VOA常速英语2008年-Democrats in Indonesia Cast First Votes in Tues

By Chad Bouchard
Jakarta
05 February 2008

U.S. Democrats² living in Indonesia cast the first votes in the Super Tuesday round of primary elections. Chad Bouchard reports from Jakarta, where Senator Barack Obama was the favored candidate.

More than 100 members of the U.S. Democratic Party gathered in a Jakarta hotel to choose a candidate for the United States' presidential race early Tuesday morning.

Voting began at the stroke of midnight. Early results at the hotel indicated 75 percent of the Jakarta vote went to Senator Barack Obama, who spent some of his childhood years in Indonesia. The remainder went to Senator Hillary Clinton.

The Democrats Abroad group represents expatriate party members around the world. The group will have 11 votes at the party's national convention in August, which will select a candidate for the U.S. presidential race.

Democrats in more than 30 countries are voting over the next week by fax, mail and for the first time, over the Internet.

Robert LaMont, a registered Democrat¹ who has worked outside the U.S. for 12 years, says it was comforting to use a ballot³ box instead of an absentee ballot.

"Yeah, once I tried to send - I lived in Mongolia, I tried to send in an absentee ballot but it didn't get there until long after the election," he said. "So it really felt like my vote was being counted. It was very, very, rewarding, you know, nice to have something physical in your hand and know that it's actually going to get counted."

More than 20 U.S. states are holding presidential primary elections on Tuesday, a day that has become known as Super Tuesday. The primaries help determine which candidates the Democratic and Republican parties will nominate for the November presidential election.

The chairman of Democrats Abroad in Indonesia, Arian Ardie, says about 200 Democrats registered to vote in Indonesia. He says being able to vote on-line in the Democratic primary gives tens of thousands of voters the ability to participate.

"It opens it up to people who live in countries where it would be difficult to form an American political organization, it opens it up to people who are literally⁴ living in jungles and doing great work but don't have access to polling stations and don't have regular access to mail," said Ardie.

As part of Tuesday's event, Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, addressed participants over the phone.

Retired⁵ General Wesley Clark also spoke⁶ to the group and endorsed⁷ Clinton.

Republicans Abroad is independent of the Republican Party in the U.S. and does not have primary voting for those living overseas.

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 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 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。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 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。

7 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》