VOA慢速英语--克林顿奋力赢得桑德斯的支持者

AS IT IS 2016-07-26 Clinton Struggles to Win Over Sanders Supporters 克林顿奋力赢得桑德斯的支持者

Efforts to unite the Democratic Party behind Hillary Clinton suffered a setback¹ as the party began its four-day convention in Philadelphia.

The release of emails, hacked² from the Democratic National Committee, showed what supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders suspected: the party’s leadership favored Clinton over Sanders.

The Vermont senator ran a stronger than expected challenge to Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination⁵. He received strong support from young voters.

Clinton, who won strong support from African-Americans and older Democratic voters, is scheduled to accept the Democratic nomination on Thursday.

Clinton supports Sanders’ calls to reduce income inequality and says she has the experience as a former secretary of state, a U.S. senator and a First Lady to be an effective president.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is head of the Democratic Party. Angry Sanders supporters booed Wasserman Schultz as she spoke⁶ to delegates from her home state of Florida at a Monday morning meeting.

On Monday, Sanders spoke to his own delegates and urged them to support Clinton for president. That request was also met with boos from some of his supporters.

He responded, “This is the real world.” Sanders said electing Clinton is the only way to stop Donald Trump⁷, whom he called "a bully⁸ and a demagogue.”

Some Sanders delegates were angry about the released emails. In one of the emails, a Democratic official hoped to use Sanders' religious beliefs against him.

Kira Willig is a Florida attorney and a Sanders delegate at the Democratic National Convention. She held up a sign that said “emails” as Wasserman Schultz spoke at the Florida delegation⁹ breakfast Monday.

Willig said it is wrong for the Clinton campaign to bring on Wasserman Schultz, a Democratic congresswoman from Florida, to an official leadership position on her campaign.

“Hillary, her delegates, and the Democratic National Committee should apologize and admit what happened was wrong,” Willig told VOA. “Then we can all move on to keep Trump out of office.”

After the breakfast, Wasserman Schultz told a Florida newspaper she will not open and close the Democratic convention, which is usually done by the party chairwoman. She is also giving up the chairwoman’s position after the convention ends Thursday night.

Patrick Miller¹⁰ is a political scientist at the University of Kansas. He does not expect the “drama” at last week’s Republican convention and the start of this week’s Democratic convention to have a big effect.

Donald Trump had his own problems with unity¹¹ at last week’s Republican convention. His top challenger for the Republican nomination, Texas Senator Ted⁴ Cruz, spoke to the convention and refused to endorse¹² him for president.

Miller said, “It is understandable that the Sanders supporters are mad, but the Clinton campaign moved to minimize the damage by getting President Obama to ask Wasserman Schultz to step down.They are trying to make these emails into a one-day story.”

Questions raised on Russian involvement

CrowdStrike, a computer security firm that looked into the hacking¹³ of Democratic computers, blamed two Russian intelligence-affiliated organizations. The FBI said it is investigating how thousands of Democratic emails ended up in the hands of WikiLeaks, which released them last Friday.

Clinton campaign manager John Podesta said the emails may have been released because Russian President Vladimir Putin favors Trump’s views on protecting Europe from Russia over Clinton’s. Trump called those claims a “joke.”

“The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous¹⁴ emails, which never should have been written (stupid) Because Putin likes me.” Trump said in a Twitter message.

Trump gained in opinion polls

Opinion polls released after the Republican National Convention showed an increase in support for Trump. Fivethirtyeight.com founder¹⁵ Nate Silver said the latest polls show “Trump turned a deficit¹⁶ of about 3 points into a one-point lead.”

Arthur Lupia is a political scientist at the University of Michigan. The next few days, Lupia said, give Clinton a chance to tell voters watching the Democratic convention “how her presidency¹⁷ can improve their quality of life.”

Lupia adds that Clinton is likely to appeal to “moderate Republicans who find themselves uncomfortable with some of Donald Trump's positions on trade, international alliances, and immigration.”

Words in This Story

hack³ -- v. to take information from a computer without permission

boo -- v. a sound that people make to show they do not like or approve of someone or something

respond -- v. to do something as a reaction to something that has happened or been done

bully -- n. someone who frightens, hurts, or threatens smaller or weaker people

demagogue -- n. a political leader who tries to get support by making false claims and promises and using arguments based on emotion rather than reason

belief -- n. a feeling of being sure that someone or something exists or that something is true

drama -- n. a situation or series of events that is exciting and that affects people's emotions

poll -- n. an activity in which several or many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to get information about what most people think about something

1 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

2 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

3 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

4 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

5 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。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 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。

8 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

9 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

10 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

11 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

12 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

13 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

14 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

15 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

16 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。

17 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。