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北卡罗来纳州-奥巴马连任关键州

This week, the U.S. Democratic Party holds its national convention in the southern city of Charlotte, North Carolina to officially name incumbent² Barack Obama as its nominee³ for president in the November election.

本星期，美国民主党在北卡罗来纳州的夏洛特举行全国代表大会，正式提名现任总统巴拉克·奥巴马为11月总统选举的候选人。

The party's choice of Charlotte as the location made sense originally, but now some events leave people wondering if the Democrats⁴ are sorry they did.

民主党选择夏洛特为会址当初是颇费了一番心思的，但随后发生的一些事情不得不让人们反思民主党在这里开大会现在是不是多少有点后悔。

Charlotte, North Carolina - home to 750,000 people - is everything America's South is known for: southern accents, southern fried foods, and southern charm.

北卡的夏洛特人口75万人，具有典型的美国南方的特点：南方口音，南方油炸食品，以及南方人的魅力。

Charlotte is the global base for Chiquita bananas and NASCAR racing⁵, and at one time was the center of a gold rush. In a way, it still is: It is America's second largest financial center, after New York City, controlling more than $2 trillion in assets.

夏洛特是切姬塔香蕉公司总部所在地，也是纳斯卡赛车的全球大本营之一，过去还曾一度是淘金热的中心。在某种意义上，夏洛特仍然是个举足轻重的城市。这里是继纽约市之后的全美第二大金融中心，掌管着超过2万亿美元的资产。

Democrats have tried to make "big money" a negative in this year's campaign. For example, they refused to accept corporate⁶ contributions to fund this convention. But the party fell short of cash and had to shorten the gathering⁷ from four days to three.

在今年的选举中，民主党人试图把“赚大钱”作为一个负面的东西。例如，他们拒绝接受公司的捐助来资助这次会议。但是，民主党现金短缺，不得不把会期从四天减少到三天。

President Obama will make his acceptance speech Thursday in Charlotte's professional football stadium, which was underwritten by the nation's second largest financial corporation.

奥巴马总统将于星期四在夏洛特职业足球体育场发表接受提名演讲。这个体育场是由全美第二大金融公司赞助的。

So to avoid any connections to big banks, the Democratic Party likes to refer to the Bank of America Stadium as Panther Stadium... renamed after the professional football team that plays here.

因此，为了避免同大银行的任何联系，民主党希望把美国银行体育场称作黑豹体育场， 因为黑豹职业足球队在这里比赛。

In the 2008 presidential election, Obama narrowly won North Carolina, becoming the first Democrat¹ to do that in more than 30 years. The state is a gem⁸ with its 15 electoral votes.

在2008年的总统大选中，奥巴马侥幸赢得北卡。这是过去30多年来首位民主党人拿下北卡。北卡有15张选举人票，因此备受重视。

Peter Brown, a pollster with Quinnipiac University, said, "It's one of those states that if the president wins, there's no way [Republican challenger] Mitt⁹ Romney will win the White House."

彼得·布朗是昆尼皮亚克大学的民意调查员。他说：“如果总统在此获胜，共和党的挑战者米特·罗姆尼就不可能入主白宫。北卡就是这样的一个州。”

Recent polls show the president even with Republican Romney in this state, and that worries even his staunchest supporters, like North Carolinian Dwight Price.

最近的民调显示，奥巴马同罗姆尼在北卡的民调不相上下，这让奥巴马坚定的支持者莱斯感到非常不安。

"I think it's going to be really, really hard. Last election turnout among young voters was really high, and a lot of people coming out for the first time. I do hope for a repeat like that, but I'm not so sure," he said.

“我觉得会非常、非常困难。上次大选中，年轻人的投票率的确很高，而且很多人是第一次参加投票。我非常希望2008年的一切能在今年重演，但我并不是很肯定。”

Others aren’t either. North Carolina's 9.6 percent unemployment rate is above the national average. Democratic Governor Beverly Purdue is so unpopular she isn't seeking a second term, and the executive director of the state Democratic Party resigned after a sex scandal.

其他人也不是很肯定。北卡的失业率为9.6%，高于全国平均水平。北卡的民主党州长贝弗利·珀杜非常不受欢迎，她没有寻求第二个任期; 而且北卡民主党的执行长因性丑闻而辞职。

But Charlotte is embracing the 35,000 people attending the convention, and Democrats are hoping North Carolina does the same with Mr. Obama in November.

尽管如此，来自全国各地的3万5千名民主党代表还是汇集在夏洛特。民主党人希望，北卡在11月时能“接受”奥巴马。