Obama, Romney exchange barbs as jobs number improves

 Obama, Romney exchange barbs¹ as jobs number improves

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt² Romney intensified³ attacks against each other on Friday, as they reacted to a newly improved jobs number.

Obama, who was campaigning in Virginia, said at a rally that " today's news is certainly not an excuse to try and talk down the economy to score a few political points. It's a reminder⁴ that this country has come too far to turn back now."

He was referring to the Labor⁵ Department's announcement that the unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest level since January 2009 and below the psychological threshold of 8.0 percent.

However, Romney and other Republicans continued their offensive, saying the jobs report was nowhere near good enough.

"There were fewer jobs created this month than last month," Romney said at a rally in Abingdon, Virginia, referring to the revised August figure. "The unemployment rate has come down very, very slowly but it has come down nonetheless. And the reason it has come down this year is that more and more people have just stopped looking for work."

Some conservatives questioned the jobs number, crying conspiracy⁶. Jack⁷ Welch, former head of General Electric, tweeted " unbelievable jobs numbers... these Chicago guys will do anything.. can't debate so change numbers."

Florida Republican Rep. Allen West wrote on Facebook that " somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the presidential election."

The accusations⁸ were dismissed by the White House. Josh Earnest, the White House deputy spokesman, told reporters on Obama's campaign trail that the conspiracy theories were "utter nonsense."

"Anybody -- any serious person who has any familiarity with how these numbers are tabulated⁹ understands that these are career employees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics that are responsible for compiling and analyzing¹⁰ these numbers, and they do that on their own," said Earnest.

Jen Psaki, an Obama campaign spokeswoman, told reporters that " we also saw Mitt Romney say that this was the result of people removing themselves from the workforce¹¹. That's false. So it shouldn't come as a surprise given this week he's been playing pretty fast and loose with the facts."

1 barbs   

n.（箭头、鱼钩等的）倒钩( barb的名词复数 )；带刺的话；毕露的锋芒；钩状毛

参考例句：

• She slung barbs at me. 她说了些讥刺我的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I would no longer uncomplainingly accept their barbs or allow their unaccountable power to go unchallenged. 我不会再毫无怨言地洗耳恭听他们带刺的话，或让他们的不负责任的权力不受到挑战。 来自辞典例句

2 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。

3 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

7 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

8 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。

9 tabulated   

把（数字、事实）列成表( tabulate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Results for the test program haven't been tabulated. 试验的结果还没有制成表格。
• A large number of substances were investigated and the relevant properties tabulated. 已经研究了多种物质，并将有关性质列成了表。

10 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

11 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。