经济学人52:医疗制度,纽约老人起来反抗

 　　New York's old people rebel

　　纽约老人起来反抗

　　To the barricades¹ for Medicare

　　老年保健医疗制度的障碍卡

　　A by-election may be a referendum on the Republicans’ health plans

　　或许递补选举是对共和党保健方案的一次公民选票

　　May 12th 2011 | DEPEW, NEW YORK | from the print edition

　　NEW YORK is a blue state. Its governor, Andrew Cuomo, is a Democrat², as are its two senators. But chunks³ of it are very conservative, such as the reliably Republican 26th congressional district in western New York. It spans the suburbs of Buffalo⁴, across hundreds of acres of farmland, to the suburbs of Rochester. Registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats⁵ there by around 30,000. George Bush handily won the district in 2004, though he lost the state by 19 points. In 2008 it was one of only four New York districts that voted for John McCain over Barack Obama. Chris Lee, the Republican who had represented the district since 2008, won a whopping 74% of the vote at the 2010 mid-term election. He stepped down in February after a gossip website posted shirtless pictures he had sent to a woman he had met on Craigslist.

　　纽约州在图中为蓝色区域。纽约州总检查长安德鲁??科莫和纽约州两名参议院是民主党员。不过大部分纽约人都很保守，如位于纽约西部的共和党的第26个国会区。它跨越了水牛城的郊区，横跨大片农田，一直延伸直到罗切斯特市。已注册的共和党人要比民主党人多上30,000人左右。2004年，尽管乔治??布什在纽约州的选票输给对手19个百分点，但他轻易地赢得了这个地区的选票。2008年，它是纽约州四个投给约翰麦凯恩的选票多于投给奥巴马的选票的地区之一。自2008年来，克里斯??李成为这个地区的代表，以遥遥领先的74%的选票赢得了2010年中期选举。他之所以于二月下台，是因为一个绯闻网站张贴出了他的赤膊照片，他曾经将这些照片发给在“克雷格清单”（一个网上免费分类广告网站）上认识的一个女人。

　　The special election (as Americans call a by-election) to fill the Craigslist congressman’s empty seat will take place on May 24th. Jane Corwin, a wealthy conservative member of the state Assembly, should on past form be a shoo-in, but recent polls indicate she has an unexpected battle on her hands. According to one recent poll Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is just a few points behind Ms Corwin, and another shows her in the lead. Jack⁶ Davis, the self-financed independent “tea-party” candidate, is also performing solidly in the polls. At first glance it appears that Mr Davis, a former Republican who also ran (unsuccessfully) for office as a Democrat, may be siphoning support away from Ms Corwin.

　　“克雷格清单”事件导致国会议员职位空缺，这次特别选举（美国人称之为递补选举）将在5月24日举行。简??科温是纽约州参议院的一名富有的保守派成员，之前她很被看好，不过最近选票对她不利，这意味着她要投身到意料之外的选票交战中。据最近的一次选票显示，民主党人凯西??胡赫尔选票仅次于科温一些，另一次选票中显示胡赫尔居于领先地位。自行筹资的独立党派——茶会选手杰克??戴维斯在近日的投票中的成绩也表现出强劲之势。戴维斯此前是一名共和党员，同时也作为民主党的候选人参加竞选，结果当然失败了，乍看之下，他似乎是通过虹吸原理，从科温那里赢来选票。

1 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

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 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

4 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

5 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》

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。