VOA慢速英语:Energy As an Issue in America’s Presidential Campaign

Energy has become an important issue in the American presidential campaign. And gasoline prices, costs that affect almost all Americans, have risen sharply in recent months.
能源已经成为美国总统竞选的一个重要议题。而几乎影响所有美国人的汽油价格和费用在最近几个月却急剧上涨。

This week, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney criticized President Obama’s energy policy. In a newspaper commentary, he said the president has let prices rise while placing too many requirements on the energy industry.
这一周，前马萨诸塞州州长米特•罗姆尼批评奥巴马总统的能源政策。在一份报纸的评论中，他说道，奥巴马对能源产业的过多要求，已经导致价格上涨。

One issue in the political debate is a project proposed by the Canadian company Transcanada. Its Keystone XL pipeline would stretch more than three thousand kilometers from Alberta, Canada to several oil processing centers in the United States. If completed, the project would cost about thirteen billion dollars and transport over one million barrels of oil a day.
政治辩论中的一个议题就是加拿大公司Transcanada提出的一个项目。该公司的Keystone XL管道将从加拿大阿尔伯塔省延伸超过3千公里一直到美国的几个石油加工中心。如果管道完成，该项目将耗资近130亿美元，每天运输超过100万桶石油。

Republicans have criticized President Obama for delaying work on the oil pipeline. Last Saturday, Congressman Doc Hastings spoke for the Republican Party to the American people. He said the party wants to use all of the nation’s energy resources. He called it an all-of-the-above approach. That includes both the Keystone XL pipeline and oil exploration in coastal waters.
共和党人批评奥巴马总统推迟了石油管道工作。上星期六，共和党众议员Doc Hastings对美国民众发表讲话。他说，共和党想要使用美国全部能源资源。他称其为最高计划，其中包括Keystone XL管道和近海水域石油勘探两个项目。

DOC HASTINGS: “Republicans have followed through on our all-of-the-above approach and passed through the house bi-partisan reforms that break down government barriers to our natural resources.  While the president has closed off new areas for off-shore drilling, the House has passed legislation that would open the most promising areas off-shore to exploration and production.”
DOC HASTINGS：“共和党人已经通过我们的最高计划，通过了众议院两党改革，打破了政府在自然资源上的壁垒。虽然奥巴马总统封锁了离岸钻探新的区域，但众议院已经通过立法，将打开最具前景地区的离岸勘探和生产。”

On Wednesday, the president spoke at a Daimler Truck factory in North Carolina. He said more oil exploration is not an easy answer to the nation’s energy problems.
上周三，奥巴马总统在在北卡罗莱纳州的戴姆勒卡车工厂发表讲话。他说更多石油勘探不是解决国家能源问题的简单办法。

BARACK OBAMA: “As a country that has two percent of the world’s oil reserves, but uses twenty percent of the world’s oil--I’m going to repeat that--we’ve got two percent of the world’s oil reserves, we use twenty percent.  What that means is, as much as we’re doing to increase oil production, we’re not going to be able to drill our way out of the problem of high gas prices.”
BARACK OBAMA：“作为一个只拥有世界石油储量2%，但消耗世界石油20%的国家，我要重申，我们只有世界石油储量的2%，但我们消耗了20%。这意味着我们再怎么提升石油产量，我们也无法找到高油价问题的出路。”

Workers at the North Carolina factory build alternative fuel vehicles. Mr. Obama told them that new sources of energy mean more jobs.
北卡罗莱纳州工厂的工人生产替代燃料汽车。奥巴马先生告诉他们，新能源意味着更多的就业机会。

BARACK OBAMA: "We can't just rely on fossil fuels from the last century.  We've got to continually develop new sources of energy and that's why we've made investments that have nearly doubled the use of clean, renewable energies in this country.  And thousands of Americans have jobs because of it."
BARACK OBAMA：“我们不能只是依赖上世纪的化石燃料。我们必须不断开发新的能源来源，这就是我们进行投资使美国清洁、可再生能源的使用几乎翻倍的原因。正因如此，成千上万美国人获得就业机会。”

The president has called for tax breaks on clean energy vehicles and urged local governments to buy them. Mister Obama has also called for cutting costs. Last week, he asked lawmakers to end four billion dollars in support for the oil and gas industries.
总统已呼吁对清洁能源汽车实施税收减免，并敦促地方政府买。奥巴马先生还呼吁削减成本。上周，他要求国会结束对石油和天然气行业40亿美元的支持。