VOA慢速英语2012 THE MAKING OF A NATION - American History: The 2000 Elections

THE MAKING OF A NATION - American History: The 2000 Elections

 

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

This week in our series, we look at the presidential election of two thousand. It was an election that few Americans would soon forget.

DAN RATHER: “The Presidential race looks jar-lid-tight. We could be in for a long night, as voters decide whether Vice¹ President Al Gore² or Texas Governor George Bush will be the next President of the United States. It is that close.”

(MUSIC)

In two thousand, Americans were preparing to elect a new president in November. The United States Constitution limits presidents to two terms. Bill Clinton would be leaving office. So his Democratic Party needed to choose a new candidate.

The Democrats³ nominated Clinton's vice president, Al Gore. Gore chose Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut as his running mate. Lieberman became the first Jewish candidate ever nominated by a major party to such a high office. He was first elected to the Senate in nineteen eighty-eight.

(MUSIC)

Republican candidate George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore shake hands before the first presidential debate in 2000 

Al Gore was born in Washington in nineteen forty-eight. He was named after his father, a United States senator from Tennessee. The future vice president grew up in Washington and in Carthage, Tennessee, where his family had a farm.

He studied government at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated in nineteen sixty-nine. That was during the Vietnam War. His father opposed American involvement in that war. But the young Al Gore joined the Army and spent about six months of his service as a military journalist in Vietnam.

Back in civilian⁴ life, Gore again worked as a reporter. Later he studied religion and then law at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. But he dropped out of law school to enter politics.

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in nineteen seventy-six. He became known for supporting nuclear arms control and protecting the environment.

Al Gore was elected to the Senate in nineteen eighty-four. He was re-elected six years later. That was after he had tried to become the Democratic candidate for president in nineteen eighty-eight.

Then, in nineteen ninety-two, Bill Clinton won the party's nomination⁵ and asked Al Gore to be his vice president. As vice president, Gore became known for his work on issues involving the environment, technology and foreign relations.

(MUSIC)

In March nineteen ninety-nine he gave an interview on CNN. During that interview he talked about his plans to enter the race for the presidential nomination the following year.

He made the statement that during his service in Congress,

AL GORE: “I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”

He went on to say that he "took the initiative in moving forward" other efforts important to the economy, environmental protection and educational improvements. But his comment about the Internet led to jokes and criticism that he was claiming to have actually invented it.

(MUSIC)

The Republicans nominated Texas Governor George W. Bush as their presidential candidate. For his running mate, he chose Dick Cheney, a former secretary of defense⁶.

George Walker Bush was born in Texas in nineteen forty-six, the oldest child of former President George Herbert Walker Bush. He grew up in the Texas cities of Midland and Houston.

He graduated from Yale University in New Haven⁷, Connecticut, and earned a master's in business administration at Harvard University.

During the Vietnam War years, he was a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. Later he worked in the state's oil and gas industry.

In nineteen eighty-eight, Bush worked on his father’s winning campaign for president. Later, he became one of the owners of the Texas Rangers⁸, a Major League baseball team.

In nineteen ninety-four George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas. He was re-elected four years later.

Several other candidates also ran for president in the November two thousand election. These minor⁹ or so-called third party candidates included activist¹⁰ Ralph Nader. He represented the Green Party. He criticized large corporations for having too much influence in America. Pat Buchanan, a conservative, ran as the Reform Party candidate.

(MUSIC)

Public opinion surveys showed that the race between George Bush and Al Gore would be extremely close. The election took place on November seventh. More than one hundred million people voted for them. Al Gore received about five hundred forty thousand more of those votes than George Bush did.

(MUSIC)

But winning the popular vote does not make someone president.

Americans do not directly elect their president. When they vote for a candidate, what they are really doing is voting for electors. The number of electors for each state is based on the size of its congressional delegation¹¹, which is based on population. These electors then vote in December in a system known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College officially elects the president.

In the two thousand election, there were five hundred thirty-eight electors in the Electoral College. To become president, the winner needed a simple majority of two hundred seventy.

