VOA标准英语2008年-Large Turnout in Iowa Caucus Brings Victory to

By Greg Flakus
Des Moines, Iowa
04 January 2008

Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee have won the Iowa caucuses² held in that Midwestern state on Thursday. Obama, who won the most votes in the Democratic Party caucuses, is the first person of African descent to have won the first-in-the-nation political contest. Huckabee, who won the Republican contest, came from near obscurity to defeat former Massachusetts Governor Mitt³ Romney, who had outspent him on campaign ads in the state. VOA's Greg Flakus was on hand to witness the process and has this report from Des Moines.

Iowa voters gave Senator Obama a strong start on the long road that could lead to the Democratic presidential nomination⁴, with around 38 percent of the total projected vote. New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who spent much of last year trying to convince voters that she was the inevitable⁵ choice for the party, was left in a close race for second place with former North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

Coming before reporters after the preliminary results had been broadcast by major news organizations, Senator Obama focused on the message he will bring forward to the next contests.

"We are choosing hope over fear, we are choosing unity⁶ over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America," he said.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee won handily over his closest rival, Mitt Romney. Huckabee, an ordained⁷ Baptist minister, counted on strong support from evangelical Christians⁸. Speaking to supporters, he thanked the people of Iowa.

"I was not sure that I would ever be able to love a state as I love my home state of Arkansas, but tonight, I love Iowa a whole lot," he said.

Turnout for the caucuses was much larger than in previous years, partly because of the tightly contested races in both parties. This is the first time in more than 50 years that neither party has a president or vice⁹ president in the running.

The caucus¹ process here in Iowa was especially exciting on the Democratic side because of rules that allow participants to switch their allegiance if the candidate they came to support does not have enough votes to be considered viable¹⁰.

At one caucus location in West Des Moines, Democrats¹¹ came together in a school auditorium¹² to select delegates from the 212th precinct. After an initial count, the event chairman declared that Senator Joe Biden was not viable and his supporters then moved over to other candidates.

Karen Kraemer, who had been a leader of the pro-Biden group, told VOA why she decided¹³ to support Barack Obama rather than Hillary Clinton.

"I think Hillary has too high negative feeling and I really like Obama because I think he is really going to bring the country together," she said. "I think Joe Biden would have done a great job and I really think his foreign policy is his strength and Obama did not have it, but maybe he will make Joe Biden his secretary of state if he does not make it out of Iowa."

Now that the Iowa contest is over, the candidates move on to the first primary in this election year, which will be held in the state of New Hampshire next Tuesday.

1 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

2 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

3 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

4 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。

5 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

6 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

7 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

8 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

11 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》

12 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。