VOA慢速英语2014 共和党赢得对美国参议院的控制

 

Republican Party Wins Control of US Senate, Strengthens Hold on House 共和党赢得对美国参议院的控制

The Republican Party has won control of the United States Senate and strengthened its majority in the House of Representatives. The Democratic Party had held 55 of the Senate’s 100 seats. But the Republicans gained at least seven of those seats in elections on Tuesday. The Republicans also gained at least 14 House seats currently held by Democrats².

Beginning in January, President Barack Obama’s political opponents will control both houses of Congress for the first time in his presidency³. Political experts say it will be difficult for the president to build support for his policies in his final two years in office.

Steve Peoples is a reporter for the Associated Press news agency.

“Well this is very bad news for President Obama, you know, he had a really hard time in recent years when Democrats controlled one of the, one of the two houses in Congress, now Republicans control both, so he is going to have a very, very difficult time getting his agenda through Congress. It's gonna mean that to get anything done, he’s going to have to significantly compromise with Republicans and the GOP (Grand Old Party) has shown no willingness to bend on their end.”

In Kentucky, Mitch McConnell was elected to a sixth term in the U.S. Senate. He is now Senate’s minority leader. In January he will likely become the majority leader. He spoke⁴ to supporters Tuesday night after easily defeating his Democratic opponent. He said Republicans won because Americans are unhappy with the government.  

“It was about a government that people no longer trust to carry out its most basic duties -- to keep them safe, to protect the border, to provide dignified⁵ and quality care for our veterans. A government that can’t be trusted to do the basic things because it’s too busy focusing on things it shouldn’t be focused on at all.”

Republicans have held a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives since 2011. Before the elections on Tuesday, most political experts expected them to increase their majority in the House. In the next Congress, there could be more Republicans in the House than at any time since the end of World War II 60 years ago.

President Obama has lost popularity since he was reelected in 2012. Only about 40 percent of those Americans asked say he is doing a good job. Some voters do not think he is a good leader.

Allan Lichtman is a political historian and a professor at the American University in Washington, D.C. He says Mr. Obama’s unpopularity hurt political candidates who supported his policies. Professor Lichtman spoke to VOA on Skype.

“It's not as if the Republicans in this election represented grand ideas, inspiring solutions to national problems. They were simply pinning every Democrat¹ to an unpopular Democratic president.”

In this mid-term election, some Democratic candidates did not ask the president to campaign for them. Some of them said they disagreed with his health care and energy policies.

The Center for Responsive Politics has estimated that almost $4 billion was spent by candidates and groups supporting and opposing them in this year’s midterm election. That is the highest amount spent on congressional elections in the country’s history.  

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 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。