VOA慢速英语 2008 0426

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Hillary Clinton is still behind Barack Obama in the delegate count after the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday. But her ten-point victory kept her supporters' hopes alive in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination².
　

Hillary Clinton campaigning Wednesday in Indiana

Attention is now directed to Indiana and North Carolina, where the next primaries will be held on May sixth. Senator Obama is expected to win North Carolina, but he faces a close race for Indiana voters.

In the race for donations, the Obama campaign had about forty million dollars at the end of March and no debt. The Clinton campaign had about nine million left to spend, and ten million of debt.

But her campaign said it raised more than ten million dollars in the twenty-four hours following her win in Pennsylvania. A spokesman said eighty percent of the donors³ were first-time givers to the campaign.

During appearances this week, Senator Clinton said more people have voted for her than Barack Obama. She included the votes from Michigan and Florida, giving her a lead of about one hundred thousand votes.
　

Barack Obama shakes hands with supporters Wednesday in Indiana

But Democratic Party officials are refusing to recognize the Michigan and Florida votes. Barack Obama was not even on the Michigan ballot⁴. The two states violated party rules when they held their primaries too early. Without Michigan and Florida, Senator Obama leads in the popular vote by about half a million.

Republican Senator John McCain has already won the required number of delegates to receive his party's nomination later this year. But Democrats⁵ use a different system of awarding delegates, and neither candidate is likely to meet that party's magic number.

The nominee⁶ may be decided⁷ by the votes of superdelegates. These eight hundred party leaders and elected officials are free to support the candidate of their choice.

Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania with the support of white voters, women and older voters. She also had the support of lower-income and less-educated voters, rural voters and members of labor⁸ unions.

Barack Obama continued to hold the support of younger people and black voters. He did especially well in Pennsylvania's college towns. He lost some ground, however, among well-educated white professionals. They helped him win earlier states like Wisconsin and Virginia.

Barack Obama still has the delegate lead and financial security. But some of his supporters worry that he has been unable to cut into Hillary Clinton's base, especially white, working-class voters. Hillary Clinton says this makes her the stronger candidate to defeat John McCain in November.

Senator McCain must hold onto his party's base, including evangelical Christians⁹ and voters who support the war in Iraq. But the longer the Democrats take to choose a nominee, the more time he has to make his case. Polls now show voters evenly divided when asked to choose between John McCain and either Democrat¹.

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

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 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。

3 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 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》

6 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。

7 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。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。