美国有线新闻 CNN 美国中期选举在即 两党争夺国会控制权

 

We are a little more than one week from Halloween, one month from Thanksgiving, two months from Christmas and exactly two weeks from a major electoral event coming this Fall, the U.S. mid-term elections.

Presidential terms last four years in America. Halfway¹ through those terms are the mid-terms. In addition to state and local elections, the mid-terms help determine the make-up of Congress and that can have an impact on how effective the President is in getting passage of the laws he supports.

The House of Representatives has 435 voting members. They serve two year terms so all of these seats are up for election on Tuesday, November 6th.

The Senate has 100 voting members. They serve six year terms so roughly a third of these seats are up for election. The President is a Republican.

The House and Senate are controlled by Republican majorities and Republicans want to keep that control. Democrats² want to flip³ or win back control of those chambers⁴ of Congress. Whether they'll actually do that is unknown. No matter who the President is, lawmakers in the same political party tend to lose seats in the mid-terms.

And many political analysts⁵ say there's a strong chance this year that Democrats will take control of the House from Republicans. But they say there's not a strong chance that the Senate will lose it's Republican control because these mid-terms most of the Senate seats that are up for election are currently held by Democrats. What are the issues in the minds of voters? There are a lot. Immigration, drug addiction⁶, welfare reform, gun violence, taxes, the environment, healthcare, trade deals, terrorism, they all f?actor in. How Americans feel about the President and his policies also factors in. How they'll vote and who will vote are things we'll know next month.

1 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

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 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

4 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。