Off-beat Candidates Take Center Stage in US Election Campaign

Off-beat Candidates Take Center Stage in US Election Campaign

WASHINGTON—

Two unusual candidates, one Republican and one Democrat¹, dominate the early stages of the U.S. presidential campaign. It is far too early to predict who will be the candidates facing off in the 2016 election. But the attention surrounding businessman Donald Trump² and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders signals that American voters are tired of the current state of political affairs.

Millions of Americans on opposite sides of the political spectrum³ have expressed discontent with "politics as usual." And they seem to think that few of the latest crop of presidential hopefuls can offer anything more than that.

Donald Trump

Real estate mogul Donald Trump has used people's discontent to his advantage.

"There's a tremendous movement going on and it's not about me. It's what I am saying. It's the message," he said.

Some political analysts⁴ have ridiculed⁵ Trump's hopes of becoming the Republican Party's nominee⁶ because of his tactless remarks and brash manner, as well as his lack of a clear political program. But opinion polls show him far ahead of the other candidates in the race for the Republican presidential nomination⁷.

At separate town hall meetings Wednesday in New Hampshire, Trump attracted about 2,000 people, while establishment favorite Jeb Bush drew only about 150. The former Florida governor, related to two former U.S. presidents, had been considered the front-runner when the race began.

"You need a Republican president that respects the constitution and and does not sign executive orders randomly⁸ as though it's easy to do," said Bush.

Bernie Sanders

On the Democratic side, U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders draws huge audiences wherever he appears. He has a very clear agenda — one that appeals to disadvantaged citizens.

"No one takes seriously the idea that maybe, just maybe, we need a political revolution in America," he said.

Sanders has been an outspoken⁹ critic of modern capitalism¹⁰ and his call for a more equal income distribution resonates with voters, but critics say his socialist¹¹ agenda will not help him win his party's nomination.

Former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton still leads the polls in that race.

"We are going to work toward opportunity. We are going to make us once again be a country where we don't turn our backs on anybody," she said.

Regardless of the attention they get, neither Trump nor Sanders is widely expected to win his party's nomination to run in the 2016 election. But analysts say they have forced other candidates to address contentious¹² issues such as immigration and the growing rich-poor gap.

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 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。

3 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

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。

8 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

9 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

10 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

11 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

12 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。