VOA慢速英语--拜登在基诺沙访问期间会见布莱克的家人

Joe Biden, the Democratic Party presidential nominee¹, met with the family of Jacob Blake Thursday in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Blake is the Black man whose shooting by a white police officer set off days of protest and rioting in the midwestern city.

Biden's campaign said the former vice² president and his wife, Jill Biden, met in private with Blake's father, other family members and one of Blake's lawyers.

Biden said he also spoke³ on the phone with the wounded man, who remains⁴ under treatment in a hospital. He "talked about how nothing was going to defeat him, how whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up," Biden reported.

He also said Blake had been moved out of intensive care. Blake is partly paralyzed from the shooting.

Biden said his wife and Blake's mother, who was also on the call, both said prayers. Blake's mother said, "I'm praying for Jacob and I'm praying for the policeman as well. I'm praying that things change.'"

President Donald Trump⁵, the Republican Party candidate, was in Kenosha two days earlier. He did not meet with Blake's family during the September 1 visit. He walked through damaged areas in the city and met with police officials to discuss how to contain the violence.

After the meeting with Blake's family, Biden held a community meeting at a church in the city. Clergy⁶, activists⁷, small business owners and others attended the meeting.

Biden spoke about the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville where a man killed a young counter-protester. Biden criticized a comment Trump made after the killing⁸, that "they're very fine people on both sides."

"It legitimizes the dark side of human nature," Biden said of the comment. Biden added, "We've reached an inflection point in American history. I honest to God believe we have an enormous opportunity now that the screen, the curtain has been pulled back on just what's going on in the country, to do a lot of really positive things."

Why Wisconsin?

Kenosha is a city of 100,000 people in the important political battleground state of Wisconsin. Trump narrowly won the state in the 2016 election. The latest polls, however, show Biden with a small lead there for the upcoming November 3 election.

On Thursday, a small group of Biden supporters, some Black Lives Matter activists and a Trump supporter gathered at a Kenosha park that had been a focal point of demonstrations⁹ for days.

Michelle Stauder, who was holding a Biden-Harris campaign sign, told the Associated Press, "No one's perfect...But I'm excited about Biden. And I like that he's here spreading the word of peace and rebuilding."

Nearby is Kenneth Turner with a Trump-Pence sign under his arm. He said, "Everyone is blaming Trump for everything...But problems here have been around a long time before Trump."

Trump's campaign manager said the candidate went to Kenosha because he is president. He added that Biden is only putting "politics into a really serious situation that [the] president helped solve."

The president plans to hold a campaign event later Thursday night in the state of Pennsylvania. Biden himself was in Pennsylvania on Monday to praise law enforcement officials and denounce violence.

Pennsylvania is another battleground state that Trump narrowly won in 2016. Trump is also running behind Biden in the polls there.

I'm Caty Weaver¹⁰.

Words in This Story

paralyzed - adj. unable to move part of the body

counter-protester - compound noun: a person who is against the protester

legitimize - v. make something acceptable

inflection - n. a change

enormous - adj. very great in size or amount

opportunity - n. a time or situation in which something can be done

positive - adj. good or useful

1 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。

2 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。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 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。

6 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

10 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。