美国国家公共电台 NPR A Trump Swing Voter Looks Ahead

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Pennsylvania surprised a lot of people in November when voters turned around their recent history of electing Democrats² and instead chose Donald Trump³. We're checking in with Americans from all walks of life after the election, including a young mother near Wilkes-Barre, Pa. NPR's Jeff Brady reports that she switched parties and wants Donald Trump to get to work fulfilling his campaign promises.

JEFF BRADY, BYLINE⁴: We are meeting Jamie Ruppert at an exciting time in her life. Thirty-three years old, she has two toddlers and a baby due this summer. Her husband started a promising⁵ new job in the fossil fuel business, and they bought a house.

JAMIE RUPPERT: We're going to be opening this all up into the living room so there'll be an island here.

BRADY: With the kids down for a nap, she offers a tour that ends in the basement.

JAMIE RUPPERT: Watch your step. It's like an obstacle course.

BRADY: In the back of the basement, there's a newly installed furnace that burns a very old fuel.

JAMIE RUPPERT: That's good old Northeastern PA coal.

BRADY: Jamie's husband, Jesse, is lifting a 40-pound plastic bag of coal and pouring it in the top of the furnace.

JESSE RUPPERT: You just slice in open and drop it in.

BRADY: This is coal country, and furnaces like this are still common. Wilkes-Barre and surrounding Luzerne County is a place that values tradition. Politically, that meant voting for Democrats.

JAMIE RUPPERT: I was always raised in a Democratic house. Both my parents voted Democrat¹ for a long time. I voted Democrat for both elections for Obama.

BRADY: But this time, Jamie Rupert and Luzerne County changed and picked Republican Donald Trump instead. We'll get back to Jamie in a minute, but first a bit more about this place. While coal furnaces are still common, the industry is just a shadow of its former self. The deadly Knox Mine disaster in 1959 effectively put an end to large-scale coal mining here, and the community has never really recovered. The economy is a frequent topic on local talk radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE SUE HENRY SHOW")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: She's like your own personal sounding board. It's "The Sue Henry Show" on WILK.

BRADY: Sue Henry has hosted this program for 14 years and says Donald Trump struck a chord here.

SUE HENRY: Make America Great Again is a very simplistic slogan. But for people who for the last 10 years cannot cope with the condition of the country and the economics of the country and they want to make it like it was, that message has a very strong appeal.

BRADY: It's not just the coal industry's decline. There used to be garment factories in this part of Pennsylvania, too, but they relocated in search of cheaper, nonunion labor⁶ in the south. For people without college degrees, the options are limited, says Wilkes University political science professor Tom Baldino.

TOM BALDINO: Distribution center jobs and service sector⁷ kinds of jobs that typically pay right now in the 12, 13, 14, maybe $15-an-hour range. There's a sense in the area of what I would call low self-esteem. People don't think that there's much to offer here.

BRADY: A lot of Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton heard the slogan Make America Great Again and recalled the country's history of racism⁸, gender⁹ inequality and opposition¹⁰ to LGBT rights. But many in Luzerne County, including Jamie Ruppert, heard that slogan and imagined the return of blue-collar jobs that pay enough to support a family. Still, Ruppert worries about that different view. She doesn't want to be seen as a racist¹¹ or a homophobe.

JAMIE RUPPERT: I've always been for gay rights and always will be. And I - you know, everything that Trump says - I don't support everything that he says. But the majority of the things that he wanted to do, as far as tax cuts and helping¹² the failing middle class, is what kind of got me behind him.

BRADY: That term - failing middle class - what does that mean to you?

JAMIE RUPPERT: It just seems like the middle class is gone. Either you have nothing, or you have everything. There is no in-between anymore.

BRADY: And Ruppert thinks Trump can help bring back that in-between. Asked what that would look like, she holds up a plastic container for toys. On the bottom, it says Made in USA. She says it would mean that her neighbors make more of the products she uses. Ruppert will be watching for those labels after Trump becomes president. Jeff Brady, NPR News.

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 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。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

6 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。

7 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

8 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

9 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。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。