高考英语作文素材： 不要指望经济困境迅速缓解 No Easy Fix for Economy

　　不要指望经济困境迅速缓解 No Easy Fix for EconomyPresident-elect Barack Obama, who takes office in just over a week, warned Americans not to expect any quick solutions to their economic woes.

　　In a television interview on Sunday, Mr. Obama sought to dampen public expectations that his $775 billion stimulus plan, with its emphasis on infrastructure, alternative energy, health care and education, would jolt the economy out of recession.

　　'Whether it's retail sales, manufacturing -- all of the indicators show that we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression,' Mr. Obama told ABC News's 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos.' 'And it's going to take some time to fix it.'

　　Even before he is sworn in, Mr. Obama's economic-recovery plan is drawing flak from both sides of the aisle, with some fellow Democrats viewing his proposed business tax cuts as a sellout to Republicans.

　　House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) told CNN's 'Late Edition' that she wants to take immediate steps to repeal President George W. Bush's tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 a year. 'The sooner they are repealed, the less negative impact they'll have on our deficit,' Ms. Pelosi said. She said the Democrats instead want to steer personal tax cuts to middle-class Americans.

　　There have been suggestions that Mr. Obama prefers to wait until the cuts expire at the end of next year. 'The Obama administration believes that increasing taxes on any Americans at this point may not be the right medicine,' Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), an Obama ally, told CBS's 'Face the Nation.'

　　　Many Republicans, meanwhile, remain skeptical of a big boost in deficit spending, and oppose anything that smacks of a tax hike. 'At a time of great economic uncertainty, the last thing we want to do is raise taxes on anyone,' House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) told CBS. 'We're going to have a hard enough time coming to agreement on what this package will look like.'

　　Mr. Obama suggested that he was flexible about the economic-recovery plan, and that he was willing to consider ideas proposed by lawmakers from both parties. But he also cited projections that four million U.S. jobs could be lost this year, on top of the 2.5 million positions lost in 2008. 'The sooner a recovery and reinvestment package is in place, the sooner we can start turning the economy around,' Mr. Obama said

　　Ms. Pelosi said she intends to move a stimulus package through the House by the President's Day legislative break. She said the package could turn out to cost more than the $775 billion cited by the Obama transition team.

　　Speaking on other issues in a wide-ranging interview, Mr. Obama reiterated that he plans to emphasize diplomacy in trying to stem Iran's nuclear ambitions. The president-elect said his team is already preparing an approach that sends 'a signal that we respect the aspirations of the Iranian people, but that we also have certain expectations in terms of how an international actor behaves.'Mr. Obama pointed to Iran's history of 'exporting terrorism through Hamas, through Hezbollah,' in addition to the country's alleged efforts to secure nuclear weapons.

　　Mr. Obama hinted that he could fall short of his goal to close the controversial U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay within 100 days of taking office. 'It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize, and we are going to get it done, but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous, who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication,' he said.

　　Mr. Obama suggested that he is not inclined to spend much time investigating the Bush administration's use of domestic wire-tapping and harsh interrogation techniques, including water-boarding, which Mr. Obama described as 'torture.'

　　'I don't believe anybody is above the law,' he said. 'On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward, as opposed to looking backwards.'