VOA慢速英语 2008 0209

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

 
John McCain
After Super Tuesday, Republicans have their likely nominee¹ for president in the November election, John McCain. But for Democrats², there was nothing super about the biggest day of voting in the nation's presidential nominating history.

Almost half the states voted on delegates for the conventions this summer where the parties will nominate their candidates. California and other states that normally held their votes later in the year moved them up to have more influence. Yet the Democrats are no closer to a clear front-runner than they were before Tuesday.

Senator McCain of Arizona is now the clear Republican front-runner. He won nine states. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt³ Romney won seven. And former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won the remaining five states where Republicans voted Tuesday, all in the South.

But on Thursday Mitt Romney left the race. He said taking his fight to the convention would delay the launch of a national campaign, and make it easier for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama to win.

 
Barack Obama
For Democrats, the fight continues between Senator Clinton of New York and Senator Obama of Illinois. He won more states, but she won delegate-heavy states like New York and, the biggest of all, California.

They ended up with close delegate counts as a result of the complex process that the Democrats use for dividing delegates.

The primary season will continue through June. Voters in eight states make their choices in the next week.

John McCain has well over half the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination⁴. Some Republicans think he is not conservative enough; he is asking his party to unite behind him.

A new Time magazine poll suggests that John McCain would lose to Barack Obama, forty-eight to forty-one percent. But if the election were between John McCain and Hillary Clinton, the study shows that each would get forty-six percent.

 
Hillary Clinton
As the Democratic race intensifies⁵, so does the race for money. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each raised about one hundred million dollars last year. But his campaign reported raising thirty-two million dollars in January, compared to thirteen million for her campaign.

Unlike many Obama supporters, many Clinton supporters have already given the limit permitted by law. Hillary Clinton said this week that she loaned five million dollars of her own money to her campaign last month.

On Super Tuesday, voters who said they cared most about the economy were more likely to vote for Hillary Clinton or John McCain. Democrats who said the Iraq war was the most important issue were more likely to choose Barack Obama. On the Republican side, Mitt Romney captured the majority of voters who said immigration was the most important issue.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake.

 

1 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

2 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》

3 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

4 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。

5 intensifies   

n.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的名词复数 )v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A clear atmosphere intensifies the blue of the sky. 纯净的空气使天空变得更蓝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Blowing on fire intensifies the heat. 吹火使热度加强。 来自《简明英汉词典》