VOA慢速英语 2008 1103b

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:
　
Voting is expected to be unusually heavy on Tuesday. Millions voted early in states that permitted it. These people voted Saturday in Miami, Florida.

And I'm Barbara Klein. Our subject this week is the election. On Tuesday, after a campaign that lasted almost two years, Americans will elect their forty-fourth president.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Barack Obama entered the final week of the campaign leading in national opinion polls and in many of the states that could decide the election.

BARACK OBAMA: "Do not believe for a second that this election is over. Do not think for a minute that power concedes. We have a lot of work to do. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does depend on it this week!"

The Democrat¹ began giving what his campaign called his "closing argument" in a speech last Monday in Ohio.

BARACK OBAMA: "John McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I am worried about Americans who are losing their homes and their jobs and their life savings². I can take one more week of John McCain's attacks, but this country cannot take four more years of the same failed politics and the same failed policies. It is time to try something new!"

VOICE TWO:

John McCain was also in Ohio.

JOHN McCAIN: "With one week left in this campaign, the choice facing Americans is stark³. My economic goals and policies are very clear."

Senator McCain wants to permanently⁴ extend President Bush's tax cuts. Senator Obama would let those tax cuts end. He says he wants tax cuts for the middle class, not the wealthy.

John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have suggested that the plan amounts to socialism.

JOHN McCAIN: "And that is the problem with Senator Obama's approach to our economy. He is more interested in controlling wealth than creating it, in redistributing money instead of spreading opportunity. I am going to create wealth for all Americans by creating opportunity for all Americans!"

VOICE ONE:
　
Bruce Springsteen sang at a campaign rally for Barack Obama in Cleveland, Ohio, on Sunday

Ohio is a major battleground state. No Republican has ever won the presidency⁵ without winning Ohio. The last Democrat to win without carrying that state was John Kennedy in nineteen sixty.

Ohio has twenty votes in the Electoral College and decided⁶ the last election. Two hundred seventy electoral votes are needed to win the presidency.

As of last week, the RealClearPolitics.com average of polls showed Ohio leaning toward Senator Obama.
　
John McCain and his wife, Cindy, at a rally Sunday in Scranton, Pennsylvania -- Democrat Joe Biden's childhood hometown

Pennsylvania has twenty-one electoral votes. John McCain was still campaigning there last week even as polls showed a solid lead for Barack Obama. By late in the week Senator Obama appeared to have lost some of his lead in Pennsylvania.

Florida has twenty-seven electoral votes and decided the disputed election of two thousand. As of last week polls showed that the race in Florida remained close.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The election will be historic, whoever wins the White House.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is the first black presidential candidate of a major party. And he has set new records for raising campaign money.

Senator John McCain of Arizona would at age seventy-two become the nation’s oldest first-term president. And Sarah Palin is the first woman on a Republican presidential ballot⁷.

VOICE ONE:

The next president will have a lot to do. The United States is fighting two wars. The situation is improving in Iraq but getting worse in Afghanistan. Barack Obama has promised to withdraw most troops from Iraq within sixteen months in office. John McCain supports the war and opposes setting time limits.

The top issue, though, is the economy. What began as a housing crisis is now America's worst financial crisis since the nineteen thirties. And it has spread around the world.

VOICE TWO:

Throughout the campaign, Barack Obama sought to tie John McCain to the unpopular current occupant of the White House. He pointed⁸ to Senator McCain's record of voting with George W. Bush more than ninety percent of the time over the last eight years.

John McCain rejected the comparisons. And he, in turn, sought to tie Barack Obama to the unpopular, Democratic-led Congress, saying they would "tax and spend." In the closing days of the campaign, he warned increasingly of the dangers of one-party rule.

VOICE ONE:

Barack Obama is forty-seven years old. He served eight years in the Illinois state senate. He was elected to the United States Senate in November of two thousand four.

Millions of Americans saw him for the first time that year when he spoke⁹ at the Democratic National Convention. He called on Americans to look beyond party politics and unite for the good of the country.

VOICE TWO:

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii to a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya. He knew little of his father. His parents divorced when he was two.

