Obama defends campaign, jabs Republicans

 WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday defended his campaign, denying accusations¹ that he is running a negative reelection campaign, while jabbing the Republicans.

In an impromptu² news conference at the White House, Obama said he felt "very comfortable with the fact that when you look at the campaign we're running, we are focused on the issues and the differences that are important to working families all across America."

The Republicans have been accusing Obama of running a negative campaign, focused on attacking his Republican challenger Mitt³ Romney, especially on Romney's tenure⁴ at the private equity⁵ firm Bain Capital and his reluctance⁶ to release tax returns, than talking about issues important to the American people.

Obama said he and Romney have different visions on how to fix the economy, Medicare, taxes, energy and education, adding "that's what I talk about on the campaign."

Answering questions raised by reporters, Obama noted⁷ pressing Romney to release tax returns is not "in any way out of bounds," saying "if you want to be president of the United States, then your life's an open book when it comes to things like your finances."

"People want to know that everybody's been playing by the same rules, including people who are seeking the highest office in the land," said Obama.

Obama also used the opportunity to jab at Republicans, denouncing comments of Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin⁸ about "legitimate⁹ rape¹⁰," calling them "offensive."

Akin, a U.S. Representative who's seeking the Senate seat held by Democrat¹¹ Claire McCaskill, told a Sunday interview that a woman 's body could prevent pregnancy¹² in the case of a "legitimate rape. " The comments caused a firestorm, and could potentially reverse the race between Akin and McCaskill, which Akin leads.

Obama, who held advantage over Romney in female voters, criticized the flap Monday by saying "we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."

"Rape is rape, and the idea that we should be parsing¹³ and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we're talking about doesn't make sense to the American people -- and certainly doesn't make sense to me," said Obama.

Asked if Republicans should pressure Akin to quit the campaign in favor of another GOP candidate, Obama said: "I'll let them sort that out."

1 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

2 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

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 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

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。

6 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

9 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

10 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

11 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。

12 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

13 parsing   

n.分[剖]析，分解v.从语法上描述或分析（词句等）( parse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A parsing program, or parser, is also called a recognizer. 分析过程又称作识别程序。 来自辞典例句
• This chapter describes a technique for parsing using the bottom-up method. 本章介绍一种使用自底向上方法的分析技术。 来自辞典例句