VOA常速英语2014--美国国会中期选举 两党作最后努力

 

US Candidates Make Final Pitches Ahead of Midterm Elections 美国国会中期选举 两党作最后努力

WASHINGTON— 

Across the United States, candidates are making final pleas for votes ahead of midterm elections Tuesday. At stake: which party will control each house of the U.S. Congress for President Barack Obama’s final two years in office.

美国将在周二举行中期选举，全美各地的候选人在投票前夕进行最后冲刺，问题是究竟哪一党将在奥巴马总统最后两年任内控制美国国会参众两院? 根据最新的一份民意调查显示，随着选战进入尾声，选民们似乎倾向于支持共和党。

It is crunch¹ time for candidates seeking to rally supporters and convince any remaining undecided voters.

美国中期选举进入最后的关键时刻，候选人使出全力动员支持者并争取剩下的中间选民。

“We are reminding everybody about the power to make a difference in this election by getting out and voting,” explained Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn.

乔治亚州民主党参议员候选人米歇尔.纳恩说： “我们提醒所有的人，只要在这场选举中出来投票，你就有力量可以作出改变。”

Both parties have deployed² their biggest names to the campaign trails: former Republican presidential contenders Mitt³ Romney and John McCain, and, on the Democratic side, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

两党都部署了重量级的人物助选，共和党推出曾和奥巴马竞选总统宝座的罗姆尼和麦坎恩，民主党方面则请出前总统克林顿和前国务卿希拉里站台。

Notably⁴ absent from most Democratic campaigns: President Obama, whose declining approval numbers have vulnerable Democratic lawmakers distancing themselves from the White House. Even so, Obama did make a campaign appearance in Michigan last week.

不过奥巴马总统却明显地在大多数民主党候选人的竞选造势活动中缺席，奥巴马总统的支持率不断下滑，导致选情告急的民主党候选人纷纷和白宫保持距离，即便如此，奥巴马总统上周仍前往密歇根州出席竞选造势活动。

“I want to tell you why you need to vote. This country has made real progress since the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes,” the president told the audience. “Over the past four and a half years, we have seen American businesses create more than 10 million new jobs. Over the past six months, our economy has grown at the fastest pace in more than 10 years.”

美国总统奥巴马说：“我要告诉你们，为什么必须投票，这个国家在经历了我们有生以来最严重的经济危机之后正在取得真正的进展。过去四年半来，我们看到美国企业创造了超过一千万个新的工作机会，过去六个月来，我们的经济以过去十年来最快的速度迅猛成长。”

“Barack Obama finds himself in the same kind of position that [former President George W.] Bush did six years ago,” explains political analyst⁵ Norm Ornstein. “For an awful lot of his own candidates, persona non-grata [unwelcome], except for raising money. They do not want to have the president side-by-side with them.”

美国企业研究所的政治分析人士诺曼?奥恩斯坦表示：“奥巴马发现他自己的处境和六年前的小布什总统一样，有许多党内的候选人将他视为不受欢迎人物，除了藉总统之名吸引竞选募款之外，他们不希望奥巴马总统来帮他们站台。”

Republicans, on the other hand, are eager to tie their Democratic opponents to the president.

另一方面，共和党则是有意把民主党的对手和奥巴马总统联系在一起。

“The Obama-Shaheen agenda ends right here, right now!” said Senate candidate Scott Brown while campaigning in New Hampshire.

新罕布什尔州的共和党参议员候选人史考特布朗表示：“奥巴马和夏欣的政策必须立刻停止!”

Republicans are widely expected to retain control of the House of Representatives. In the Senate, they would need a net gain of six seats to seize control from Democrats⁶.

外界普遍预计共和党将继续控制众议院，共和党在参议院必须拿下六席才能从民主党手中夺得控制权。

“We have a fairly clear idea that the trends favor, as they normally would, the Republican Party,” Ornstein said. “The party out of the presidency⁷ does well in midterms. It is a tough road for Democrats. There is a route to keeping the [Senate] majority. Republicans have multiple routes to taking a majority.”

诺曼.奥恩斯坦表示：“我们可以清楚地看到民意倾向于共和党，在总统大选中失利的政党通常会在中期选举中表现亮丽，民主党的竞选之路非常艰难，要守住参议院的多数地位只有一条路线，但共和党却有许多途径可以取得参议院的多数地位。”

Democrats tout⁸ a massive voter mobilization effort they say will prove the polls wrong. Republicans, meanwhile, are sounding increasingly confident of victory on Tuesday. But as always, those who show up to vote on November 4 will have the final say.

民主党全力动员选民，他们说将证明民意调查是错误的，共和党也有信心在星期二取得胜利，而明天出来投票的选民则握有最后的决定权。

1 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

2 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

3 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。

4 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 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》

7 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。

8 tout   

v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱

参考例句：

• They say it will let them tout progress in the war.他们称这将有助于鼓吹他们在战争中的成果。
• If your case studies just tout results,don't bother requiring registration to view them.如果你的案例研究只是吹捧结果，就别烦扰别人来注册访问了。