VOA常速英语2008年-Clinton and Obama in Tight Race, McCain Surges

By Greg Flakus
Chicago
06 February 2008

Voters went to the polls and to caucuses¹ in more than 20 states, Tuesday, providing both Democratic presidential candidates, New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, with significant wins. On the Republican side, Arizona Senator John McCain surged ahead of his main rival, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt² Romney. VOA's Greg Flakus has more from Chicago.

Super Tuesday's early results showed big wins for Hillary Clinton in some very delegate-rich states, including the state she represents, New York, and Arkansas, where she lived when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was governor. But she also won the state of Massachusetts, in spite of the fact that Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy had endorsed³ Obama. Clinton also scored victories in New Jersey⁴, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

Barack Obama won his home state of Illinois as well as Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Dakota and Kansas. Although Clinton won in the states with the largest delegate counts, Obama will still garner⁵ a large number of those delegates because the Democrats⁶ award them by proportion of the vote for each candidate.

The biggest Super Tuesday prize, California is still undecided.

On the Republican side, it was a good day for John McCain, who won seven states in the early hours of vote counting. Mitt Romney, so far, has won his home state of Massachusetts, Minnesota North Dakota and Utah. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee won his home state as well as West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. Both Huckabee and Romney say they will stay in the race, but analysts⁷ say the big wins by McCain have given him the momentum⁸ and the delegate lead that could help him clinch⁹ his party's nomination¹⁰ fairly soon.

In both parties, Super Tuesday was a watershed¹¹ in that it ended the phase of the campaign when candidates could win a state or two in hopes of building the perception of momentum. From now on it will be a flat-out contest for delegates.

The next contests will be this coming Saturday when Louisiana holds its Presidential primary, Kansas Republicans hold caucuses and Democrats hold caucuses in both Nebraska and the state of Washington. The process of selecting candidates for each party will culminate¹² in the national conventions. The Democrats will meet in Denver at the end of August and the Republicans will meet during the first week of September in Minneapolis.

1 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

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 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

5 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

9 clinch   

v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench

参考例句：

• Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
• We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元，请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。

10 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。

11 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

12 culminate   

v.到绝顶，达于极点，达到高潮

参考例句：

• The celebration of the centenary will culminate with a dinner.百年庆典活动将以宴会作为高潮。
• Everyone feared that the boundary dispute between these two countries would culminate in a war.人人都担心,这两国间的边境争端将以一场战争到达顶点。