Obama tries to repeat Virginia win with bus tour

 WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday embarked¹ on a two-day bus tour into the battleground state of Virginia, hoping to repeat his 2008 win in the state.

Obama's Virginia tour on Friday included three stops, including speeches at two high schools in Virginia Beach and Hampton, and remarks at an event at a Fire Station in Roanoke. He will participate in two more events in the state on Saturday.

Obama used the speeches to drive home his latest message on tax, a proposal to extend Bush-era tax cuts for those making less than 250,000 dollars a year, accusing Republicans of holding tax cuts " hostage" and not being "serious" on deficit² reduction, as the GOP wants to extend the tax cuts for the top two percent of earners.

The president also hammered the GOP for the latest attempt to overturn the healthcare reform law, which was upheld by the Supreme³ Court last month. He attacked Mitt⁴ Romney on his investments when he was working at Bain Capital, a private equity⁵ firm. The Obama campaign has accused Romney of investing in companies that outsourced American jobs.

The Virginia bus tour was the second one since Obama announced his reelection bid, following a two-day bus tour last week through battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. He carried all three states in the 2008 election.

1 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

2 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 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。

5 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。