(MUSIC)

Al Gore won the popular vote, but neither he nor George Bush won a majority of the electoral votes. Not that any of this was clear on Election Night.

(ANCHOR MONTAGE)

DAN RATHER: “Bulletin: Florida pulled back into the undecided column. This thing is so wild, wacky, and woolly, nobody knows how it’s going to come out.”

BERNARD SHAW: “…as CNN right now is moving Florida to the too-close-to-call column... ”

TOM BROKAW: “…too close to call…”

DAN RATHER: “Florida is now too close to call. [I] want to say that again, it’s a confusing situation. Now, if you’re disgusted with us, frankly¹² I don’t blame you.”

(MUSIC)

Florida is a big southern state. It had enough electoral votes to make either candidate the winner. Election officials counted almost six million votes on Election Night. George Bush had slightly more votes than Al Gore but not enough to avoid a recount. Florida state law calls for a recount when the difference between two candidates is less than one-half of one percent of the votes.

State recounts normally involve the governor. But the governor of Florida said he would not get involved. That was because the governor was Jeb Bush, George Bush's brother.

And there were other issues with the election. Some black voters said election workers had unjustly prevented them from voting. There were also problems with voting machines and ballots¹⁴. In one area, some Gore supporters believed they had voted for Pat Buchanan by mistake. The names were next to one another on the ballot¹³. Democrats said the ballot design was illegal. Republicans said Democratic Party officials had never objected to it.

(MUSIC)

The disputed election results in Florida introduced a new term into popular speech. Americans began talking about "chads." Whether it was "hanging chads," "pregnant chads" or "dimpled chads," it amounted to the same problem. It meant that a voting machine had not cleanly punched out a bit of paper, called a chad, when the voter made a choice. As a result, the ballot would confuse a vote-counting machine and make the choice unreadable.

That, in turn, meant election workers had to look at each questionable¹⁵ ballot and try to decide the voter's choice. All this took place with the nation -- and the world -- watching and wondering who would become America's next president.

(MUSIC)

Something else only added to anger and debate over the situation in Florida. Florida's secretary of state, its chief election officer, Katherine Harris, also happened to be a leader of the Bush campaign there.

KATHERINE HARRIS: “Governor George W. Bush – two million, nine hundred twelve thousand seven hundred ninety.”

Almost three weeks after the election, Florida officials declared George Bush the winner of the state’s twenty-five electoral votes. That gave him a total of two hundred seventy-one.

Out of six million ballots, state officials said he had defeated Al Gore by five hundred thirty-seven votes.

But the election was still not over. Gore and his supporters in Florida asked the courts to reject the results because of what they said were the many voting problems. The Florida Supreme¹⁶ Court ordered another count of the disputed ballots.

Bush campaign officials quickly appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The court said Florida law did not explain how officials should judge the ballots. The court found the situation in Florida unconstitutional because there were different standards around the state. The justices also said not enough time remained to settle the issue before the Electoral College had to meet. On December twelfth, the court voted seven to two to end the recount, and five to four against ordering a new one.

Six days later, on December eighteenth, members of the Electoral College met in each state capital and the District of Columbia. They made the election official. George W. Bush would become the forty-third president of the United States.

GEORGE BUSH: “I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear…”

CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST: “That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States…”

GEORGE BUSH: “That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States…”

He took office on January twentieth, two thousand one.

(MUSIC)

The election dispute had divided Americans. But less than a year later, the nation was brought together by events that would set the direction for George W. Bush's presidency¹⁷.

KATIE COURIC: “A plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center here in New York City. It happened just a few moments ago…”

The United States suffered the worst terrorist attacks in its history on September eleventh, two thousand one -- a day that would be remembered as 9-11. That will be our story next week.

You can find our series online with transcripts¹⁸, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voanews.cn. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember, inviting¹⁹ you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

___

Contributing: Jerilyn Watson

This was program #233. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation²⁰ marks in the search box at the top of the page.

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 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

3 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》

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 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。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

8 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

9 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

10 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

11 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

12 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

13 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。

14 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

16 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

17 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

18 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

19 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

20 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。