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美國當選總統（president-elect）奧巴馬目前正在準備明年1月20日從布什手中接管白宮，當前的重頭戲就是“招兵買馬”廣攬賢才組建內閣。11月24日，奧巴馬再次任命了數名白宮未來官員，其中頗為引人注目的是正式提名紐約聯邦儲備銀行行長蒂莫西?蓋特納出任新政府財政部長。在此之前，美國媒體就已經搶先報道預言蓋特納將在全球經濟危機來臨之際臨危受命出任這一重要職務，以下就是美聯社11月23日的一篇相關報道。
Obama to name Geithner, Summers to economic posts
NEW YORK – President-elect Barack Obama will announce the leaders of his economic team Monday, naming Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary and Lawrence Summers to direct the National Economic Council, transition officials said.
If confirmed by the Senate, Geithner, 47, president of the New York Federal Reserve, would be the top Cabinet official in charge of leading the administration's response to the global economic crisis. Word of his likely selection Friday helped send the Dow Jones Industrials soaring 500 points after several days of steep losses.
One top Democrat said John Podesta, a leader of Obama's transition team, had told Senate aides on Friday that Obama hoped for speedy confirmation so the new administration could get to work quickly thereafter.
Geithner (pronounced GITE-ner) served as a Treasury Department official during the Clinton administration, where he played a major role in negotiating assistance packages for South Korea and Brazil.
Summers, 53, a former treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and one-time president of Harvard University, will advise Obama from the White House. Officials said he would coordinate the federal response to the economic meltdown across several agencies, including a plan Obama announced Saturday to create or save 2.5 million jobs by rebuilding infrastructure and modernizing schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars.
During the Clinton administration, Summers helped craft the U.S. support program for Mexico during its 1995 financial crisis. He later helped lead the U.S. response to the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
Geithner and Summers were scheduled to appear with Obama at a press conference in Chicago Monday morning.
The announcement comes as Obama moves quickly to fill slots for his incoming administration. On Saturday, he named longtime spokesman Robert Gibbs as White House press secretary.
Ellen Moran will be director of communications in charge of getting Obama's message out. Her deputy in the White House will be Dan Pfeiffer, the communications director for Obama's presidential transition team.
In other positions, Obama is virtually certain to offer Congressional Budget Office chief Peter Orszag the job of directing the White House Office of Budget and Management, and Orszag is likely to accept, Democratic officials said Saturday.
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton also is in line to become secretary of state, while Obama's choice for attorney general is Eric Holder. He held the No. 2 slot in the Justice Department in President Bill Clinton's administration.
Officials said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had emerged as a likely pick as commerce secretary, although he had hoped to be secretary of state. Like Clinton, he was a rival of Obama's for the Democratic presidential nomination last winter. He dropped out after the early contests, though, and soon threw his support behind the eventual winner. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the anticipated appointments.
The president-elect has largely stayed out of public view since his election on Nov. 4, preferring to work quietly with aides and Vice President-elect Joe Biden in a suite of offices in downtown Chicago.
Obama faces unusual challenges and has moved quickly in assembling his team. Former President George H.W. Bush made his first Cabinet pick the day after his election in 1988, but former President Clinton did not name any members until after Thanksgiving. President George W. Bush's transition was delayed by the contested result in Florida.
While speculation has been rampant about most top-level appointments, there has been relatively little about Obama's choice for defense secretary. His aides encouraged speculation before the election that Robert Gates, who now holds the position, would remain in office for an interim period.
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota has been chosen as secretary of health and human services and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is likely to be named as secretary of the Homeland Security Department.
Napolitano was an early supporter of candidate Obama among the ranks of Democratic governors, as was Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. Sebelius has figured prominently in recent days in speculation as possible secretary of labor.
Additionally, retired Gen. James Jones, a former Marine Corps commandant and NATO commander, was among those under consideration for national security adviser. James Steinberg, an Obama campaign aide who served in Clinton's White House, was another possibility, according to officials.
Obama has repeatedly referred to the economic crisis as the top priority for his new administration.
