voa标准英语--密歇根选民主要关心经济问题

Michigan Voters Mainly Concerned About Economy
密歇根选民主要关心经济问题

星期二共和党总统候选人在密西根州进行初选。民意测验显示前美国参议员里克?桑托姆和生于密歇根的前麻萨诸塞州州长米特?罗姆尼之间的紧密竞争。两个主要候选人正试图吸引选民关心美国经济。
As a gentle snow falls on Kalamazoo, Michigan, class is in session at the Bult home.
随着密歇根州卡拉马祖的温和降雪,博尔特之家的班级正在上课。
Colleen Bult home schools her five children, which she says is the easy part. What’s more difficult for her and her husband, is figuring out how to make ends meet. “We feel very blessed that he does have a job. It’s always in the back of our mind that it might not be there tomorrow," she said.
柯琳?博尔特家庭教授5个孩子,她说这是比较容易的部分。对她和她的丈夫来说最难的部分就是就是弄清楚如何使收支平衡。“我们觉得非常棒的是他还有份工作。但我们的脑中总有一种想法,那就是可能不会有明天。”她说道。
Bult and many others in Michigan say they are making do with less these days.
密歇根的博尔特和许多其他人表示她们的日子越来越难过。
Republican presidential candidate Mitt¹ Romney, a native of this state, is trying to key into such voter concerns. “It’s tough. You’ve got a lot of people in real trouble in this country," he said.
共和党总统候选人米特?罗姆尼,土生土长的密歇根人,正试图介入选民所关心的这种事情。“太艰苦了。有很多人在这个国家有真正的麻烦,”他说道。
Romney is running about even in public-opinion polls with Rick Santorum, who hopes to appeal to working-class concerns here.
罗姆尼和里克?桑托姆即使在民意测验这样的竞选中也要努力一把,希望能吸引工人阶级的注意。
Michigan's economy has suffered dramatically for years. There are some recent signs of recovery, but Kalamazoo Chamber² of Commerce President Steward³ Sandstrom says voter confidence is still down.
密西根州的经济数年来一直戏剧性的这样承受。最近有一些复苏的迹象,但目前卡拉马祖商会主席斯图尔特?桑托姆表示,选民的信心仍然处于低潮。
“This idea of the cost of living’s gone up, especially gas prices, and we’ve seen that daily, and the income not going up. … It stifles⁴ things," he said.
“生活费用的上涨,尤其是燃气价格,然后我们每天已经看到,而收入就是不上去…这让人窒息。”他说道。
High gas prices are a concern for David Rhoa. His company, Lake Michigan Mailers, spends about $10,000 a week on fuel. It's just one of many issues he grapples with as a small business owner.
高燃气价格是大卫?罗那关心的问题。他的公司Lake Michigan Mailers每周在燃料费上就要花费约10000美元。这只是他作为小企业主面临许多问题中的一个。
“When you look at what’s going on in the state, when you look at what’s going on in Washington, is there any predictability in what’s going on? Can you predict what’s going to happen next? It affects people on Main Street because they start saying, 'You know what? I can’t plan for what’s next," he said.
“当你看到这个州的情况,当你看到在华盛顿的情况,对于发生的事有什么可预见性吗?你能预测接下来会发生什么吗?它影响着在大街上的人们,因为他们开始议论:你知道吗?我不能计划下一步。”他说。
Rhoa still hasn’t decided⁵ which candidate to vote for in Michigan’s February 28 Republican primary election.
罗那还没有决定在2月28日密西根州的共和党初选中投票给哪位候选人。
That’s not the case for Colleen Bult, who is solidly supporting Rick Santorum.
但也不尽然，柯琳?博尔特仍然坚持拥护里克?桑托姆。
But with her oldest child in college, and four more on the way, she says no candidate has the right equation about how to help them pay for it. “Do we have a plan? Trusting it, day by day, and hoping that God has a plan," she said.
但考虑到她的长子在上大学,其他四人也正准备走这条路,她表示没有一位候选人能帮助他们支付这笔费用。“我们有什么打算?只能相信,一天之后又一天的相信,希望上帝有一个计划,”她说道。
Bult's immediate⁶ plan is to deal with the snow piling up on her sidewalk, something she can manage with a little help from her students.
博尔特当务之急是处理她的人行道上的积雪, 她的学生能够给她提供一点帮助。

1 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。

2 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

3 steward   

n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员

参考例句：

• He's the steward of the club.他是这家俱乐部的管理员。
• He went around the world as a ship's steward.他当客船服务员，到过世界各地。

4 stifles   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的第三人称单数 )； 镇压，遏制

参考例句：

• This stifles the development of the financial sector. 这就遏制了金融部门的发展。
• The fruits of such a system are a glittering consumer society which stifles creativity and individuality. 这种制度的结果就是一个压制创造性和个性的闪光的消费者社会。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。