VOA慢速英语--词汇典故:如何赢得选举

 

And now the VOA Learning English program -- Words and Their Stories.

On this show, we explore common expressions in American English.

Today we talk about expressions related to the biggest contest in the United States – the election of the American president.

Well, except for the first election. That was not much of a contest. On February 4, 1789, all 69 members of Congress voted for George Washington.

Supposedly, Washington didn’t even want to be president. John Adams was the runner-up. So, according to the rules at the time, Adams became Washington’s vice¹ president.

Elections these days are much harder to win. They can last for years and cost millions and millions of dollars. So it is not surprising that there are many expressions to describe the race for the White House. That expression, in fact, is one of them.

We often call political elections races, a word you probably know from sports. Many expressions we use for political campaigns are borrowed from sports competitions. In fact, sometimes we just cut to the chase and call the presidential election, a horse race.

If the race is close, we can say the candidates are neck-and-neck. This horse racing² term means the two candidates are nearly tied in the polls and a winner is difficult to predict. We call such a race – political or otherwise – a dead heat.

In the early part of an election cycle when a party is picking its nominee³, usually many candidates are in the running. Sometimes a candidate pulls away from the pack and becomes the clear favorite.

These two terms also come from horse racing. So does down to the wire.

In a horse race, the horses race to the finish and run through a wire as they cross the finish line. A presidential race that is down to the wire is very close. The only way to know the winner is to wait for all the votes to be counted.

If a candidate wins the election by a large margin⁴ -- that is to say won by many, many votes -- he or she has won hands down. We also say the race was a landslide⁵. Or you could say the race was simply no contest.

These expressions all mean a candidate won easily.

But if a candidate loses an election by a big margin, we could say that campaign got blown out of the water, as if by a submarine torpedo⁶. Or we might say simply that the candidate got crushed at the polls. More informally, we might also say the candidate got beat like a rug, which is visually entertaining.

Some candidates lose an election because they are unwilling⁷ to toe the party the line. In other words, they refuse to go along with the rules and standards of their own political party. This may upset the candidate’s base -- the people who usually support that party.

The opposite of toeing the party line is reaching across the aisle⁸. In the U.S., the two major parties are the Democrats⁹ and the Republicans. In this expression, the “aisle” refers to the actual physical walkway that divides the legislative¹⁰ halls. Members of the two parties sit on opposite sides.

So “to reach across the aisle” means to make an effort to negotiate with members who are not in your party. Many politicians win elections because of their willingness to work with members of the opposing party. On the other hand, some politicians lose for the same reason.

Voters can, sometimes, be very difficult to predict.

And that brings us to the end of another Words and Their Stories.

1 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。

2 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

3 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。

4 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

5 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

6 torpedo   

n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏

参考例句：

• His ship was blown up by a torpedo.他的船被一枚鱼雷炸毁了。
• Torpedo boats played an important role during World War Two.鱼雷艇在第二次世界大战中发挥了重要作用。

7 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

8 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

9 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》

10 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。