美国当选总统（president-elect）奥巴马目前正在准备明年1月20日从布什手中接管白宫，当前的重头戏就是“招兵买马”广揽贤才组建内阁。11月24日，奥巴马再次任命了数名白宫未来官员，其中颇为引人注目的是正式提名纽约联邦储备银行行长蒂莫西•盖特纳出任新政府财政部长。在此之前，美国媒体就已经抢先报道预言盖特纳将在全球经济危机来临之际临危受命出任这一重要职务，以下就是美联社11月23日的一篇相关报道。

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 becomesecretary 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 ofthe 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.

从新闻报道本身的价值来说，这篇报道的主题就是关于奥巴马组建新内阁的一个又一个举措，因为他需要把他的内阁职位一个个地填满（fill slots for his incoming administration）。但是，从英语学习尤其是学习实用英语的角度来说，我们正好可以趁机了解一些与美国政府的官职相关的词汇，而这方面的知识正是广大的英语学习者所欠缺的。根据笔者长期开设的新闻英语阅读课授课经验，当前的大学生面临的最大问题就是知识面相当狭窄，即便是研究生，也大多是只知道自己本专业相关的一些知识，许多公共常识（用英语来说是common sense）甚至是一无所知，而这些背景知识的缺乏显然是会对英语学习以及有效地使用英语构成巨大障碍的。比如说，我面对的学生中绝大多数人不知道pentagon是什么意思，一看到House Speaker，他们都不假思索地认定这就是白宫发言人，很多人把Secretary of State理解为州秘书，国务秘书，国家秘书等等，不知道Parliament和 Congress的区别，有人把a Labor MP（一位英国工党议员）理解成了“农民工”，House of Commons（英国下议院）则有人理解为“商品房”，从来没有听说过美国有一大族裔叫Hispanics（西语裔美国人），也更加不知道这个单词的确切含义，差不多千篇一律地将其理解为“西班牙裔美国人”等等。

从上述新闻报道可以看出，美国联邦政府的“部”使用的是department一词，而不是更广泛地被使用的ministry这一英文单词，如Homeland Security Department就是美国在“9•11”恐怖事件之后增设的国土安全部，Justice Department就是司法部。需要特别注意的是，在美国，“部长”使用了secretary一词，而不是更常用的minister，因此，secretary of the Homeland Security Department就是国土安全部部长，而secretary of health and human services则是健康与人类服务部部长，commerce secretary则是商务部长，secretary of labor就是劳工部长。在关于美国政府的“部”和“部长”头衔名称中，需要特别注意的是，财政部不是叫做department of finance而是department of treasury或treasury department，naming Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary就是提名蒂莫西•盖特纳出任财政部长，美国财政部的网址是www.ustreas.gov，其中的treas就是 treasury的一部分，相比之下，中国财政部的网址就是www.mof.gov.cn，其中的mof就是ministry of finance。另外需要注意的是，美国的司法部虽然叫做Justice Department，但是司法部长却并不是 Justice secretary，而是Attorney General。这里需要强调的是，国内媒体翻译国际新闻稿的时候曾把Chief Justice张冠李戴翻译为司法部长，也许译者以为Chief Justice就是“司法部的头儿”的意思，而实际上它的意思是美国最高法院的首席大法官。美国政府部门的官衔中还有一个需要注意的就是Department of State应该翻译为“国务院”而不是“国务部”，而Secretary of State也不是“国务部长”而是“国务卿”。这样的说法可以理解为约定俗成。不过，还有一点需要特别强调的是，Department of State只能是美国的“国务院”，中国的国务院在英文表达为the State Council，之所以一定要强调是因为一些英语学习者不求甚解，想当然地使用Department of State来表达中国的国务院，这种张冠李戴显然是错误的，而产生这种错误的根源还是在于学生的知识面狭窄。

这里顺便提一下奥巴马提名的新政府财政部长盖特纳目前担任的职务是president of the New York Federal Reserve，我国媒体称其为纽约联邦储备银行行长，似乎无甚不妥。但是，也有人产生了疑问，觉得在美国，联邦就代表着中央政府，怎么在纽约还有中央的政府机构？其实，简单地说，在美国，联邦储备（Federal Reserve）就是中央银行，在www.federalreserveonline.org主页上清楚地说明The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States。美国联邦储备体系的最高权力机构由三部分组成：联邦储备委员会（Federal Reserve，简称美联储，也称理事会）、联邦公开市场委员会和各联邦储备银行。具体来说就是：1）决策机构：联邦储备委员会 2）执行机构：联邦公开市场委员会 3）执行机构：各联邦储备银行。www.federalreserveonline.org主页的解释是：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个地区性美联储银行大多集中在东部，在美联储内部这种地区性银行被称为district，如纽约分行就是美联储的第二区（second district），具体来说分别是第一区波士顿、第二区纽约、第三区费城、第四区克里夫兰、第五区里士满、第六区亚特兰大、第七区芝加哥、第八区圣路易斯、第九区明尼阿波利斯、第十区堪萨斯城、第十一区达拉斯和第十二区旧金山。其实，这些银行也完全可以按照我们的常规理解翻译为美联储分行，这样一来，盖特纳目前的职务就是美联储纽约分行行长，相当于我们的中国人民银行江苏省分行行长，这种表达相信更容易为我们所理解，在翻译界也许就是所谓的归化翻译和异化翻译之说吧。只是美联储的分行并非是每个州都有一个，而是全国才只有12个，每一个分行都管辖本州所在区域以及本州以外的不少范围，如纽约分行管辖范围就包括整个纽约州、新泽西州北方的12个县，康涅狄格州的费尔菲尔德县以及美国的海外领地波多黎各和美属维尔京群岛。