VOA标准英语2012--Romney Leads Republican Race as Long Battle Looms

Romney Leads Republican Race as Long Battle Looms¹

With victories in six of the 10 states on Super Tuesday [March 6], Romney is urging supporters to stay the course.

“And so we will go, day by day, step by step, door by door, heart to heart,” said Romney.

Southern primaries

But the Republican race now heads to Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday, March 13. And that offers new opportunities for Romney’s rivals, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich.

“We are staying in this race because I believe that it is going to be impossible for a moderate to win the general election,” said Gingrich.

Romney continues to struggle to win over conservatives and likely will face setbacks in the upcoming southern primaries, said analyst² Henry Olsen of the American Enterprise Institute.

“That means he is going to continue to slog through, picking up a delegate here, 20 delegates there, until he gets to some winner-take-all states that show up in June. But he is not going to put this away anytime soon,” said Olsen.

Romney’s opponents hope to slow him down enough to force a contested Republican convention in August, said ABC political strategist Matthew Dowd.

“By throwing a bunch of roadblocks in front, winning a bunch of states, keeping him from that number, and they hope to show how weak he is going into the convention, and basically turning to the convention and saying, 'you cannot nominate this guy,'” said Dowd.

Former first lady weighs in

The contentious³ and lengthy⁴ primary campaign worries former first lady Barbara Bush and other establishment Republicans.

“It’s been, I think, the worst campaign that I have ever seen in my life. I just hate it. I hate the fact that people think compromise is a dirty word,” she said.

Some Republicans do worry that the negative primary campaign has hurt Romney’s chances against President Barack Obama in November, said Olsen.

“And he is demonstrating flaws as a candidate, a lack of adeptness⁵, a coldness and a tone-deafness that is hurting him a little bit now, but people projecting forward are very worried that it is going to hurt him against an extremely well-financed and agile⁶ opponent,” said Olsen.

Romney leads the delegate count with more than 400 at the moment, about a third of 1,144 needed to secure the Republican nomination⁷.

1 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

3 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

4 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

5 adeptness   

n.熟练，老练

参考例句：

• His quick adeptness was a product of good design. 好的设计令他做起来迅速而熟练。 来自互联网
• Quiet, roomy cabin and adeptness overshadowed by cumbersome curb weight, soft suspenders, and a tacky dash. 安静，宽敞和越野却受累于其笨拙的体重，柔软的悬挂和俗不可耐的仪表板。 来自互联网

6 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

7 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。