Geithner held posts in the Treasury Department under three administrations and five secretaries before moving to the New York Fed in 2003. He also held positions at the International Monetary Fund and was employed at the private firm of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
從新聞報道本身的價值來說，這篇報道的主題就是關于奧巴馬組建新內閣的一個又一個舉措，因為他需要把他的內閣職位一個個地填滿（fill slots for his incoming administration）。但是，從英語學習尤其是學習實用英語的角度來說，我們正好可以趁機了解一些與美國政府的官職相關的詞匯，而這方面的知識正是廣大的英語學習者所欠缺的。根據筆者長期開設的新聞英語閱讀課授課經驗，當前的大學生面臨的最大問題就是知識面相當狹窄，即便是研究生，也大多是只知道自己本專業相關的一些知識，許多常識（用英語來說是common sense）甚至是一無所知，而這些背景知識的缺乏顯然是會對英語學習以及有效地使用英語構成巨大障礙的。比如說，我面對的學生中絕大多數人不知道pentagon是什么意思，一看到House Speaker，他們都不假思索地認定這就是白宮發言人，很多人把Secretary of State理解為州秘書，國務秘書，國家秘書等等，不知道Parliament和 Congress的區別，有人把a Labor MP（一位英國工黨議員）理解成了“農民工”，House of Commons（英國下議院）則有人理解為“商品房”，從來沒有聽說過美國有一大族裔叫Hispanics（西語裔美國人），也更加不知道這個單詞的確切含義，差不多千篇一律地將其理解為“西班牙裔美國人”等等。
從上述新聞報道可以看出，美國聯邦政府的“部”使用的是department一詞，而不是更廣泛地被使用的ministry這一英文單詞，如Homeland Security Department就是美國在“9?11”恐怖事件之后增設的國土安全部，Justice Department就是司法部。需要特別注意的是，在美國，“部長”使用了secretary一詞，而不是更常用的minister，因此，secretary of the Homeland Security Department就是國土安全部部長，而secretary of health and human services則是衛生與公眾服務部部長，commerce secretary則是商務部長，secretary of labor就是勞工部長。在關于美國政府的“部”和“部長”頭銜名稱中，需要特別注意的是，財政部不是叫做department of finance而是department of treasury或treasury department，naming Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary就是提名蒂莫西?蓋特納出任財政部長，美國財政部的網址是www.ustreas.gov，其中的treas就是 treasury的一部分，相比之下，中國財政部的網址就是www.mof.gov.cn，其中的mof就是ministry of finance。另外需要注意的是，美國的司法部雖然叫做Justice Department，但是司法部長卻并不是 Justice secretary，而是Attorney General。這里需要強調的是，國內媒體翻譯國際新聞稿的時候曾把Chief Justice張冠李戴翻譯為司法部長，也許譯者以為Chief Justice就是“司法部的頭兒”的意思，而實際上它的意思是美國最高法院的首席大法官。美國政府部門的官銜中還有一個需要注意的就是Department of State應該翻譯為“國務院”而不是“國務部”，而Secretary of State也不是“國務部長”而是“國務卿”。這樣的說法可以理解為約定俗成。不過，還有一點需要特別強調的是，Department of State只能是美國的“國務院”，中國的國務院在英文表達為the State Council，之所以一定要強調是因為一些英語學習者不求甚解，想當然地使用Department of State來表達中國的國務院，這種張冠李戴顯然是錯誤的，而產生這種錯誤的根源還是在于學生的知識面狹窄。
這里順便提一下奧巴馬提名的新政府財政部長蓋特納目前擔任的職務是president of the New York Federal Reserve，我國媒體稱其為紐約聯邦儲備銀行行長，似乎無甚不妥。但是，也有人產生了疑問，覺得在美國，聯邦就代表著中央政府，怎么在紐約還有中央的政府機構？其實，簡單地說，在美國，聯邦儲備（Federal Reserve）就是中央銀行，在www.federalreserveonline.org主頁上清楚地說明The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States。美國聯邦儲備體系的最高權力機構由三部分組成：聯邦儲備委員會（Federal Reserve，簡稱美聯儲，也稱理事會）、聯邦公開市場委員會和各聯邦儲備銀行。具體來說就是：1）決策機構：聯邦儲備委員會 2）執行機構：聯邦公開市場委員會 3）執行機構：各聯邦儲備銀行。www.federalreserveonline.org主頁的解釋是：The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. Its unique structure includes ? a federal government agency, the Board of Governors, in Washington, D.C., and ? 12 regional Reserve Banks. 其中的12個地區性美聯儲銀行大多集中在東部，在美聯儲內部這種地區性銀行被稱為district，如紐約分行就是美聯儲的第二區（second district），具體來說分別是第一區波士頓、第二區紐約、第三區費城、第四區克里夫蘭、第五區里士滿、第六區亞特蘭大、第七區芝加哥、第八區圣路易斯、第九區明尼阿波利斯、第十區堪薩斯城、第十一區達拉斯和第十二區舊金山。其實，這些銀行也完全可以按照我們的常規理解翻譯為美聯儲分行，這樣一來，蓋特納目前的職務就是美聯儲紐約分行行長，相當于我們的中國人民銀行江蘇省分行行長，這種表達相信更容易為我們所理解，在翻譯界也許就是所謂的歸化翻譯和異化翻譯之說吧。只是美聯儲的分行并非是每個州都有一個，而是全國才只有12個，每一個分行都管轄本州所在區域以及本州以外的不少范圍，如紐約分行管轄范圍就包括整個紐約州、新澤西州北方的12個縣，康涅狄格州的費爾菲爾德縣以及美國的海外領地波多黎各和美屬維爾京群島。
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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。
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王銀泉，南京農業大學外國語學院英語教授，碩士生導師，大學外語部主任。2007年4月由江蘇省省委常委集體討論入選為江蘇省"333高層次人才培養工程"首批中青年科學技術帶頭人。南京農業大學133人才培養工程英語學科學術帶頭人。南京農業大學大學英語教學改革總主持人。1996年獲國家留學基金首批資助。1997年10月至1998年10月留學加拿大渥太華大學并進修研究生核心課程。曾訪問英美。迄今為止已在《外語教學與研究》和《中國翻譯》等核心刊物上發表論文40余篇，其中CSSCI來源期刊文章13篇（依據2006年度CSSCI來源期刊）。主編教材1部，教輔圖書1部，參編詞典1部，在編專著2部。
