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On Thursday, voters in Iowa will gather in community halls, schools, coffee shops and other venues¹ to participate in this year's presidential caucuses³. This first-in-the-nation event, officially since 1972, could determine who the likely candidates for president will be from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

美国爱奥华州的选民星期四将聚集在社区礼堂、学校、咖啡馆和其他地方参加今年的美国总统大选党内预选的党团会议。爱奥华州党内预选从1972年开始一直是全美国的第一场预选。它有可能决定民主党和共和党的总统侯选人提名。

There are 1,781 political precincts in Iowa and state residents who are eligible⁴ to vote in this year's election may go to the party caucus² of their choice in each of those precincts on Thursday.

爱奥华州一共有1781个选区，这个州有资格参加今年大选投票的选民可以在星期四到该州选区各自选择的党内预选党团会议去投票。

Republicans will select the candidate of their choice through a majority vote at each caucus site. Democrats⁵ will divide into candidate preference groups and then determine which candidates have enough support to be viable⁶. Caucus-goers supporting non-viable candidates can then switch to another candidate. Once one candidate has more than half the votes in each caucus, he or she is declared the victor and that result is sent in to the Democratic party headquarters in Des Moines to be added to the statewide tally⁷.

共和党将在每个党内预选党团会议地点投票选举选民推举的侯选人。获得半数以上选票者获胜。民主党则将分成侯选人选择小组，然后确定哪位侯选人有足够的支持可以在预选过程中胜出。支持“被认为不可能胜出”的侯选人的选民可以转而支持别的侯选人。一旦某一位侯选人在预选中得到半数以上的选票，这位候选人就宣布获胜，预选结果会送到在得梅因的民主党总部去。这位侯选人的名字被加到全州的计票名单上。

Norm Sterzenbach, who directs the caucuses for the Democratic Party in Iowa, tells VOA that delegates chosen at these meetings, for both parties, are not technically⁸ bound, but they usually do stick with their candidate all the way through the process.

施特岑巴赫负责指导爱奥华州的民主党党内预选。他说，从技术上讲，在两党党内预选会上选出的代表都没有义务在预选过程中始终支持同一位侯选人，但是他们通常会保持前后一致的立场。

"Our delegate preferences on caucus night are non-binding," he explained. "What tends to happen, or at least what has happened in most recent years is that by the time the national convention rolls around we already know who the nominee⁹ is going to be. So we have a unanimous vote for that candidate regardless of how they finished in the Iowa caucuses."

施特岑巴赫说：“我们在预选这天晚上选出的代表的投票不受约束，经常发生的事情、或者说至少在近年来经常发生的事情是，到两党全国代表大会举行的时候，我们已经知道谁会是侯选人。因此不管这位侯选人在爱奥华州的表现如何，我们都会一致支持这位侯选人。”

What is more important than the actual delegates won here is the perception of momentum¹⁰ a candidate may attain¹¹ by either winning outright¹² or coming close to winning. In the 2004 Democratic caucuses, for example, Senator John Kerry's win in Iowa propelled him forward to victories in following primaries, ensuring him the nomination¹³.

比在爱奥华州赢得支持某一位侯选人的实际党内代表更重要的是对侯选人未来竞选势头的展望，就是说，如果一位侯选人彻底赢得爱奥华州预选，或是接近在这里获胜，那么他就会获得一种取胜的势头。比如，在2004年民主党党内预选中，约翰.克里参议员在爱奥华取胜，这一胜利推动他在下面几个州也取得胜利，并确保他最后获得民主党总统侯选人的提名。

Many larger states have criticized Iowa's first place status in the presidential election process, noting that this relatively¹⁴ small Midwestern state is hardly representative of the rest of the country. But Iowans remain fiercely protective of their status and Norm Sterzenbach says this is one topic on which both Republicans and Democrats in Iowa agree.

许多比较大的州批评爱奥华在总统选举中作为第一个进行预选的州的地位。他们说，这个比较小的中西部州不能代表美国其他地方。但是爱奥华人坚决保护这一特殊地位。

"What Iowa has going for it is that it is a small state where candidates can come here and talk to voters one-on-one," he added. "The other thing that we have is that our caucus-goers know the issues, they know the candidates. Our caucus-goers will walk in on caucus night knowing not only where their candidate stands on the issues, but also knowing where most of the candidates stand on issues that are important to them."

施特岑巴赫说，在这个问题上，爱奥华州的民主党和共和党人意见一致。他说：“爱奥华的理由是：这是一个小州，侯选人可以到这里来跟选民一对一的谈话。另一个理由是，参加预选的选民了解竞选的议题，也了解侯选人。我们的选民在预选那天晚上走进预选地点的时候不仅了解侯选人在选举议题上的立场，而且还知道大多数侯选人在对他们重要的问题上的立场。”

There have been proposals in Congress to set up a rotating system of primaries and caucuses for future elections so that different parts of the country can have the opportunity of going first. But many candidates who have participated in the process here argue that the tradition should be maintained since it gives candidates with fewer resources a chance to make their case directly to voters in a way that would be impossible in states with much larger populations.

在美国国会，有人建议建立一个未来选举的初选和党内预选的轮换制度，以便美国不同的地方都可以有机会第一个举行预选。但是许多参加过爱奥华州党内预选的侯选人争辩说，应该保持这个传统，因为现行体制给予那些资源比较少的侯选人一个机会，直接向选民陈述自己的立场，而在那些人口多很多的州，这种陈述方式是不可能的。