时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA2004(上)--美国大选


英语课


 


Stephanie Ho


U.S. presidential candidates have broken fundraising records as they head into the 2004 election year. Raising money to pay for election campaigns has become an essential part of American politics.
President Bush made headlines recently with news that during 2003, his campaign had already raised more than $130 million for his re-election bid. This figure broke a previous record of $100 million that he set in 2000.
The Democratic candidate with the most money, Howard Dean, raised more than $40 million in 2003, an amount that shattered the one-year record for Democratic party presidential campaign fundraising.
Candidates from either party can accept federal funds for their campaigns, but they must abide 1 by spending limits. Mr. Bush, Mr. Dean, and another Democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry, have all opted 2 out of the system. As the leading challenger, Mr. Dean still only has about one-fourth of the president's financial war chest. At a recent Democratic debate, he contended that he and his fellow candidates are at a serious disadvantage. "The front-runner in this campaign is George W. Bush, and all the powerful people who've given him millions of dollars and benefited from his policies," he said.
The importance of money is evident in the amount of time presidential candidates, including the incumbent 3 president, spend fundraising.
At a fundraiser in Maryland in December, President Bush thanked donors 5, and said he hopes their financial support will translate into votes for him at the polls. "I want to thank you for your contributions," he said. "I also want to thank you for the contribution of time you're going to make."
Why does money matter? Steve Weiss, of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks money in American politics and its effect on elections, says money helps improve a candidate's chances of success.
"In elections overall, roughly nine out of ten times, the candidate who spends the most money wins the elections," he said. "That's most often true in congressional elections, but the same principle applies to presidential elections. Money doesn't buy you elections, but it can go a long way to strengthening your candidacy."
Republicans historically have raised more money than their Democratic rivals. But Joe Sandler, a lawyer who served as in-house legal counsel for the Democratic National Committee for five years in the 1990s, says that has not stopped Democratic candidates from winning elections.
"We were vastly outspent in 1992, when we won the presidency," he said. "We were vastly outspent in 1996, when President Clinton was the first Democratic president to be re-elected in 40 year, and so - we don't need, we need enough to be competitive. We don't have any illusions it will ever be at parity 6."
That underdog spirit is apparently 7 driving Carol Moseley Braun, the only woman in a field of nine Democratic presidential candidates. Before the presidential election, the former Illinois senator is reported to have raised only several hundred thousand dollars and was trailing in nationwide support.
"While you know you start off being different, you have to campaign differently," she said. "And we've done the best we can within the resources that we have to get around to the states that are involved in this process. I have work done more with less money."
As states go through their own Democratic caucuses 8 and primaries, candidates who lack electoral support will have trouble raising money and will be forced to quit the race.
"The ability to raise money, and fundraising itself, is hugely important. It signals a well-organized campaign," said Steve Weiss from the Center for Responsive Politics. "It shows strength and the enhanced ability to win an election. And it shows popular support as well. If you're not raising much money, it just doesn't bode 9 well for your campaign in a number of respects."
Mr. Weiss, whose group tracks the influence of money in politics, says voters would be wise to not only pay attention to which candidates are raising the most money, but also to which groups or individuals may be contributing money, in hopes of influencing the various candidates.


注释:
fundraising [fQnd5reiziN] adj. 筹款的
essential [i5senFEl] n. 要素,要点
opted out of 退出,辞职
incumbent [in5kQmbEnt] n. 现任者
donor 4 [5dEunE] n. 捐款人
candidacy [5kAndidEsi] n. 候选人的地位,候选资格
vastly [5vB:stli] adj. 大量的,巨额的
illusion [i5lu:VEn] n. 幻想
underdog [5QndEdC^] n. 居于下风者
involved [in5vClvd] adj. (常与in连用)与……关系密切的(有牵连的)
individual [7indi5vidjuEl] n. 个体



1 abide
vi.遵守;坚持;vt.忍受
  • You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
  • If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部,你就得遵守它的规章。
2 opted
v.选择,挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )
  • She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
  • After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。
3 incumbent
adj.成为责任的,有义务的;现任的,在职的
  • He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
  • It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。
4 donor
n.捐献者;赠送人;(组织、器官等的)供体
  • In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下,接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
  • The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。
5 donors
n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 );献血者;捐血者;器官捐献者
  • Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去,请给我们发电子邮件。
  • About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 parity
n.平价,等价,比价,对等
  • The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
  • Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。
7 apparently
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
8 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
  • 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
9 bode
v.预示
  • These figures do not bode well for the company's future.这些数字显示出公司的前景不妙。
  • His careful habits bode well for his future.他那认真的习惯预示著他会有好的前途。
学英语单词
amalgamated consolidation
angustior
anticipated loss
antipoverty
automatic terminal information service
axle bolt
Beekfoot
bogaert
bosher
bounded jet
cape ra.
cfm
chemical engine hose
circuities
concurring
consolidation of stock
construction contract
cooling module
Dartmoor pony
defossilization
DESCOM
Distomatales
does a bear shit in the woods
dragged down
electoral court
embryomata
fast facsimile
female chests
fever with aversion to cold
following grouting
Fraxinus rhynchophylla
freies
fresh water goby
funboarder
Graef rotor
guaiacolates
Guerin process
hangerock
have a suit to
high speed reader
high-frequency microvoltmeter
high-speed test controller
imported cabbageworm
intracaudal
iron roll rice polisher
KCM
kerosene blast burner
Lage Zwaluwe
lionesque
locofoco
mediums
microprocessor based information system
Muraenolepididae
neutron excess number
nickel-rich
nmdar
nonrectilinear correlation
orientation phase
passenger number fluctuation coefficient
per nasal
perception(of)light
Pinoy
plaque mutants
preinstall
Pteroceras
quartz (controlled) oscillator
queloz
radar communication
railroad
redox resin
rhinocryptid
Rhizobacter
river gravel
robert floyd curl jr.s
rotating guide vane (rgv)
roundleaf bats
Saxbe fix
screen magnifier
Seller financing
shomyo
signed magnitude arithmetical
slap chip
sociodynamics
sparkling pistol
special emergency
spending boom
sports circles
spousy
Squad Halt
square stone
subtractive polarity
Tabacal, R.
teracycle
three circles theorem
too-close
translation memory
tungsten oxydifluoride
Turkistan
two component system
visual meteor
water roller
zduriencik