VOA标准英语2008年-Democratic Primaries Nearing an End

By Paula Wolfson
White House
01 June 2008

Democrats¹ in the United States cast their final ballots² this week in primary elections for the party's presidential nomination³. Senator Hillary Clinton has won a commanding victory in the Democratic presidential primary election held in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico Sunday. Despite Clinton's victory, party frontrunner Obama has drawn⁴ close to claiming the party's presidential nomination. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports party officials say they want the hard-fought race to come to an end so the process of unifying⁵ Democrats behind one candidate can begin.

Months after the first primaries and caucuses⁷ were held in the snows of Iowa and New Hampshire, the long primary process is coming to an end with early summer contests in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.
　

Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (l) and Sen. Barack Obama Cleveland (file photo)

At this point, Illinois Senator Barack Obama has an overall lead in delegates pledged to vote for him at the national party convention in August.

But New York Senator Hillary Clinton has won more votes overall - with primary victories in such populous⁸ states as California and Texas.

Both are appealing to a pool of convention delegates that are not determined⁹ by primary or caucus⁶ results and are free to vote as they choose at the party convention. They are likely to provide the winning edge.
　

Howard Dean, 31 May 2008

Party Chairman Howard Dean is urging these so-called super delegates to make up their minds as quickly as possible.

He appeared on the ABC television broadcast This Week.

"This needs to end in the month of June," said Dean. "We do not want to go to the convention and have a big fight at the convention and lose the presidency¹⁰."

Dean acknowledges the nomination process has created deep divisions in the party, and says Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will have to come together to heal the wounds.

"They know that," he said. "These are two real professional folks who have been around a long time. And I think they value their country more than their party and that is the most important thing."

He spoke¹¹ one day after Democratic Party officials announced an agreement aimed at resolving a dispute over primary election votes in two key states: Florida and Michigan.

Both stood to lose all their convention delegates because they defied party rules by holding their primaries too early.

In a compromise, party officials agreed to include delegates from both states, but to give each delegate only half a vote.

The Clinton campaign - which won both states - took strong issue with the allocation of delegates. In a number of Sunday television interviews, campaign officials were defiant¹², and called the decision unfair.

Campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe said the battle for the nomination will go on until either candidate gets a majority of the convention delegates.

"We are not going anywhere until someone has the magic number to become the nominee¹³ of the party," he said.

Top Obama supporters say they do not expect an imminent¹⁴ end to the campaign. But they do say they have the momentum¹⁵, and they expect more super delegates to fall into their column in the coming days.

Former Congressman¹⁶ David Bonior says the trend is moving in Senator Obama's direction. And he indicates the Obama campaign is ready to start mending fences with Senator Clinton and look ahead to the general election campaign against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.

"This has been a difficult, long arduous¹⁷ race for all the candidates involved," said Bonior. "And she has fought with a lot of courage and Senator Clinton has broken some barriers here, important barriers. And I think it is important for people to understand that and they need to be respected for that, for the efforts they have made."

Bonior appeared on the Fox News Sunday television program.

1 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》

2 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 unifying   

使联合( unify的现在分词 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• In addition, there were certain religious bonds of a unifying kind. 此外，他们还有某种具有一种统一性质的宗教上的结合。
• There is a unifying theme, and that is the theme of information flow within biological systems. 我们可以用一个总的命题，把生物学系统内的信息流来作为这一研究主题。

6 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。

7 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

8 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 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。

11 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。

12 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

13 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。

14 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

15 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

16 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

17 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。