托福听力练习对照文本第五十一篇

　　We're going to start today talking about congressional aides, that is, the people who work for our congressional representatives, both in Washington and in the representatives' local districts.

　　今天我们将要开始谈谈国会助手，也就是说，为我们国会代表工作的人，既在华盛顿，又在代表当地的区域。

　　It used to be that members of Congress had a relatively small staff of people working for them, and the role of these people wasn't of primary importance.

　　过去曾经是国会议员们有一个相对小的员工(规模、群体、数量)为他们工作，这些人的角色不是最重要的。

　　But now there are thousands of congressional aides, and they've profoundly affected the way the whole government works.

　　但现在有成千上万的国会助手，而且他们已经深深地影响到了整个政府工作的方式。

　　Congressional aides work in two different locations: one, in the congressional representatives' local offices, the districts from which they were elected, and two, in Washington.

　　国会助手在两个不同的地点工作：一，在国会代表的当地办公室，在他们被选举的地区，二，在华盛顿。

　　Staff in the local offices help members of Congress stay in touch with citizens in their districts.

　　在当地办公室的职员帮助国会议员与他们区域内的市民保持联系。

　　These citizens can bring problems in in person, or by mail or phone.

　　这些市民能亲自带问题来，或者通过邮件或电话。

　　This personal connection between the aides and the local people can be helpful when the next election comes around.

　　助手和本地人之间的人际关系在当下个选举到来时会有帮助。

　　People remember the help they get from the office of their local congressional representative.

　　人们会记得他们得到的来自他们本地国会代表办公室的帮助。

　　But as you know, members of Congress have to spend most of their time in Washington taking care of their legislative duties.

　　但正如你所知道的，国会议员必须把他们大部分时间放在华盛顿，应付他们的立法职责。

　　Over six thousand new laws are introduced in Congress each session.

　　每次会议会有超过六千(项)新法被引入国会。

　　Without help, representatives would have trouble keeping up with the proposed laws that directly affect their districts.

　　没有帮助的话，代表们会在跟上直接影响他们区域的法案(这件事)上有困难。

　　So that's why the congressional aides play a major role in Washington.

　　所以这是为什么国会助手在华盛顿扮演了一个主要角色。

　　They keep their bosses informed about pending legislation, organize hearings, and just keep their local congressional representatives up-to-date and informed on what's going on in other parts of Congress.

　　他们随时通知他们的老板关于悬而未决的法案，组织听证会，并且保持他们的本地国会代表跟上并被知会国会其他部分正在发生什么事。

　　Now another thing congressional aides do is to help develop ideas for laws that their bosses can eventually propose to Congress.

　　现在国会助手们做的另一件事是帮助在法案上出主意，使他们得老板能最终能(将之)提交给国会。

　　This can be called the staff's entrepreneurial function, a bit like a business executive trying to find out what products are most popular.

　　这能被称作员工的创业功能，有点像一个商业经理试图找出那些产品最受欢迎。

　　Congressional aides promote or encourage laws they think will be popular with the public.

　　国会助手们促进并鼓励他们认为将会受到公众欢迎的法律。

　　You've also got other employees that work for the whole Congress, not just for individual members.

　　你们还会了解其他为整个国会工作的雇员，不只是为个体的议员。

　　We'll talk about these people next.

　　下次我们将会谈到这些人。