專欄教學│Government shutdown: Get up to speed in 20 questions 美國政府關門?! 20個即時問題讓你快速了解到底發生了甚麼事－看CNN學英文

就在上個禮拜二，一大頭條就是美國政府決定要關門了~主要的原因是甚麼呢? 因為共和黨和民主黨在國會議會上，針對Obama的一項全民健保措施Obamacare進行決議，不過，兩黨各持看法，爭論不已，就在擬定明年的開銷預算時，兩黨商議破局。因此造成其中一項政府開支無法通過，主要會受到影響的有那些支付小型企業借款的單位，另外，還有辦理護照的機構。其他像是，社會保險單位、航空局和軍隊開銷等，都還是照常營運。而政府雖然停工，國會還是有給薪喔! 大家應該會想說，現在才十月初而已，為什麼老早就在表決開銷預算，因為，美國政府的財政年度其實是從每年的十月一號到隔年的九月三十號。

國會針對白宮所開出了兩項支出方案不滿意，所以，造成局勢陷入窘境，其實對於美國人來說，影響可大可小，如果這個時候你需要跟政府借錢買房子、辦新護照或是申請槍械許可證，可能都要再等一等了。除此之外，社會福利還是會照給、郵局還是會照常運行、戰爭還是照打。而國會和總統的薪水還是會照付喔~奇怪吧~主要受到影響的應該是有80萬的公家機關員工會被迫要在家裡休息，無法上班。

News at:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed

Word of The Day

So what is ObamaCare and what does it mean to you? There are really only a few things you need to know about the Affordable Care Act.

The Affordable Care Act contains over athousand pages of reforms to the insurance industry and the health care industry in order to cut health care costs and to provide affordable health insurance to all Americans.

讓所有美國人都有能力負擔的全民健保條款

Before the law you could be denied coverage or treatment because you had been sick in the past, be charged more because you were a woman, be dropped mid-treatment for making a simple mistake on your application, and had little or no way to fight insurance company appeals.

在此案拍板之前，有些美國人可能會被保險公司拒絕受保，因為他們過往的病歷/病史

There are around 44 million Americans who currently are unable to get health insurance.One of the major things ObamaCare does is help these individuals to get health insurance through expanding Medicaid and Medicare and offering cost assistance to Americans who cannot currently afford health care.

目前有4千4百萬的美國人是無法得到健康保險的，所以ObamaCare的主要目的是幫助這些人得到健保的保障

Most Americans will have to have health insurance by January 1st, 2014 or pay a fee on their year-end taxes. Many Americans will be eligible for subsidized health insurance costing anywhere from 0% - 9.5% of their taxable income. Subsidized insurance can be purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

在明年一月一號之前，大部份的美國人都會擁有健保或是在支付年度稅金的時候，順便支付健保的款項，大約佔了應繳稅金的0~9.5%。而保險津貼也可以透過民間的保險機構購買。