2023考研英語閱讀芝加哥財政預算
Chicagos budget
芝加哥財政預算
AT ABOUT 8.30am on Saturday October 15th, closeto the citys former meatpacking district, one ofChicagos ancient water mains burst. As the road buckled and water gushed down alleyways, itwas a timely reminder that the modern city is built on crumbling, century-old infrastructure.Fixing the problem is not easy, as the city is awash in debt as well as water.
10月15日周六上午8:30左右，位于芝加哥前肉類加工廠附近一個老化的自來水總管道破裂，水漫金山。這適時地提醒了人們，這座現(xiàn)代化城市下已建成百年之久的基礎設施如今正日漸破損。要解決這一問題并不容易，因為眼下芝加哥被債務淹沒，就像被泡在這次大水中一樣。
Only three days earlier the citys energetic new mayor, Rahm Emanuel, had presented his firstbudget. The city had looked set to produce a $640m deficit on its operating budget of $3billion. Worse still, for a decade Chicago has had significant and growing shortfalls which haveonly been plugged using creative, but one-off, fixes dreamed up by the previous mayor.These include, for example, leasing all its metered street parking for 75 yearssomething thatstill annoys the locals.
就在3天前，精力充沛的芝加哥新任市長拉姆?伊曼紐爾遞交了他的首輪財政預算計劃。在這份30億美元的經(jīng)營預算中，似乎肯定會產(chǎn)生6.4億美元的赤字。更糟糕的是，10年來芝加哥財政赤字巨大，并且一直不斷增長，上任市長曾想出一些頗具創(chuàng)意卻治標不治本的政策填補過這一空缺，將設有收費表的路邊泊車位出租長達75年之久就是一例，此補救措施直到現(xiàn)在都令當?shù)鼐用裆鯙閻阑稹?/p>
Mr Emanuel had promised a lot. He said he would balance the budget and invest in the citysinfrastructure, all without raising property taxes or using one-off revenues. On paper he has,indeed, balanced the budget. About $420m has come through a mixture of cuts,reorganisation and efficiency gains. The rest has been found by raising new revenue, whetherthrough new or increased fees, fines, charges or taxes. For example, the budgetproposes a new $2-a-day congestion premium for drivers who park in downtown garages.And visitors to next years NATO and G8 summits will each be adding $1.78 a night to citycoffers, thanks to a new hotel tax.
伊曼紐爾作了很多承諾。他表示會平衡預算，投資城市基礎設施建設，但他不會提高財產(chǎn)稅，也不會征收一次性稅收。的確，理論上他平衡了預算。通過削減開支、重組體制和提高效率，他可以節(jié)省4.2億美元。而通過設立新的罰款、各種費用、還有稅收，或是在原有基礎上對這些進行提高，所獲得的收益可以填補剩余部分。舉例來說，預算計劃上提議要向?qū)④囃Ｔ谑兄行能噹斓乃緳C新征收每日2美元的擁堵附加費多虧了新設立的酒店稅，明年參觀北大西洋公約組織和8國峰會的每位游客每日要多付1.78 美元，所得款項將充入城市財政。
Some of Mr Emanuels plans are politically bold. Chicago is to become the first large city inAmerica to merge police and fire services in a co-ordinated public safety headquarters, andsome unneeded facilities are to be trimmed. Savings of $82m are sought, and the plans mayrationalise how the city tackles terrorism, bomb threats and arson.
伊曼紐爾的某些預算計劃在政治上相當大膽。芝加哥將成為全美將警察與消防服務融合為一個聯(lián)合公安總部的第一個大城市。某些多余的機構也面臨解散。如此可節(jié)省8200萬美元。此外，預算計劃還會對如何應對恐怖主義、炸彈威脅以及縱火問題作出合理的說明。
The budget still has to be approved by the city council, but the scale of Chicagos debt giveslittle room for manoeuvre. Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, an independentwatchdog, explains that the city can no longer kick the can down the road as the can is now a55-gallon drum. He says the new budget is a positive development, though the mayor hasnot yet tackled a looming pensions crisis. The three main ratings agencies have also reactedfavourably.
該預算計劃還須得到市議會的同意，但即使通過，在芝加哥負債累累的情況下，其能夠施展的空間也是微乎其微。公民聯(lián)合會主席勞倫斯?米賽爾解釋說，星星之火業(yè)已燎原，芝加哥再不能對這個問題視而不見了。他表示，縱使市長尚未著手處理正在逼近的養(yǎng)老金危機，但新一輪的預算計劃仍是件好事。三大主要評級機構對此也作出了積極的反應。
Although the agony has been spread thin, the most painful new proposal is a large hike inwater rates. The need, however, could not be plainer. Despite the citys towering skyscrapersand ultra-modern Millennium Park, underground the story is grimmer. Chicago has 900 miles ofancient water pipes that need replacing and 750 miles of sewers that need improving. And fourof its water-pumping stations still run on steam power.
預算縮減總量雖高 ，但分攤下來并不會令人太過苦惱，不過棘手的是關于大幅提高水費的新提案。然而，其必要性已再清楚不過/ 箭在弦上，不得不發(fā)。盡管芝加哥摩天大樓鱗次櫛比，又有著超現(xiàn)代的千禧公園，可地下設施卻慘不忍睹。該城需要更新的老化水管長達900英里，還有750英里的下水管道需要升級，另外還有4個泵水站仍在使用蒸汽動力。
Chicagos budget
芝加哥財政預算
AT ABOUT 8.30am on Saturday October 15th, closeto the citys former meatpacking district, one ofChicagos ancient water mains burst. As the road buckled and water gushed down alleyways, itwas a timely reminder that the modern city is built on crumbling, century-old infrastructure.Fixing the problem is not easy, as the city is awash in debt as well as water.
