VOA常速英语2008年-Clinton, Obama Hold Final Debate Ahead of Cruci

By Greg Flakus
San Antonio, Texas
27 February 2008

With one week to go before crucial primaries in the large, delegate rich states of Texas and Ohio, the two remaining Democratic presidential candidates, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, met in a televised debate Tuesday. The debate was held in Cleveland, Ohio and broadcast by the MSNBC cable channel. VOA's Greg Flakus has more on the story from San Antonio, Texas.

The two candidates clashed early on in the debate over the issues of health care and free trade, but their answers revealed only minor¹ differences between them on those issues. What drove the conflict was the question of which side had acted unfairly towards the other.

Clinton accused Obama of misrepresenting her position on those issues in printed pamphlet that his campaign mailed to voters in Ohio.

"What I find regrettable is that in Senator Obama's mailing that he has sent out across Ohio it is almost as if the health insurance companies and the Republicans wrote it," she said.

Clinton said her plan covers all Americans, whereas the plan put forward by Obama would leave millions of people without coverage².

Obama responded that the only difference between their two plans was that his would not force people to buy the insurance, but would make it available to everyone. He also brushed aside Clinton's complaints about his mailings.

"Senator Clinton, in her campaign, has constantly sent out negative attacks on us, emails, mobile calls, flyers, television ads, radio calls, and we have not whined³ about it because I understand that is the nature of these campaigns," he said.

Clinton in recent days has questioned the readiness of her opponent to be commander in chief, saying that he does not have the experience in office that she has. In the debate she reiterated⁴ some of her points, saying that, in a previous debate, he had said he would bomb Pakistan and that he would meet with dictators around the world without any preconditions.

Obama denied that he had said he would bomb Pakistan and said he, as president, would take action against terrorists hiding in that nation's remote areas if he had intelligence indicating where they were and Pakistan could not or would not act.

He also questioned Senator Clinton's judgment⁵ in voting to authorize⁶ President Bush to go to war in Iraq.

"On the most important foreign policy decision that we faced in a generation, whether or not to go into Iraq, I was very clear as to why we should not, that it would fan the flames of anti-American sentiment, that it would distract us from Afghanistan, that it would cost us billions of dollars, thousands of lives and not make us more safe and I do not believe it has made us more safe," he said.

Later in the debate, Clinton made her clearest statement to date on that issue, admitting that her vote had been a mistake.

"Although my vote on the 2002 authorization⁷ regarding Iraq was a sincere vote, I would not have voted that way again. I would certainly, as president, never have taken us to war in Iraq," she said.

There were no dramatic moments in this debate where one or the other of the two candidates scored a major advance over the other, but it did give them both a chance to expand on their positions on some important issues ahead of the March 4 contests, in which voters in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island will go to the polls.

Early voting has already started here in Texas and many districts are reporting huge increases in voter turnout over past elections. Clinton has campaigned hard here among Hispanics, women and laborers⁸, but Obama seems to have excited enthusiastic support from blacks and young voters. He has now drawn⁹ even with her in the polls here and in Ohio, both states where she had been in the lead only a few weeks ago. Senator Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, campaigning here in Texas last week, said that she needs to win both states to remain in the race.

1 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

2 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

3 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

4 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

5 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

6 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

7 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

8 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。