VOA慢速英语 2008 1115

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
　

President-elect Barack Obama visited President Bush at the White House on Monday

The most commonly heard advice for Barack Obama when he becomes president in January is to "govern from the center." In Washington, that means reaching out to the minority party in Congress to seek common ground.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is one of those who says Mister Obama will have to listen to all sides -- from liberal to conservative -- but stay centered.

NANCY PELOSI: "Each side of the spectrum³ can hope to influence the decision. But the fact is that a new president coming in, in my view, must take the country down the middle to solve the problems, to gain the confidence, to take us more strongly in a new direction."
　

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

The Republicans have been in the minority in Congress for the last two years. Last week's elections brought more losses in both houses, plus the White House. Barack Obama won fifty-three percent of the popular vote and twice as many electoral votes as John McCain.

In the last presidential election, thirty-seven percent of voters said they were Democrats⁴. An equal percentage said they were Republicans. This year, thirty-two percent of voters told news organizations that they were Republican. And thirty-nine percent said they were Democrats.

Yet, as many observers have pointed⁵ out, those same polls showed that political beliefs have changed little over the past four years.

Twenty-two percent of this year's voters said they were liberal, while forty-four percent described themselves as moderate. Both numbers were almost unchanged from the last election. And the share of conservatives did not change at all: thirty-four percent.

Brian Darling is with the Heritage Foundation, a research group.

BRIAN DARLING: "Exit polling indicated that the American people still consider themselves reasonably conservative. This is a more of a center-right nation. So what President Obama has to worry about is he cannot move forward on actions that would offend many Americans, like taking action to take away many Americans' guns, maybe something on gay marriage, issues like that."

Democrat² Bill Clinton had a Democratic majority in Congress when he was first elected president in nineteen ninety-two. Yet two years later, voters gave control of Congress back to the Republicans.
　

Sarah Palin speaking Thursday at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, Florida

Now, the Republicans are thinking about what they need to do to regain⁶ voter trust. That includes increasing their appeal to blacks, Hispanics, women and the poor. A majority of voters from these groups voted for Mister Obama.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants, is a rising star in the party. So is Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty. But one person some Republicans are looking to for the future is the governor of Alaska. Sarah Palin, John McCain's choice for vice¹ president, says she has not ruled out running for president in four years. She has strong support among social conservatives. But winning over moderate Republicans and independent voters will mean having to aim more for the center.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 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。

3 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。