VOA标准英语2008年-Obama's Running Mate is Respected Voice in Fore

Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, newly announced running mate of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, is a respected foreign policy expert. VOA's Deborah Tate has a profile of Senator Biden, who himself had waged an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party's nomination² for president this year.
　
Senator Biden stands near airplane as soldiers unload US military cargo³ plane carrying humanitarian⁴ aid for refugees from South Ossetian conflict zone, in Tbilisi, 17 Aug 2008

Senator Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of the most influential⁵ voices in foreign policy in the Democratic Party. His expertise⁶ could help counter Republican arguments that an Obama administration would be inexperienced on foreign policy.

Biden has been a vocal⁷ critic of Bush administration foreign policy, including the way it waged the war on terrorism. Although he voted in 2002 to authorize⁸ the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which Obama had opposed from the beginning, Biden became a critic of the conflict.

"The administration's basic approach to foreign policy and national security I think has been bankrupted by reality: the fixation on pre-emption, regime change and the simplistic slogans that encompass⁹ the war on terror I think literally¹⁰, not figuratively, made us less secure, made us less secure as a nation, rather than more secure," he said.

Biden told reporters earlier this year that President Bush's decisions on foreign policy will leave a more complicated situation for the next occupant of the White House.

"The next president, Democratic or Republican, hopefully from my perspective a Democrat¹, will face an almost unprecedented¹¹ series of challenges with very little margin¹² for error," he said.

Biden will soon have a personal connection to the war in Iraq. His eldest¹³ son, Beau, a captain in the Delaware National Guard, is scheduled to leave for a tour of duty in Iraq in October.

Biden himself has traveled widely, including making numerous trips to Iraq. He recently returned from a visit to the former Soviet¹⁴ republic of Georgia, made at the invitation of the embattled country's president - a trip political experts say helped raise his profile as a potential running mate for Obama.

Senator Biden is known as an outspoken¹⁵ politician.

Before he dropped out of the presidential campaign after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses¹⁶ in January, Biden said he did not think Senator Obama was ready for the White House. He said the presidency¹⁷ is "not something that lends itself to on-the-job training."

Biden also generated controversy¹⁸ when he described Obama, in a newspaper interview, as "the first mainstream¹⁹ African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy." He apologized for the remarks, which he said were meant to be complimentary²⁰ to Obama.

Obama said he did not take the remarks personally, but called them "historically inaccurate²¹", citing past African American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Political experts believe Biden's outspokenness²² could be an asset for the Obama campaign, and predict he will not hesitate to challenge Republican contender John McCain's positions on the issues. Some Democratic activists²³ believe Obama has not been tough enough on his Republican rival.

Biden ran another brief and unsuccessful campaign for president in 1988, dropping out of the race amid accusations²⁴ he plagiarized²⁵ a speech from British Labor²⁶ Leader Neal Kinnock.

The 65-year-old Delaware Democrat was first elected to the Senate in 1972.

 

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 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

6 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

7 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

8 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

9 encompass   

vt.围绕，包围；包含，包括；完成

参考例句：

• The course will encompass physics,chemistry and biology.课程将包括物理、化学和生物学。
• The project will encompass rural and underdeveloped areas in China.这项工程将覆盖中国的农村和不发达地区。

10 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。

11 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

12 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。

13 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

14 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

15 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

16 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

17 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。

18 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

19 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

20 complimentary   

adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的

参考例句：

• She made some highly complimentary remarks about their school.她对他们的学校给予高度的评价。
• The supermarket operates a complimentary shuttle service.这家超市提供免费购物班车。

21 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

22 outspokenness   

参考例句：

• He wondered whether his outspokenness a liability to John. 他怀疑自己那么心直口快，是否为成为约翰的包袱。
• He wondered whether his outspokenness might a. to his friend. 他怀疑自己那么心直口快，会否使他朋友背上思想包袱。

23 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

25 plagiarized   

v.剽窃，抄袭( plagiarize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The poem employs as its first lines a verse plagiarized from a billboard. 这首诗开头的几行抄袭了一个广告牌上的一节诗。 来自辞典例句
• Whole passages of the work are plagiarized. 那作品整段整段都是剽窃的。 来自辞典例句

26 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。