VOA标准英语2012--Tradition Meets Modern-Day Politics in South Carolina

Tradition Meets Modern-Day Politics in South Carolina

In Columbia, South Carolina, stately homes from the 1800s show people's love for preservation¹ and the church steeples stretch toward the sky show the focus on religion.
These sights are as southern as the pitcher² of sweetened iced tea and and plates of fried chicken found at The Palmetto Pig barbecue joint³.
Juan Torres, who works in the hospitality, hotel and tourism, industry, says people are drawn⁴ to South Carolina because of its sense of tradition.
"We tend to not want to change," Torres explained. "We like to be old fashioned. We like things as they are, and I think that's part of, not just myself, but what a lot of people look for. They want it to be straightforward⁵ and they want it to be consistent."
He might as well be speaking about what South Carolinians are known to prefer in politics: tradition.
Republican candidates are campaigning heavily in the state. South Carolina has a history of voting Republican, and Republican voters tend to have religious and conservative viewpoints.
“I am a conservative person in every way in my life. I conservatively had only six children, and they are all Republicans also. So it's kind of in the blood," noted⁶ Susanne Hirsch, who attended a Republican rally in Aiken to hear her preferred candidate for president, Newt Gingrich.
The winner of the state's Republican primary has always gone on to be the party's nominee⁷.
The past is ever present in South Carolina. A Confederate flag still flies in front of the State House in the capital. The first shots of the American Civil War rang out in South Carolina in 1861.
"Certainly politics is very important in South Carolina history. I mean, we're on the sesquicentennial [150th anniversary] of the American Civil War,"explained Fielding Freed, who works to preserve southern history. "And we were the first state to secede⁸. So states' rights continue to be very important to South Carolina and their political leaders."
Fielding is waiting to be wowed by a candidate.
"I kind of got turned off by the debates. [There was] a lot of acrimony, a lot of negative conversation and a lot of just sheer boring repetition," he said.
There is a tension between two issues most important to Freed.
"Of course, the national debt. But as somebody who was laid off for a year - I was one of five people laid off from a company - I know the hardship that causes, the anxiety," he said. "I was very thankful that there was a safety net there [unemployment benefits]. It was the first time since I was 16 years old that I didn't work for a year."
Republicans favor less government spending, but that also means reducing social services such as unemployment benefits and grocery subsidies⁹.
In South Carolina, about one in 10 people are unemployed¹⁰. It's a hard fact in this state, which has its own way of incorporating its sense of the past into the present day. A look at a historic home museum gift shop, where a children's book of civil war uniforms shares a shelf with paper dolls of the first black U.S. president reiterates¹¹ that fact.
The past mingling¹² with the present...in the state that could determine the future Republican nominee.

1 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

2 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 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。

8 secede   

v.退出，脱离

参考例句：

• They plotted to make the whole Mississippi Valley secede from the United States.他们阴谋策划使整个密西西比流域脱离美国。
• We won't allow Tibet to secede from China and become an independent nation.我们决不允许西藏脱离中国独立。

9 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

11 reiterates   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The Chinese government reiterates that the question of Taiwan is China's internal affair. 中国政府重申，台湾问题是中国的内政。 来自汉英非文学 - 汉英文件
• Wang Jianzhou reiterates a fact and a viewpoint in Davos. 王建宙在达沃斯重申一个事实和一个观点。

12 mingling   

adj.混合的

参考例句：

• There was a spring of bitterness mingling with that fountain of sweets. 在这个甜蜜的源泉中间，已经掺和进苦涩的山水了。
• The mingling of inconsequence belongs to us all. 这场矛盾混和物是我们大家所共有的。