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奥巴马和罗姆尼再次唇枪舌战，谁占上风？

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee¹ Mitt² Romney faced off Tuesday in the second of three nationally televised debates. This forum³ contained far more confrontation⁴ than the first, with the candidates occasionally lapsing⁵ into arguments.

奥巴马总统和共和党总统候选人罗姆尼星期二进行了第二场电视向全美国实况转播的辩论。总统候选人总共举行三次面对面辩论。在这场辩论中，两位候选人展开了比上次辩论更为直接的交锋，有时还陷入激烈的唇枪舌战。

With his poll numbers fading after a listless performance in the first debate, President Obama was far more energetic and aggressive in the second debate.

奥巴马总统在第一场辩论中表现不佳后支持率下滑，不过他在第二场辩论中表现的更为积极主动。

He and Governor Romney tangled⁶ in a town hall-style forum at Hofstra University, near New York City, where the two candidates fielded questions from an audience of undecided voters.

奥巴马和罗姆尼在纽约市附近霍夫斯特拉大学举行的市民大会式辩论中对阵，回答了一些尚未决定如何投票的选民提出的问题。

On several occasions they began to argue, as in this exchange on energy policy.

两人在辩论过程中数次几乎陷入争吵，包括有关能源政策的辩论。

Obama: “There were a whole bunch of oil companies...”

Romney: “No, I had a, I had a question, and the question was, how much did you cut them by?”

Obama: “You want me to answer the question? I am happy to answer the question.”

Romney: “All right. And it is?”

Obama: “Here is what happened....”

奥巴马总统说：有好多家石油公司…。没等他说完，罗姆尼就打断他说：我没问这个，我提了一个问题，就是，你到底把他们削减了多少？奥巴马反问道：你想让我回答问题吗？我乐于作出回答。罗姆尼说：好吧，你的回答是什么？奥巴马总统说，事情是这样的…

One audience question concerned the September attack on the U.S. consulate⁷ in Benghazi, Libya, which killed the ambassador and three other Americans.

辩论现场听众提的一个问题有关美国驻利比亚的班加西领事馆受到的袭击。美国大使和三名美国人在那次袭击中丧生。

The president took ultimate responsibility for the security lapses⁸ that allowed the attack to happen, but he also criticized Romney for his response to the incident.

奥巴马总统表示，最终要由他本人承担由于保安疏漏而让袭击发生的责任，但是他同时批评罗姆尼在事件发生后的反应。

“While we were still dealing⁹ with our diplomats¹⁰ being threatened, Governor Romney put out a press release, trying to make political points. And, that is not how a commander-in-chief operates. You do not turn national security into a political issue," he said.

奥巴马总统说：“我们正着手解决美国外交官受威胁的问题，罗姆尼州长却发布了一个新闻稿，试图在政治上得分。这可不是统帅应有的作为。决不能把事关国家安全的事情作为党派政治来处理。”

Governor Romney said the administration's failures in Benghazi were symbolic¹¹ of an overall failed Middle East policy. And, he said it was Obama who played politics in the aftermath of the attack.

罗姆尼说，奥巴马行政当局在班加西的失败折射出其整个中东政策的失败。他说，在班加西袭击事件发生后，玩弄政治的人恰恰是奥巴马。

“The president, the day after that happened, flies to Las Vegas for a political fundraiser, and the next day to Colorado for another political event. I think these actions taken by a president and leader have symbolic significance," he said.

罗姆尼说：“事件发生后第二天，奥巴马总统乘飞机到拉斯维加斯参加一个政治募捐活动，一天之后又前往科罗拉多州参加另外一项政治活动。我认为，总统和领袖做这样的事情才会有重大的（负面）影响。”

On the economy, the president defended his record on the economy and promised to continue working to speed the recovery.

在经济问题上，奥巴马总统为他的政策辩护，并承诺要继续努力加速经济复苏。

“We have created five million jobs, gone from 800,000 jobs a month being lost, and we are making progress. We saved an auto¹² industry that was on the brink¹³ of collapse," he said.

他说：“我们创造了500万份工作，而原先是每个月损失80万份工作。我们正在取得进展。我们还挽救了濒临崩溃的汽车产业。”

Governor Romney said Obama's economic record has been poor and would not improve in a second term.

罗姆尼说，奥巴马在经济上的政绩乏善可陈，如果连任总统，经济不会有任何改善。

“I think you know better. I think you know that these last four years have not been so good, as the president just described, and that you do not feel like you are confident that the next four years are going to be much better either. I can tell you that if you elect President Obama, you know what you are going to get. You are going to get a repeat of the last four years," he said.

罗姆尼说：“我想大家都十分清楚，都知道过去四年期间的日子不像奥巴马总统描述的那样好，而且大家对今后四年能否出现重大改善也没有多大信心。我可以告诉你们：如果你们投票给奥巴马总统，最后的结局你们已经知道了，今后四年将成为过去四年的翻版。”

Romney said the president was not doing enough to confront China on allegations of cheating on trade issues. He said he would label China a currency manipulator from his first day in office. The president defended his record on China, saying he has won numerous cases against Beijing at the World Trade Organization.

The two candidates also squared off on immigration, women's issues, gun control and education.

两位候选人还针对移民、妇女问题、枪支控制和教育等问题进行了争论。

Several polls taken in the moments after the debate gave the president a slight advantage.

这场辩论后马上进行的若干民调显示，奥巴马总统的表现略胜一筹。

A wide majority of Americans believed Romney won the first debate, on October Third, and the Republican challenger has been gaining in public opinion polls since then. Most recent polls show the two candidates almost even.

大多数美国人认为罗姆尼赢得了10月3号的第一场辩论。罗姆尼的支持率在第一场辩论后一路上升。大多数最近的民调显示，两位候选人的选民支持率基本旗鼓相当。

Both candidates will campaign in swing states Wednesday. Romney goes to Virginia and the president will visit Iowa and Ohio.

奥巴马和罗姆尼星期三奔赴那些两党势均力敌、有可能决定谁能胜选的州竞选。罗姆尼前往维吉尼亚州，奥巴马总统前往爱荷华州和俄亥俄州。

Obama and Governor Romney will meet in one final debate, on foreign policy issues, next Monday in Florida.

他们两人下星期一将在佛罗里达举行最后一场面对面辩论，主题是外交政策。