VOA慢速英语--美联社：克林顿赢得民主党总统候选人提名

AS IT IS 2016-06-08 AP: Clinton Wins Delegates to Become Party Nominee¹ 美联社：克林顿赢得民主党总统候选人提名

Hillary Clinton is making history as the first woman to become the presumptive nominee for president of one of the two major political parties in the United States.

The Associated Press reported that Clinton has the 2,383 delegates needed for the Democratic presidential nomination². The former secretary of state reached the total with support from super delegates in addition to pledged delegates won from the primary elections.

Clinton expressed caution Monday night. She said that while media delegate counts show her close to an "unprecedented³ moment," she continues to campaign for every vote.

Democratic primaries are taking place in six states on Tuesday, including California and New Jersey⁴. New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana are other states with primaries.

A spokesman for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders released a statement saying the media was rushing to declare Clinton the winner too soon. But Sanders said he planned to "assess where we are" following the California results.

The senator's comments came after a phone call with President Barack Obama. The president has stayed out of the Democratic primary but he plans to endorse⁵ Clinton this week.

"The president intends certainly through the fall, if not earlier, to engage in this campaign," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "That's an opportunity the president relishes⁶."

In 2008, Clinton battled Obama for the Democratic nomination. In an emotional speech to concede the race, she said that she was unable to "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling."

John Hudak is with the Brookings Institute research organization. He told VOA the importance of the moment might be lost since Clinton has been expected to win the Democratic race.

"It’s ironic⁷ that the moment in history where a woman becomes the nominee is almost seen as what was supposed to happen," he said.

Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump⁸ had an increase in support in opinion polls after his final rival dropped out. Hudak said he expects Clinton to see the same lift.

Since February 1, the process of choosing the next U.S. president has mainly involved voters who are registered members of the Democratic or Republican parties. However, the candidates will need to appeal to all voters in the November 8 presidential election.

Hudak said both Clinton and Trump have made a mistake in not listening to certain groups. He said they must now find out what moderates want in their next president.

"I think with Trump, he’s effectively communicated with many groups, but we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks he needs to transition toward working with moderate Republicans, working with establishment Republicans, and he’s not doing that,” Hudak said.

About Clinton, Hudak said, “She really failed to listen to anger and discontent within the Democratic Party at the outset, and so when this uprising of support for Sanders happened, it sort of caught the Clinton campaign off guard.”

Trump and Clinton have already aimed criticism at each other. Hudak said that is not expected to change before Election Day.

"Between the fiery⁹ attitudes from both candidates so far, the increased use in social media in this campaign, and frankly¹⁰, media’s addiction¹¹ to the fighting between the candidates,” Hudak said, “You’re not going to see the lull¹² that we’ve seen in previous years.”

Words in This Story

presumptive – adj. based on a reasonable opinion or belief, considered to be the case without further information

Ppledged – adj. promised

primary elections – n. elections held by parties to decide who will be the party’s nominee in the presidential election

shatter – v. to break into many pieces

glass ceiling – idiom, an invisible barrier to a high office

ironic – adj. strange or funny because it is different from what would be expected

appeal – v. to ask for support, to be acceptable

discontent – n. dissatisfaction, unhappiness

1 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

2 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

5 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

6 relishes   

n.滋味( relish的名词复数 )；乐趣；（大量的）享受；快乐v.欣赏( relish的第三人称单数 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望

参考例句：

• The meat relishes of pork. 这肉有猪肉味。 来自辞典例句
• The biography relishes too much of romance. 这篇传记中传奇色彩太浓。 来自辞典例句

7 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

8 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。

9 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

10 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

11 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。

12 lull   

v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇

参考例句：

• The drug put Simpson in a lull for thirty minutes.药物使辛普森安静了30分钟。
• Ground fighting flared up again after a two-week lull.经过两个星期的平静之后，地面战又突然爆发了。