希拉里会成为第一位美国女总统

AS IT IS 2016-06-16 Clinton Could Be First US Woman President 希拉里会成为第一位美国女总统

Hillary Clinton has earned enough delegates to win the Democratic Party’s nomination² for president. It will be the first time in U.S. history that a major party will nominate a woman for the nation’s highest office.

Clinton won a majority of votes over a series of primaries and caucuses³ across the U.S. The last contest was held on Tuesday, in Washington, DC. Clinton won easily there over her opponent, Bernie Sanders.

Clinton’s wins – in addition to the support of party officials called “superdelegates” – make her the Democratic Party’s expected nominee⁴. Her party will officially choose her at the Democratic National Convention next month.

That event will be new to U.S. history: For 227 years, every other major party presidential candidate has been a man.

Terry O’Neill is president of a feminist⁵ activist⁶ group called the National Organization for Women. O’Neill said, “When I was a little girl, I used to hear people say things like, ‘In America, anyone can be elected president. And a little voice in my head would respond, ‘yeah, right.’”

“Today’s news is tomorrow’s history, and Hillary Clinton is making both,” O’Neill said.

Clinton – a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady – will run against Republican businessman Donald Trump⁷ in November. A new poll by NBC News and SurveyMonkey shows Clinton leading Trump 49 to 42 percent in the race for president.

Late to the party

Even if Clinton wins in November, the United States is far behind other nations in electing women to its top office.

The World Economic Forum⁸ reported that 63 countries have had a woman head of government over the last 50 years.

Women now hold the top office in Germany, South Korea, Poland and Norway. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was suspended by Brazil’s senate, but could return to office if an impeachment⁹ trial goes her way.

This year, the United Nations will choose a new leader. Some are pushing the U.N. to elect its first female secretary general since its founding in 1945.

Why has it taken so long for the U.S. to elect a women president?

Jennifer Lawless is a political scientist at American University. She said the U.S. may be so far behind in part because not that many women here seek elected office. She said research shows women candidates win as often as men and raise as much campaign money, but not as many are willing to run for office.

There are several reasons, Lawless said. But a major one is that women often feel they are not qualified¹⁰, or believe they have to be “twice as qualified” to beat a male candidate. She said men generally do not share doubts about their own credentials¹¹.

In U.S. politics, as in other countries, candidates often run what are called “negative campaigns.” This common tactic¹² involves criticizing opponents, hoping to make voters less likely to vote for them.

Adrienne Kimmell is executive director of the Barbara Lee Foundation, which encourages women to run for elected office. She said voters do not seem to mind when male candidates run negative campaigns, but they don’t like it when women do.

“If they do, they (women) risk being called ‘the b-word, and I’m not talking about boring,” Kimmell said.

Senator Mary Landrieu served three terms as a U.S. senator from Louisiana. She served with Hillary Clinton in the Senate.

“There were a lot of emotions the other night watching Hillary Clinton speak after winning the nomination, and I certainly felt them,” said Landrieu, a Democrat¹. “It was history.”

Landrieu said women in politics face a double standard. In other words, voters expect one kind of behavior for men, and another for women.

Asked for an example, she talked about her experience after being elected to the Senate for the first time in 1996. She was immediately criticized for setting up a home with her family in Washington near the U.S. Capitol.

At the time, Landrieu said she didn’t want to be separated from her husband and two young children when the Senate was in session. She promised to return to Louisiana often.

“I got all this criticism about moving away from Louisiana and becoming part of Washington,” Landrieu said. “The senators elected before me all lived in Washington. But nobody made anything of it.” Those senators were all men.

Wait, didn’t some other women run for U.S. president?

While she is the first woman to win a major party’s nomination, Hillary Clinton is not the first woman to run for president.

In this election season, businesswoman Carly Fiorina was one of 15 Republican candidates who lost the party primary to Donald Trump.

Other well-known women who ran for president were Margaret Chase Smith in 1964, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm in 1972, former Labor¹³ and Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole¹⁴ in 2000 and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann in 2012.

In 1988, Congresswoman Pat Schroeder competed briefly¹⁵ for the Democratic nomination. A New York Times story reported that she was often criticized for running as a woman. Her response: “Do I have a choice?”

The first-ever woman to be nominated for president was Victoria Woodhull. A group called the Equal Rights Party chose her as its candidate in 1872. One hundred years later, a Broadway musical described Woodhull’s life as a millionaire stockbroker¹⁶, as well as a supporter of women’s rights and open marriages.

Woodhull reportedly did not win any votes – not even her own. As a woman, she was allowed to run for president, but not to cast a ballot¹⁷.

Making history

On Tuesday last week, Clinton spoke¹⁸ to a crowd in Brooklyn, New York. She had just won four primaries, including the big ones in California and New Jersey¹⁹. The wins were enough to make her the likely Democratic nominee.

Clinton told supporters how proud she was to become the first woman to win a major political party’s nomination. She said her victory “belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible.”

But not all women were excited. CNN published a report finding that most female voters under age 30 preferred Clinton’s Democratic opponent.

Bernie Sanders has given no sign of formally ending his campaign for president, even though he does not have enough support to win.

Nichola Gutgold, a communications professor at Penn State University, is interested in women’s response to Clinton. Gutgold, who also wrote a children’s book about the history of women running for president, suspects some younger women don’t know about the struggles women have had. She points out that the U.S. Constitution did not guarantee women’s right to vote until 1920 — fewer than 100 years ago.

“But many of us, whether we are voting for Hillary or not voting for Hillary, recognize this is an historical moment in our country,” Gutgold said.

Words in This Story

contest – n. an event in which people try to win by doing something better than others

respond – v. to have a particular reaction to something

yeah – v. an informal word for yes

impeachment -- n. to charge a public official with a crime done while in office

tactic – n. an action or method that is planned and used to achieve a particular goal

qualified – v. considered able to do a job

opponent – n. a person, team, group competing against another in a contest or election

encourage – v. to make more determined²⁰, hopeful, or confident

excite – v. to cause a particular emotion or reaction to be felt or to happen

moment – n. a short period of time

1 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。

2 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。

3 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

6 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。

7 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。

8 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

9 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

10 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

11 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

12 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 dole   

n.救济，（失业）救济金；vt.（out）发放，发给

参考例句：

• It's not easy living on the dole.靠领取失业救济金生活并不容易。
• Many families are living on the dole since the strike.罢工以来，许多家庭靠失业救济金度日。

15 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

16 stockbroker   

n.股票（或证券），经纪人（或机构）

参考例句：

• The main business of stockbroker is to help clients buy and sell shares.股票经纪人的主要业务是帮客户买卖股票。
• My stockbroker manages my portfolio for me.我的证券经纪人替我管理投资组合。

17 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。

18 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。

19 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

20 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。