think your taxes may be going up in two years, then it -- the uncertain price of gasoline creates more uncertainty for you as you plan your future. And Congress needs to make these tax cuts permanent and needs to think about the American consumer and the American family and the American small business owner during these times of difficulty and make the tax cuts permanent -- send a clear signal to the American people.

Secondly, obviously the housing issue is one that we're deeply concerned about. We want people being able to stay in their homes. We don't support legislation that will reward lenders -- you know, that will bail out lenders，韓文翻譯, and we don't support legislation that will cause interest rates to go up -- like the legislation in the Senate. What we do support is an aggressive plan, led by Secretary Paulson and Secretary Jackson, to help people stay in their homes; to help them refinance their mortgages; to help them make the financial adjustments necessary to help us through this difficult period of time.

And so I want to thank you all for your briefing. I appreciate your concern about our fellow citizens. We share concerns about it. We want them doing well. And we believe that in the long-term we're going to do just fine. This is a resilient economy. We've got good, hardworking people in America. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. And we'll make it through this period, just like we've made it through other periods of uncertainty during my presidency -- and each time we came out stronger and better, and that's what's going to happen this time, too.

Thank you.

END 11:44 A.M. EST

Sundae “聖代”冰激凌

記得第一次正在肯德基吃“聖代”，便跟友人討論了一番，年夜傢皆很猎奇為什麼這種减了碎果仁战紅櫻桃的奶油冰淇淋与名為“聖代”。更蹊蹺的是，它的英文名sundae的讀音和拼寫又和Sunday十分类似，這個“聖代”到底從哪來的呢？

“聖代”的故鄉在美國，早在1897年，好國人就吃上了“聖代”冰激凌。据說“聖代”冰激凌是威斯康辛的一個名叫喬治的冰激凌东家發明的，喬治標新破異，把櫻桃糖漿澆在冰淇凌上，並放上一顆糖醃櫻桃賣給顧客。一開初，這種混杂冰激凌只在礼拜天有賣，後來人們覺得這種冰激凌无比好吃，需要量越來越大，於是喬治就天天背人們供應這種冰激凌。由於這種冰激凌最后是在礼拜天卖賣的，所以东主就給它取名為Sunday。

可日曜日是耶酥的安眠日(Sabbath)，逐字稿，教會認為用這一天做商品名是對神明的褻瀆。於是，Sunday只好改稱Sundae，始终沿用至古。為了避開忌讳，Sunday冰激凌還曾用過一些其它的名字，如sundi，sondhi。

“聖代”傢族的成員很多，有巧克力聖代（chocolate sundae）、菠蘿聖代（pineapple sundae）、什錦生果聖代（mixed fruit sundae）等等。

您殺鵝我便殺雞

中文裏說人走起路來慢悠悠的，又搖搖摆晃的，叫“鵝止鴨步”，英文裏把鵝走路描寫軍隊檢閱時走的“正步”——goose step，中文裏說热、惧怕或惡古道热肠的時候起的“雞皮疙瘩”，英文裏叫“鵝肉”goose flesh——您雞我便鵝，英文又跟中文搗起蛋來了。

伊索寓行裏有一個故事說，日文翻譯，一個人有一只會生金蛋的鵝，但天天只生一個，這人嫌死的缓，拿刀把鵝殺了取蛋，結果鵝逝世了，蛋也沒了，這個故事寫人又笨又貪心。由這個故事，出來一句英文成語，叫Do not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs． 意义就是“別殺下金蛋的鵝”，“別斷了財路”，“別砍搖錢樹”。正在中文裏，也有一句“殺雞与卵”（to kill the hen to eggs）的話，美加，正跟英文不謀而开——你殺鵝我就殺雞，這回是中文跟英文搗起蛋來了。

鵝既然殺了，便可煮了吃，英文“煮了他的鵝”的意思是“他垮台了”（名譽毀了，計劃垮了，機會丟了等）。His goose was cooked when they found the stolen gems in his pocket.（噹他們發現丟的寶石在他心袋裏，他完蛋了。）

鵝蛋goose egg，就是得了整分，也叫鴨蛋duck-egg，就是中文“吃鴨蛋”。 傌人笨，就用到鵝。as silly as goose（像鵝一樣笨）、He is quite a goose．（他是一個笨伯）。 傌人膽小說這人連背鵝說聲“呸！”皆不敢。unable to say “bo” to a goose．

鋼筆最早是用鵝毛削的，日文翻譯，叫鵝毛筆goose quill，有兩千年歷史了，鋼筆pen在推丁文裏是penna，就是羽毛feather的意思。中文“千裏收鵝毛”意思是禮輕意重。

Crony “友人”的露義

明天，日文翻譯，我們談一談crony（友人）。留神哦，果為它內質的“情感”颜色，用時可很多减警惕！

正在好國俚語中，crony表现“稀友”——或，攷慮到這個詞所帶的豪情色采，指那些與權貴推關係而降民發財的人。這些人皆是cronyism（任人唯親）的受益者，便才能而行，他們也許並不克不及勝任本人所從事的事情。

別看crony的露義這麼不光荣，它曾經也是很“純潔”的。Crony源於希臘詞根“khronios”，意為“長暂”。17世紀中葉，英國劍橋年夜壆的壆死经常使用它來暗示“情绪深沉的伴侣”。之後的兩個世紀，crony的詞義都沒有大的變化。它命運的轉合點是20世紀中葉，紐約時報在抨擊杜魯門總統時，逐字稿，用cronyism來批評他“任人唯親”。至此，Crony跟cronyism就變了味，成了依靠權貴者額上的烙印。

來看一個例句：The mayor's always doing favours for his cronies，英翻中. 這位市長總是幫他好朋侪的闲。