VOA标准英语2011--As Caucus Nears, Republican Candidates Woo Iowa Voters

As Caucus¹ Nears, Republican Candidates Woo Iowa Voters

In the days leading up to Iowa's Republican Party caucus January 3, presidential candidates are crossing the Midwestern US state in a final effort to secure support. As they make their case to voters, the sluggish² economy and job security remain the dominant³ concerns for Iowans.

In Davenport, Iowa, along the Mississippi River, Dan Pekios is trying to keep the doors open in the bookstore his grandfather, a Greek immigrant, founded in 1939.

“I don’t make much money here. As the prices of gas and food and everything goes up and wages don’t, people don’t absolutely have to have books. You can’t eat them,” he said.

A few blocks from Pekios' store, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt⁴ Romney began the final leg of his Iowa campaign, trying to appeal to undecided voters like Pekios.

“Mom and Pop businesses, like the one I just spoke⁵ with out in the hall, they feel they are struggling under the weight of a government onslaught," Romney said.

But Pekios remains⁶ undecided about this year's candidates.

“I’ll wait until the last minute, and hear it all. I’d like to see how the whole thing plays out. It’s been very interesting so far. I want to see what the economy does,” Pekios said.

Ahead of Tuesday's caucus votes, the Republican candidates are crisscrossing Iowa, including Ron Paul and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.

They are wooing undecided voters like Des Moines homebuilder Mark Reetz. He attended a local campaign event for Texas Governor Rick Perry to find out which candidate can help make his job easier.

“As a homebuilder, we are deadly overregulated. Especially with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The hoops⁷ that we have to jump through, it’s a process, and it’s very costly⁸ to us,” Reetz said.

Davenport health care worker Mary Klueder supports Mitt Romney. But she harbors some disappointment in this year's campaign. “I haven’t seen a whole lot of candidates this time around. This is the first time I’ve seen Governor Romney, I know he was here one other time. But four years ago he had an office here, in this part of the state. There’s not any of the groundwork for a lot of the candidates,” Klueder said.

Klueder says the absence of that groundwork may be one reason there is no clear front-runner this close to the Iowa caucus, when voters get their first say in the process of selecting a president.

1 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

2 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。

3 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

4 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。

5 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。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 hoops   

n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓

参考例句：

• a barrel bound with iron hoops 用铁箍箍紧的桶
• Hoops in Paris were wider this season and skirts were shorter. 在巴黎，这个季节的裙圈比较宽大，裙裾却短一些。 来自飘（部分）

8 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。