美国国家公共电台 NPR--Biden to give a speech in Pennsylvania on the 'battle for the soul of the nation'

Biden to give a speech in Pennsylvania on the 'battle for the soul of the nation'

Transcript¹

President Biden is reviving the central theme of his campaign: the battle for the soul of the nation. He's giving a prime-time speech tonight, kicking off a push to help Democrats³ in the midterms.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

President Biden will deliver a primetime address tonight from Independence Park in Philadelphia about what he calls the battle for the soul of the nation. He's returning to a theme from the earliest days of his presidential campaign. And as NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith reports, the speech comes as Biden and Democrats solidify⁵ their message ahead of November's midterms.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE⁶: Recently, President Biden has been speaking in increasingly dire⁷ terms about threats to American democracy, going so far as to describe some Republicans as semi-fascist. Here he was last week at a rally in Maryland.

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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Would be a nation of unity⁸, of hope, of optimism, not a nation of anger, violence, hatred⁹ and division.

KEITH: Tonight, the White House says President Biden plans to argue the core values of the nation are at stake, outlining freedoms that are under attack. But talking about the battle for the soul of the nation isn't new for Biden. It was a dominant¹⁰ theme of his race against former President Donald Trump¹¹, starting with the video that launched his campaign.

(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)

BIDEN: We are in the battle for the soul of this nation. I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant¹² moment in time.

KEITH: After he won and officially became president-elect, Biden confidently declared that...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: Democracy prevailed.

KEITH: Democracy prevailed. But then January 6 happened. Since then, the threat of political violence hasn't waned¹³. In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham predicted what might happen if the former president is prosecuted¹⁴ for mishandling classified documents.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LINDSEY GRAHAM: There'll be riots in the streets.

KEITH: In every election, the candidates say the stakes have never been higher. But Republican pollster Whit⁴ Ayres says this election isn't like all other elections.

WHIT AYRES: Because we've never had a former president who's continued to deny that the current president was legitimately¹⁵ elected. That's never occurred in American history before. And that makes midterms a different environment than we've ever had before.

KEITH: Even as recently as this week, the former president was demanding on social media that he immediately be reinstated, which, to be clear, is not how the American election system works. Candidates endorsing¹⁶ Trump's election lies have won primaries and will be on the ballot¹⁷ in November. But Ayres says for most voters, as a motivating issue, Democratic erosion isn't as tangible¹⁸ as things like the price of gas.

AYRES: Most voters are moved by things that affect them personally and directly.

KEITH: With this speech, Jennifer Mercieca says Biden is trying to define the election as being about something larger than inflation.

JENNIFER MERCIECA: One way you succeed with elections is by telling the nation what to be afraid of.

KEITH: Mercieca is a professor at Texas A&M University who specializes in presidential rhetoric¹⁹.

MERCIECA: He's providing this ultra heroic frame. Like, this is an existential crisis. This is a threat to the nation. This is about our most important value.

KEITH: And finding a frame, a theme that ties together seemingly disparate ideas and events, can be useful when running a campaign. Take Democrat² Pat Ryan. He just won a special election for a congressional seat in upstate New York in a race that was anything but a sure thing. And he didn't shy away from talking about abortion²⁰ rights. He framed the Supreme²¹ Court's recent abortion decision as being part of a larger threat of extreme ideology²².

PAT RYAN: We stood up and proactively said, this campaign is about freedom. This campaign is about choice. These are unifying²³ American values that I think transcend²⁴ even the very partisan²⁵ corners that everybody's in right now.

KEITH: Ryan admits it's grim, but he found campaigning on threats to democracy, as Biden will do tonight, resonates with voters.

Tamara Keith, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 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》

4 whit   

n.一点，丝毫

参考例句：

• There's not a whit of truth in the statement.这声明里没有丝毫的真实性。
• He did not seem a whit concerned.他看来毫不在乎。

5 solidify   

v.(使)凝固，(使)固化，(使)团结

参考例句：

• Opinion on this question began to solidify.对这个问题的意见开始具体化了。
• Water will solidify into ice if you freeze it.水冷冻会结冰。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

8 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

9 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

10 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 aberrant   

adj.畸变的，异常的，脱离常轨的

参考例句：

• His aberrant behavior at the party shocked everyone.他在晚会上的异常举止令所有人感到震惊！
• I saw that the insects and spiders were displaying the same kind of aberrant behavior.我看到昆虫和蜘蛛正在表现出相同反常的行为。

13 waned   

v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• However,my enthusiasm waned.The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. 然而，我的热情减退了。我在做操上花的时间逐渐减少了。 来自《用法词典》
• The bicycle craze has waned. 自行车热已冷下去了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

15 legitimately   

ad.合法地；正当地，合理地

参考例句：

• The radio is legitimately owned by the company. 该电台为这家公司所合法拥有。
• She looked for nothing save what might come legitimately and without the appearance of special favour. 她要的并不是男人们的额外恩赐，而是合法正当地得到的工作。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

16 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

17 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

18 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

19 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

20 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

21 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

22 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

23 unifying   

使联合( unify的现在分词 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• In addition, there were certain religious bonds of a unifying kind. 此外，他们还有某种具有一种统一性质的宗教上的结合。
• There is a unifying theme, and that is the theme of information flow within biological systems. 我们可以用一个总的命题，把生物学系统内的信息流来作为这一研究主题。

24 transcend   

vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围

参考例句：

• We can't transcend the limitations of the ego.我们无法超越自我的局限性。
• Everyone knows that the speed of airplanes transcend that of ships.人人都知道飞机的速度快于轮船的速度。

25 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。