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1、 凯程考研集训营，为学生引路，为学员服务！第 1 页 共 4 页20172017 考研英语阅读每日精选：预算趣录考研英语阅读每日精选：预算趣录在考研英语中，阅读分数可谓是占到了总分的半壁江山，正所谓“得阅读者得考研”。 对于备考考研的同学们，在平时的复习中一定要拓展阅读思路，各类话题都要关注，这样 才能在整体上提升考研英语阅读水平!一起来学习吧!Fun on a budget预算趣录Congress is incapable of restraining spending. Itshould let the president try国会无力控制开支，也许该放手让总统一试AT THE end
2、of Barack Obamas budget, which waspublished on February 2nd, the administration thanks 614 people by name for putting thething together. It adds that “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of nameless others also helped.There is something depressing about the effort that went into producing the document. The
3、budget is an admirable piece of work which contains many good ideas, from cuts in farmsubsidies to an increase in tax credits for childless workers. There is, however, a grammaticalmistake repeated throughout it. “The budget will”, the president writes, when what he means isthat his budget would, in
4、 the unlikely event that Congress were ever to pass it.奥巴马总统的财政年度预算于 2 月 2 日公布，在预算案的最后，政府向 614 人致谢， 感谢他们为预算案形成所作出的贡献。它也指出“成百甚至上万的无名之士同样做出了贡 献”。但为文件形成所付出的努力中，有一些让人沮丧的部分。从削减农产品补助到增加 对无子工人的免税额度，该份预算案包含了许多好想法，堪称一项壮举。但却有一个语法 错误贯穿始终。总统写道“预算案将”，但其实，他是想说，预算案幻想，因为国会 绝不会通过该项议案。As a guide to what the federal g
5、overnment might look like if America were a monarchy, or as acompendium of interesting policies, the presidents budget is a good readbut not muchmore. A similar criticism applies to most proposals that come out of the budget committees inCongress. This is because no group or individual is responsibl
6、e for the 4 trillion federal budget,a fact that helps explain how it manages to be both profligate and stingy, and is forever in thered.如果这项议案是作为一本指南，描述美国如果是一个君主制国家将会如何，或者是一 本大纲，介绍有趣的政策，那这会是一本佳作，但这项议案的功能，仅此而已。国会的预 算委员会出台的提案，也大多如此。这是因为没有任何团体或个人直接对四万亿的联邦预 算负责，这个事实也说明了为什么政府既挥霍无度又吝啬小气，而且长期处于赤字。The presi
7、dents budget would not change that. He has declared an end to “mindlessausterity”, but does not seem to care much for the thoughtful sort either. In previousbudgets he offered to trim entitlements a bit in return for tax increases. Republicans inCongress rejected this, and Democrats who supported th
8、e presidents budget were rewardedwith attack adverts in the mid-terms claiming that they wanted to raise the retirement age andslash Medicare. He now proposes higher taxes, more spending and continued deficits. Publicdebt would stay at its current level, around 75% of GDP, for the next decade. By 20
9、25,according to the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, annual interestpayments would rise from 1.3% to 2.8% of GDP (nearly 800 billion, or enough to pay a yearstuition at Harvard, at current prices and with no financial aid, for 18m students).凯程考研集训营，为学生引路，为学员服务！第 2 页 共 4 页奥巴马总统的
10、预算案亦不能扭转乾坤。他叫停了“愚蠢的紧缩”，但却似乎也不想做 出什么深思熟虑的安排。在之前的预算案中，他提议削减福利开支开增加税收。国会中的 共和党对此表示反对，而支持预算案的民主党人所得到的回报，是在中期选举时，他们受 到负面宣传的攻击，称他们想要提高退休年龄并削减医疗保险。如今，总统提议提高进一 步提高税率，增加开支，继续赤字局面。在接下来的十年，国债继续保持在国民生产总值 的 75%左右，基本不变。据两党共同参与的尽责联邦预算委员会，在 2025 年之前，利息 在国民生产总值中所占的比例将从 1.3%上升到 2.8%，约 8000 亿美元，按照当前物价水平， 在不考虑任何助学金的情况下
11、，足够为 1800 万学生支付哈佛大学一年的学费。Mr Obamas tax-and-spend priorities may be regrettable but they matter little in practice,because no president really controls how much his administration spends. The presidentsbudget was an innovation of the 1920s. Before then, Congress set the budget as theFounders, ever su
12、spicious of a strong central authority, intended. This worked well until thecivil war, when the federal governments principal peacetime duties were to run customs housesand post offices and to give away land. By the beginning of the 20th century the federalgovernment had become much more complicated
13、. The first world war increased federalspending from 726m to 18.5 billion in five years (17.2 billion and 253 billion in todays money.)In 1921 an overwhelmed Congress asked the president to submit a budget for the first time.奥巴马一直增加税收来为政府开支买单也许可悲可叹，但它的实际意义其实有限，这 是因为没有任何一届美国总统，能够真正决定自己政府的开支。奥巴马总统的预算案
14、也不 过是上世纪 20 年代预算案的一次翻新。在此之前，国会的预算案一直与对强有力中央集权 心存疑虑的开国者的设计保持一致。在内战之前，这一直运行良好，但内战之后，联邦政 府在和平时代的要务开始变成经营海关邮局及分发土地。20 世纪处，联邦政府的职能变得 更加复杂起来。一战让国家的开支在五年时间里从 7,2600 万美元增加到 1850 亿美元(按照 如今的通胀水平，分别是 172 亿美元和 2530 亿美元)。1921 年，不知所措的国会首次要求 总统递交预算案。Since then every president has done so, but the exercise has beco
15、me drained of meaning sinceCongress took power over the budget back. This evil can be traced to Watergate. RichardNixon, worried about inflation and the deficit, decided not to spend all the money Congresshad appropriated. At one point he vetoed nine spending bills in one go. Congress tookadvantage
16、of the scandal that was enveloping the president to reduce his control over federalspending in the 1974 Budget Act. Nixon duly signed the law in July and resigned the followingmonth.自那以后，历届总统都开始递交预算案，但从国会开始重掌预算后，这一举措已经失 去了意义。祸根应该说是在水门时代埋下的。理查德尼克松因担心通货膨胀和财政赤字， 决定不把国会批准的资金支出一空。他对开支议案的否决率一度达到 90%。在1974 年国 会预算法案中，国会利用总统的丑闻，减少了他对国家开支的控制权。7 月份，尼克松 总统尽责地签署了这一法案后，8 月即辞去总统职务。One of the new laws stated aims was to control the deficit, but it has had the oppo
