美大选民主党首场电视辩论

 　　After watching Republican candidates spar in two rounds of debates, Democrats¹ looking to become the next U.S. president got their turn Tuesday night at their first debate of the 2016 election campaign in Las Vegas.

　　As the front-runner in the Democratic race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the center of the debate, both literally² and figuratively, as she stood in the middle of the four other candidates taking part.

　　Recent polls put Clinton ahead with about 40 percent support, while her chief challenger, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, came in at 25 percent.

　　Democrats Dive Into Their First Debate in Presidential Race

　　The first tough question of the night was directed at the front-runner. Clinton was asked whether she changes her views frequently just to get elected, as she changed her mind about the trade deal signed recently by 12 Pacific Rim³ countries.

　　Clinton agreed that she had supported the deal while she was secretary of state but that after three years, when the deal was signed, it did not meet her standards.

　　"Like most human beings, I do absorb new information,'' she said.

　　Asked what was the most important issue facing the United States, the five candidates gave differing responses. Chafee chose the strife⁴ in the Middle East; O'Malley said the possibility of a nuclear-capable Iran; Clinton chose the global nuclear threat; Sanders picked climate change and Webb focused on U.S. relations with China and the threat to cyber security from the Asian giant.

　　Clinton engaged directly with Sanders on gun control. She said pointedly⁵ that Sanders, who has voted against major gun control legislation, had not been tough enough on the issue.

　　Sanders defended his record and called for better mental health services, stricter background checks and closure of the loophole that exempts⁷ gun show sales from background checks. Most of the candidates echoed Clnton's call that the "whole country stand up against the NRA [National Rifle Association]."

　　Sanders, on the other hand came to Clinton's aid when she was confronted over her use of a private email server as secretary of state. She says she made a mistake, but the committee investigating the matter is "basically an arm of the Republican National Committee.'' Rather than pounce⁸ on his rival, Sanders said he knows it may not be good politics, but “the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn mails.”

　　"Enough with the emails," he said to a beaming Clinton.

　　Chafee disagreed with the two. The candidate's "credibility is an issue,'' he said.

　　In stark⁹ contrast to Republican race, the Democrats have spent far less of the campaign talking about each other, leaving Tuesday's debate as an intriguing¹⁰ forum¹¹ for their policies and records to be compared and contrasted.

　　The size of the field is another marked difference, with Clinton and Sanders being joined by former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee.

　　The latter three candidates have struggled to earn even 1 percent in recent polls.

　　That made Tuesday night important for them, since the Democratic National Committee has scheduled only six debates for its presidential candidates, half the number the Republicans will hold.

　　The debate was perhaps the best chance for O'Malley, Webb and Chafee to establish themselves before the possible addition of another well-known figure in the race, Vice⁶ President Joe Biden, who did not take part in the debate but is still deciding whether to run for president.

　　A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday showed 48 percent of Democrats surveyed wanted Biden to join the race.

　　If he were running, the poll said, Clinton would still be the leader, with Sanders running second and Biden in third, with 17 percent support.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

4 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

5 pointedly   

adv.尖地，明显地

参考例句：

• She yawned and looked pointedly at her watch. 她打了个哈欠，又刻意地看了看手表。
• The demand for an apology was pointedly refused. 让对方道歉的要求遭到了断然拒绝。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 exempts   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This privilege, however, exempts only predecisional documents. 然而，此特权只免除那些文件在作出决定之前的披露责任。
• Function effectiveness: After then special-purpose, exempts the flushing formula. 功能效用：便后专用，免冲洗配方。

8 pounce   

n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意

参考例句：

• Why do you pounce on every single thing I say?干吗我说的每句话你都要找麻烦？
• We saw the tiger about to pounce on the goat.我们看见老虎要向那只山羊扑过去。

9 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

10 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。