Americans are voting in midterm elections that could determine the fate of President Barack Obama's legislative agenda for the next two years. Republicans are expected to make significant gains in the U.S. Congress.
美国选民正在参加中期选举投票。这次选举可能决定奥巴马总统未来两年立法议程的成败。共和党人预期会在国会取得重大胜利。
At stake in nationwide balloting are all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, more than one-third of the Senate, and more than half of America's governorships.
这次全国选举将决定众议院所有435个席位的归属，同时还将选出超过三分之一的参议院议席和全美一半以上的州长职位。
President Obama had a simple election-eve message for voters: "You have got a chance to change your community and your country. All you have to do is vote."
奥巴马总统在选举前夕向选民们发出了一条简单的呼吁："你们现在有机会改变你们的社区和国家。你们所要做的就是去投票。”
After electoral cycles that saw Democrats win control of Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008, Republicans are widely expected to reverse the tide this year.
民主党人2006年赢得国会控制权并在2008年成功入主白宫后，人们普遍预期共和党人今年将扭转局面。
Public-opinion polls show Republicans favored among likely voters, many of whom say they are angry and frustrated over the sluggish U.S. economy, high unemployment, and America's soaring national debt.
民意调查显示，共和党人在可能投票的选民中受到欢迎。很多选民表示，他们对一蹶不振的美国经济、高失业率以及美国不断飙升的国债感到愤怒和失望。
Although Republicans could seize both houses of Congress, it is the House of Representatives where they are thought to have the best chance of taking control.
尽管共和党人有机会在参众两院都获得胜利，但他们被认为最有机会掌握众议院的控制权。
A party switch in the House would end the four-year tenure of Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Her likely replacement would be House Republican Leader John Boehner, who has pledged to reverse what he sees as the free-spending ways of the Obama administration.
众议院政党力量对比的变化将结束民主党议长佩洛西四年的任期。最有可能取代她的人是众议院共和党领袖博纳。博纳承诺将扭转他认为奥巴马政府开支无度的做法。
"If we [Republicans] are lucky enough to be in the majority and I am lucky enough to be the Speaker of the House, it is going to be real different [in Congress]," said Boehner.
他说：“如果我们有幸成为多数党，如果我本人有幸成为众议院议长，国会将大为不同。”
Indiana Republican Congressman Mike Pence told CBS' Early Show that Americans are demanding a change of course.
印地安纳州共和党议员彭斯告诉美国哥伦比亚广播公司晨间节目说，美国人要求改变方向。
"People are scared," he said. "They look at a second year in a row of more than a trillion-dollar [federal] deficit, of government bailouts, and a government takeover of healthcare. And I do not think today is going to be about the American people saying they want Washington to get more done. I think there is a lot they want to get undone in Washington, D.C. A change in direction."
他说：“人们很害怕。他们看着连续两年联邦赤字超过一万亿美元，政府推出各种救市计划，政府接管健保。我认为现在美国人民不是要求华盛顿去做更多，而是要求政府把很多事情恢复到过去的样子。这是方向上的改变。”
But a key Obama ally, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, said the president is not to blame for America's economic woes, and suggested that voters should not try to punish Democrats at the ballot box.
但是奥巴马总统的一个主要盟友、宾夕法尼亚州州长伦德尔说，不应当把美国的经济困难归咎于总统，选民们不应该在投票站惩罚民主党。
"I think expectations were unreasonably high for Barack Obama," said Rendell. "He took over the presidency facing the worst set of problems - not of his own making - that any American president has faced in the last 50 years. The problems were created by the failed policies of the previous eight years, and he [Obama] cannot turn them around automatically."
他说：“我认为人们对奥巴马总统的希望高得没有道理。他就任时，面临过去50年来任何美国总统都不曾面对的最严重的问题，而这些问题并不是他造成的。这些问题是之前八年失败的政策造成的，而奥巴马不能够自动地扭转这些问题。”
President Obama has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday, presumably to discuss the election results and how he plans to deal with a Congress that could have a radically-different composition beginning next year.
奥巴马总统计划于星期三举行记者会，预计他主要将讨论选举结果，以及他打算如何与一个从明年开始人员构成可能完全不同的国会打交道。
The last time Republicans took control of Congress was in 1994 - two years into the presidency of Bill Clinton. The next year saw a budget battle between the White House and Congress that produced a temporary shutdown of the federal government. But in subsequent years, President Clinton worked effectively with a Republican Congress on several major initiatives, including an overhaul of U.S. social welfare programs.
Republicans are pledging to halt President Obama's signature legislative accomplishment: a restructuring of America's private health insurance system. Some Republicans vying for congressional seats belong to the so-called "Tea Party" movement that sprung up after Mr. Obama entered office. As a group, Tea Partiers profess a determination to cut government spending, and have rejected the possibility of compromise on fiscal issues.
共和党人誓言要阻止带有奥巴马色彩的立法成就，即重建美国私营健保制度的法案。一些角逐国会议席的共和党人属于奥巴马就任之后兴起所谓的“茶党运动”。茶党运动成员声称他们决心削减政府支出，并且拒绝在财政问题上做出任何妥协。 |