VOA标准英语2012--Obama and Romney Locked in Tight Race

Obama and Romney Locked in Tight Race 

At a New York fundraiser featuring singer Ricky Martin, President Obama's supporters applauded his recent announcement in support of same sex marriage.

"We have never gone wrong when we expanded rights and responsibilities to everybody," said President Obama. "That doesn’t weaken families. That strengthens families.”

Public opinion polls show Americans divided on the issue of same sex marriage.

The presumptive Republican nominee¹, Mitt² Romney, spoke³ out in favor of traditional marriage at Liberty University, a Christian-oriented university in Virginia.

“Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman," said Romney.

Gallup pollster Frank Newport says the issue could help Romney rally conservative voters.

“So I think it could turn out to be a plus for Romney in that it will motivate a lot of his supporters to perhaps be more energetic than they were otherwise," said Newport. "Whether it will change people’s minds who are kind of in the middle is a little difficult to tell at this point.”

Democrats⁴ believe the president’s change of heart on gay marriage will help him in November.

But Republican House Speaker John Boehner says the economy remains⁵ the critical issue.

“And the president and the Democrats can talk about all this all they want," said Boehner. "But the fact is the American people are focused on our economy and they are asking the question, where are the jobs?”

An improving economy is crucial to the president’s re-election chances, says Brookings analyst⁶ Thomas Mann.

“Wages are stagnant⁷, unemployment is high and people are pretty discouraged about the state of the economy," said Mann. "And each time it appears we are really coming out of it, then we have a setback⁸ again.”

Obama supporters are running a new ad critical of Mitt Romney’s business career.

“Bain Capital always made money. If we lost, they made money," stated the ad.

The Romney campaign is firing back with a video of its own defending his record.

“When others shied away, Mitt Romney’s private sector⁹ leadership team stepped in," said the Romney ad.

With less than six months before Election Day, neither candidate appears to have a big advantage, says pollster Frank Newport.

“You put it all together and my conclusion looking at it is that it is a very close race at this point," he said. "In fact when we asked people who would you vote for if the election were today, voters in America, basically it is tied at about 46 [percent] to 46.”

And a race that experts say will likely remain close right up until November. 

1 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

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 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。

4 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》

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

8 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。

9 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。