美国有线新闻 CNN 美国总统大选首战爱荷华州党团会议拉开大幕（在线收听）

We are exactly one week away from the Iowa Caucuses. They're the first formal contest in the U.S. presidential nomination process. Caucuses and primaries are state held events that help narrow down a field of candidates so that each major party has only one name that appears on the presidential ballot. For Republicans there are two people challenging incumbent President Donald Trump for the party's nomination. One additional candidate has dropped out of the race but election analysts expect the U.S. leader will easily win his party's contest.

现在距离爱荷华州党团会议还有整整一周时间。这是美国总统提名程序中的首次正式角逐。党团会议和初选是州政府举行的活动，目的是缩小候选人范围，确保每个主要政党只有一名选举人出现在总统选票上。共和党有两名成员挑战现任总统唐纳德·特朗普，竞争党内提名。另外一名候选人已经退出竞选，但选举分析人士预计，特朗普总统将轻松地赢得党内竞争。

For Democrats, it's more complicated. There are currently 12 of them still in the running and 16 other Democrats have dropped out of the race. For those still in it, all eyes are on Iowa. When voters there caucus on February 3rd, they could give a big lift to the candidate to make a strong showing.

民主党的情况要更复杂一些。目前有12名候选人参加竞选，另外16名民主党人则已经退出。继续参选者都将注意力集中在爱荷华州。当爱荷华州选民在2月3日举行党团会议时，他们可能会令候选人备受鼓舞，使其有不俗表现。

According to the Des Moines Register, more than half of Democrats and Republicans who won the Iowa Caucuses have eventually won their party's nomination for president at least since 1972. But only three of those Iowa Caucus winner actually went on to become president. So why do the matter so much right now? Momentum.

据《得梅因纪事报》报道，至少从1972年开始，在爱荷华州党团会议中获胜的民主党和共和党候选人中，有一半以上最终赢得了党内总统提名。但只有三名爱荷华州党团会议的获胜者当选了总统。那为什么现在如此重要？因为动力。

Doing well in the first contest gives candidates a boost. It gets their names out there. It helps them with fundraising. And for those who don't do well in Iowa, the results can have the opposite effect.

在首场角逐中表现出色会使候选人获得动力。这使他们的名字印记在那里。而且有助于他们筹集资金。而对在爱荷州表现不佳者来说，结果可能会产生相反的影响。

They may struggle to gain ground on the winners. They may struggle to get campaign donations. Some candidates usually drop out after Iowa.

他们可能很难压制领先者。他们可能难以获得竞选捐款。一些候选人通常会在爱荷华州党团会议结束后退出竞选。