10月15日周六上午8:30左右，位于芝加哥前肉類加工廠附近一個老化的自來水總管道破裂，水漫金山。這適時地提醒了人們，這座現(xiàn)代化城市下已建成百年之久的基礎設施如今正日漸破損。要解決這一問題并不容易，因為眼下芝加哥被債務淹沒，就像被泡在這次大水中一樣。
Only three days earlier the citys energetic new mayor, Rahm Emanuel, had presented his firstbudget. The city had looked set to produce a $640m deficit on its operating budget of $3billion. Worse still, for a decade Chicago has had significant and growing shortfalls which haveonly been plugged using creative, but one-off, fixes dreamed up by the previous mayor.These include, for example, leasing all its metered street parking for 75 yearssomething thatstill annoys the locals.
就在3天前，精力充沛的芝加哥新任市長拉姆?伊曼紐爾遞交了他的首輪財政預算計劃。在這份30億美元的經(jīng)營預算中，似乎肯定會產(chǎn)生6.4億美元的赤字。更糟糕的是，10年來芝加哥財政赤字巨大，并且一直不斷增長，上任市長曾想出一些頗具創(chuàng)意卻治標不治本的政策填補過這一空缺，將設有收費表的路邊泊車位出租長達75年之久就是一例，此補救措施直到現(xiàn)在都令當?shù)鼐用裆鯙閻阑稹?/p>
Mr Emanuel had promised a lot. He said he would balance the budget and invest in the citysinfrastructure, all without raising property taxes or using one-off revenues. On paper he has,indeed, balanced the budget. About $420m has come through a mixture of cuts,reorganisation and efficiency gains. The rest has been found by raising new revenue, whetherthrough new or increased fees, fines, charges or taxes. For example, the budgetproposes a new $2-a-day congestion premium for drivers who park in downtown garages.And visitors to next years NATO and G8 summits will each be adding $1.78 a night to citycoffers, thanks to a new hotel tax.
伊曼紐爾作了很多承諾。他表示會平衡預算，投資城市基礎設施建設，但他不會提高財產(chǎn)稅，也不會征收一次性稅收。的確，理論上他平衡了預算。通過削減開支、重組體制和提高效率，他可以節(jié)省4.2億美元。而通過設立新的罰款、各種費用、還有稅收，或是在原有基礎上對這些進行提高，所獲得的收益可以填補剩余部分。舉例來說，預算計劃上提議要向?qū)④囃Ｔ谑兄行能噹斓乃緳C新征收每日2美元的擁堵附加費多虧了新設立的酒店稅，明年參觀北大西洋公約組織和8國峰會的每位游客每日要多付1.78 美元，所得款項將充入城市財政。
Some of Mr Emanuels plans are politically bold. Chicago is to become the first large city inAmerica to merge police and fire services in a co-ordinated public safety headquarters, andsome unneeded facilities are to be trimmed. Savings of $82m are sought, and the plans mayrationalise how the city tackles terrorism, bomb threats and arson.
伊曼紐爾的某些預算計劃在政治上相當大膽。芝加哥將成為全美將警察與消防服務融合為一個聯(lián)合公安總部的第一個大城市。某些多余的機構也面臨解散。如此可節(jié)省8200萬美元。此外，預算計劃還會對如何應對恐怖主義、炸彈威脅以及縱火問題作出合理的說明。
The budget still has to be approved by the city council, but the scale of Chicagos debt giveslittle room for manoeuvre. Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, an independentwatchdog, explains that the city can no longer kick the can down the road as the can is now a55-gallon drum. He says the new budget is a positive development, though the mayor hasnot yet tackled a looming pensions crisis. The three main ratings agencies have also reactedfavourably.
該預算計劃還須得到市議會的同意，但即使通過，在芝加哥負債累累的情況下，其能夠施展的空間也是微乎其微。公民聯(lián)合會主席勞倫斯?米賽爾解釋說，星星之火業(yè)已燎原，芝加哥再不能對這個問題視而不見了。他表示，縱使市長尚未著手處理正在逼近的養(yǎng)老金危機，但新一輪的預算計劃仍是件好事。三大主要評級機構對此也作出了積極的反應。
Although the agony has been spread thin, the most painful new proposal is a large hike inwater rates. The need, however, could not be plainer. Despite the citys towering skyscrapersand ultra-modern Millennium Park, underground the story is grimmer. Chicago has 900 miles ofancient water pipes that need replacing and 750 miles of sewers that need improving. And fourof its water-pumping stations still run on steam power.
預算縮減總量雖高 ，但分攤下來并不會令人太過苦惱，不過棘手的是關于大幅提高水費的新提案。然而，其必要性已再清楚不過/ 箭在弦上，不得不發(fā)。盡管芝加哥摩天大樓鱗次櫛比，又有著超現(xiàn)代的千禧公園，可地下設施卻慘不忍睹。該城需要更新的老化水管長達900英里，還有750英里的下水管道需要升級，另外還有4個泵水站仍在使用蒸汽動力。