His mother was an anthropologist¹⁰ who for a time was on public assistance. His grandparents helped raise him after his mother moved to Indonesia. He spent part of his childhood in Jakarta after she married an Indonesian man.

Barack Obama graduated from Columbia University in New York City. After college he became a community organizer in Chicago, his adopted hometown. Later, at Harvard Law School, was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

His wife, Michelle, is also a Harvard-trained lawyer. She grew up in a working class family in Chicago. The Obamas have two young daughters.

VOICE ONE:

Anti-Obama e-mails have said he is Muslim. He is Christian¹¹. He is also biracial but has said that he considers himself black. Nine out ten black voters support him. And polls have shown that many white voters who supported President Bush say they will vote for him over John McCain.

Yet one-third of voters in a recent New York Times-CBS News poll said they knew someone who will not support him mainly because he is black.

Eighty-two-year-old Bob Moller of Washington, D.C., is white. He says he plans to vote for Barack Obama partly because he believes the Democrat would help to heal some of the nation's racial wounds.

BOB MOLLER: "I hope I live long enough to see a black man in the White House with his family. That would make me joyous¹² beyond words. Because of our history of slavery and all the aftermath, and it was not until the civil rights movement that things began to right themselves. It's just been disgraceful and embarrassing to me as a citizen."

Edika Onubah is a student at Howard University, a traditionally black school in Washington, D.C. Now that she is eighteen, she can vote for the first time.

EDIKA ONUBAH: "I'm voting for Barack Obama because when I watched him on television I felt that what he was saying was sincere, that he meant it, that he wants change."

Barack Obama has campaigned on a message of "Change We Need."

VOICE TWO:

John McCain's message is "Country First."

Among those who plan to vote for him is Richard Peters, a retiree from New Jersey¹³. He says he has been hit hard financially in recent weeks, but his major issue of concern in this election is terrorism.

RICHARD PETERS: "I am of the opinion that if we don't protect this country from terrorism and all the other free countries from terrorism then nothing else much matters."

John McCain was born on an American naval¹⁴ base in the Panama Canal Zone. His father and grandfather were admirals in the Navy. He studied at the Naval Academy and became a Navy pilot.

His plane was shot down over Hanoi during the Vietnam War. He spent five and a half years as a prisoner of the communist North Vietnamese. He refused an offer of early release. He faced severe beatings. He returned home with permanent injuries to his arms -- but a war hero.

After retiring from the Navy, he was elected to the House of Representatives in nineteen eighty-two. Four years later he was elected to the Senate. He became known for working with Democrats¹⁵ and not always supporting his own party.

This is his second campaign for the White House. In two thousand he lost the Republican Party nomination¹⁶ to George Bush.

John McCain has had the most serious form of skin cancer, melanoma, most recently in two thousand two. He and his wife Cindy have four children, plus three from his first marriage. Cindy McCain heads one of the nation's largest beer distribution companies, which her father started.

VOICE ONE:

Barack Obama's choice for vice¹⁷ president is Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. He is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Joe Biden is sixty-six years old and was first elected to the Senate in nineteen seventy-two.

VOICE TWO:

Sarah Palin is forty-four and the governor of Alaska. She was elected in November of two thousand six. Earlier, she was mayor of the town of Wasilla for six years.

VOICE ONE:

Barack Obama and John McCain have talked a lot about change. But many of the changes they propose require approval by Congress.

All four hundred thirty-five seats in the House of Representatives will be on Tuesday's ballot. The Democrats currently hold a thirty-seven-seat majority.

In the Senate, which has one hundred seats, just over a third will be decided. The Democrats now have a two-seat majority. The party hopes to win at least six more.

VOICE TWO:

Record numbers of Americans have already been voting. The majority of states now permit early voting in person or by mail even without the need for an excuse. Nationally, about one-third of voters are expected to cast their ballots¹⁸ early this year. Both major parties have thousands of lawyers ready for Election Day in case of problems with voting.

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Brianna Blake and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁹. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. VOA will have full coverage²⁰ of Tuesday's elections on radio, TV and the Internet, at usavotes2008.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

 

1 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。

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 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。

4 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

5 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 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。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

11 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

12 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。

13 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

14 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

15 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》

16 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

17 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。

18 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

20 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。