VOA慢速英语2018 女性帮助民主党在众议院获得多数席位

Women Help Lead Democrats² to US House Majority

More than 100 women were elected to United States legislative³ office in mid-term elections Tuesday. A record number will serve in the new Congress.

在周二的美国中期选举中，有100多位女性入选美国立法机构。这一创纪录水平的女性将在新一届国会中任职。

The results came almost two years after women marched in Washington and cities across the country to oppose the inauguration⁴ of President Donald Trump⁵.

这是女性在华盛顿及美国各个城市游行反对川普总统的就职典礼近两年之后取得的成就。

The Associated Press reported that a record 237 women ran for the House of Representatives this year. As of Wednesday, at least 100 won their House races, easily beating the old record of 84.

据美联社报道，今年有创纪录的237名女性参加众议院的竞选。截至周三，至少有100人赢得了众议院竞选，轻松打破了之前84人的记录。

The number of female winners is expected to grow, as results had not been called for more than ten races with women candidates.

预计女性胜选者的数量还会增加，因为还有超过10场有女性候选人参与的竞选尚未揭晓。

Most of the women who won were Democrats who helped the party capture a majority in the House.

胜选的大多数女性都是民主党人，她们帮助该党赢得了众议院的多数席位。

Christopher Borick is director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. He says the role women played in this election lived up to expectations.

克里斯托弗·博里克（Christopher Borick）是穆伦堡学院舆论研究所的所长。他说，女性在这次选举中扮演的角色不负众望。

Borick said, "We are seeing a vast increase in the percentage of women that will be within the House of Representatives. I'll give you an example in Pennsylvania, which is kind of, one of the most striking scenes. Before this election we had zero, not one member of an 18-seat congressional delegation⁶ that was a woman. Tonight, just in suburban⁷ Philadelphia, in the Lehigh Valley where I'm speaking from, four women won in a really tight area."

博里克表示：“我们将看到众议院女性的比例大幅增加。以宾夕法尼亚州为例，这是最引人瞩目的场景之一。在这次选举之前，该州18名国会议员中没有任何女性。今晚，就在费城郊区，在我所说的利哈伊山谷，有4名女性艰难获胜。”

Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib from Michigan became the first two Muslim women to win election to Congress. Other winners Tuesday included Sharice Davids from Kansas, one of the first two Native American woman elected to Congress, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

明尼苏达州的伊尔汗·奥马尔(Ilhan Omar)和密歇根州的拉西达·特兰波（Rashida Tlaib）成为头两名赢得国会选举的穆斯林女性。周二的其他胜选者还包括堪萨斯州的莎莉丝·戴维兹(Sharice Davids)，她是头两名入选国会的美国原住民女性之一。还有纽约的亚历山大·奥卡西奥·科尔特斯（Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez），她是有史以来入选国会的最年轻女性。

Texas is set to send its first Hispanic women to Congress, as Democrats Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia both won their races.

由于民主党人维罗妮卡·埃斯科巴(Veronica Escobar)和西尔维娅·加西亚（Sylvia Garcia）都赢得了选举，堪萨斯州将把该州第一批西班牙裔女性送入国会。

Ayanna Pressley became the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. She talked about the historic nature of the election.

雅仁那·普斯利(Ayanna Pressley) 成为首选从马萨诸塞州入选国会的黑人女性。她谈到了这次选举的历史性意义。

Pressley said, “Now, listen, I know for a fact none of us ran to make history, we ran to make change. However, the historical significance of this evening is not lost on me.”

普斯利表示：“听着，我知道我们没人为了创造历史而去竞选，我们都是为了变革。然而，这个晚上的划时代意义并不会在我身上消失。”

There was also an historic gender⁸ gap that showed women more supportive of Democrats than Republicans.

当前还有一个历史性的性别差距，表明女性更支持民主党而不是共和党。

VoteCast reported that more women voted for Democratic candidates than men. About 6 in 10 voted for the Democrat¹ in the race, compared with 4 in 10 for the Republican candidate. Men were more evenly divided in their vote.

VoteCast网站报道称，女性比男性更多投给民主党候选人。大约60%的女性投票支持民主党，相比之下共和党则为40%。男性在投票中的差异则更为均衡。

Another record in the Senate

参议院的另一项记录

Women also reached a record number in the United States Senate. The Associated Press reported 24 women were set to serve in the Senate starting in January, one more than before.

女性在参议院的人数也达到了创纪录的水平。据美联社报道，从1月份起，将会有24名女性进入国会任职，比之前增加了一名。

The decisive record-breaker came from the Republican Party. U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn defeated the state’s former Governor, Democrat Phil Bredesen. Blackburn will become the first woman to represent Tennessee in the Senate.

这一决定性的打破记录者来自共和党。美国众议院马莎·布莱克本（Marsha Blackburn）击败了该州前任州长，民主党人菲尔·布雷德森（Phil Bredesen）。布莱克本将成为第一位代表田纳西州的女参议员。

Blackburn said in her victory speech, “Now you don’t have to worry if you are going to call me congressman⁹ or congresswoman or congress lady. Now, senator will do.”

布莱克本在胜选演讲中表示：“现在你们不用发愁是叫我congressman、congresswoman还是congress lady。现在，你可以叫我senator。”

Several women Democrats captured governorships currently held by Republicans, including Laura Kelly in Kansas and Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan.

几位女性民主党人赢得了目前由共和党人担任的州长职位，其中包括堪萨斯州的劳拉·凯莉（Laura Kelly）和密歇根州的格雷琴·惠特默(Gretchen Whitmer)。

I’m Ashley Thompson.

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 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》

3 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

4 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

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 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。

7 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

8 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

9 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。