VOA常速英语2016--纽约总统初选前的激烈竞选

Fierce Campaigning Ahead of New York Presidential Primary 纽约总统初选前的激烈竞选

The next U.S. presidential primary contest is more than a week away, but there is no lull¹ in campaigning as front-runners in both parties look to boost their delegate leads and challengers argue the nomination² could still fall within their grasps.  The all-critical delegate math is far more straightforward³ on the Democratic side than on the Republican.

Republican Ted⁵ Cruz and Democrat⁴ Bernie Sanders won big last week in Wisconsin, but face tough odds⁶ next week in New York, Donald Trump⁷’s home state.

共和党候选人泰德·克鲁兹及民主党候选人伯尼·桑德斯上周在威斯康星州获得大胜，但接下来在纽约的一周将他们将面临重重困难，因为那里是竞争对手唐纳德·特朗普的家乡。

“It is great to be home.  This is home,” Trump said about New York.

“回家的感觉真是太棒了。这才是家。”

New York also is the state Hillary Clinton once represented as a senator.

同时这里也是希拉里·克林顿作为参议员被选出的地方。

“Whoa, hello Sunset Park!  Hello Brooklyn!” she said.

“哇哦，你好！日落公园！你好！布鲁克林！”

With time dwindling⁸ to overtake the front runners in the delegate count, challengers are waging battles of perception.  Sanders insists he retains a path to the nomination.

随着时间的推移，留给这两位目前落后候选人追赶对手的时间越来越少，因此他们打起了观念战。桑德斯坚称自己仍有机会获得总统候选人提名。

“If we can win here, it absolutely opens the door to a path toward victory to the White House," said Sanders.  "When the voter turnout is high, we win.Cruz, meanwhile, is making a more complicated argument: that he could win the nomination even if he trails Trump in delegates heading into the Republican National Convention in July.

“如果我们在这里赢得胜利，那绝对会开启一扇通往白宫胜利的大门。投票率高的时候，我们就能获胜。”同时克鲁兹也提出了一个更为复杂的观点：尽管代表数量落后于特朗普，但他仍有机会进军7月份的共和党全国代表大会。

“If we go into a contested convention, we are going to have a ton of delegates," said Cruz.  "Donald [Trump] is going to have a ton of delegates.  We will go in with an overwhelming advantage.  I believe the first ballot⁹ will be the highest vote total Donald Trump receives.  And on a subsequent ballot, we are going to win the nomination.”

“如果进入僵局代表大会， 我们会有大批代表支持。唐纳德也会有超多的代表。我认为我们届时将获得压倒性优势。我认为特朗普将在第一轮投票时收获最多选票。而我们将会在第二轮投票时最终赢得提名并获得大多数选票。”

After a poor showing in Wisconsin, Trump shook up his campaign staff.  But his rhetoric¹⁰ is unchanged.

威斯康星州失利后，特朗普重整旗鼓。但他的竞选言论依旧没有变化。

“Lying Ted Cruz came today," said Trump. "He could not draw 100 people.  A hundred people.”

泰德·克鲁兹今天也参加。但他连100名支持者都拉不到。”

Clinton, meanwhile, says she is impatient to wrap up the Democratic contest so she can focus on the general election.

同时，克林顿表示她要迫不及待地要赢得民主党竞选，这样她就可以将重心转到普选。

“We are on the path to the nomination, but I need to win big here in New York, because the sooner I can become the nominee¹¹, the sooner I can turn and unify¹² the party– and the sooner we can go after the Republicans fulltime,” said Clinton.

“我们在提名之路上不断前行，但我需要纽约这里大获全胜，因为我越早成为提名人，就越早可以转移工作中心，团结民主党上下，尽早全身心投入与共和党人展开角逐。”

Polls show Clinton and Trump with substantial leads in New York.

民调显示克林顿和特朗普在纽约均取得了票数上的重要领先优势。

1 lull   

v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇

参考例句：

• The drug put Simpson in a lull for thirty minutes.药物使辛普森安静了30分钟。
• Ground fighting flared up again after a two-week lull.经过两个星期的平静之后，地面战又突然爆发了。

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 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。

4 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。

5 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

9 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。

10 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

11 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。

12 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。