Summary
4 March 2009
On the second day of his visit to Washington DC, the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to address both Houses of the United States Congress.
Reporter:
Nick Robinson
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Report
Now that Barack Obama appears to be on side, Gordon Brown will seek to woo the men and women whose support the new President needs if he is to live up to his promise to make globalisation work for ordinary men and women.
Mr Brown is only the fifth British Prime Minister to be granted the honour of speaking to both Houses of Congress. His message to them is that 'never before have the benefits of international cooperation been so far-reaching'. He will tell the assembled Senators and Congressmen that they have the chance to work with the 'most pro-American European leadership in living memory'.
The Prime Minister is unlikely to repeat his insistence that the economic crisis began here in America. In an interview with the 大象传媒 he insists that he'd not been wrong-footed by the Chancellor's public call for a show of 'humility' and the acceptance of what he called 'collective responsibility' for what had gone wrong in the financial system.
Mr Brown will leave the United States later today rather envious of the room for manoeuvre his host enjoys as a new leader compared with the pressure he feels as someone who's been at the economic helm for more than a decade.
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Vocabulary
- to be on side
- (Barak Obama) is giving his support (to Gordon Brown)
- seek to woo
- try to gain approval and respect from
- to live up to his promise
- to do what he said he would
- globalisation
- the increase of trade and the movement of workforce around the world, especially by big companies
- to be granted the honour
- to be given the chance to do something very important
- Houses of Congress
- members of the elected US government who sit in separate buildings - 'the Senate' and 'the House of Representatives'
- wrong-footed
- placed in a disadvantaged position by someone else who has acted unexpectedly
- humility
- lacking pride, being humble
- room for manoeuvre
- opportunity to try out new policies and ideas
- at the economic helm
- in charge of financial matters
