时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(八月)


英语课

 


Voters in Appalachia Struggling to Identify With Presidential Candidates



Rural Roane County Tennessee sits in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.


"It's really the heart of the bible belt," says Gary Johnston of Roane County Tea Party. "A lot of churches."


Though not far from the Democratic National Convention in the neighboring state of North Carolina, retired 2 musician Gary Johnston says the gap in views between those who live here, and those assembled to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term, are wide.


"I believe this country is doomed 3 if this President is elected for four more years," he adds.


Johnston is not happy with President Obama's health care legislation, which requires more Americans to purchase health insurance or face penalties. He is also upset with stimulus 4 programs put in place during the Presidents term in office. He is so passionately 5 opposed to President Obama, that he joined fellow conservative activists 6 to buy a billboard 7 saying "Obama or America - You can't have both."


"It means that you can either have America as you know it, or you can choose to keep this President and America will forever be changed," he says.


“I think some of these things are near treasonous quite frankly,” says teacher Gloria Johnson, a Democrat 1, passes the billboard on her way into the nearby city of Knoxville, where she faces an uphill battle in her race for a seat in the Republican controlled Tennessee legislature.


“It is tough to be the underdog sometimes,” says Johnson.


In a part of the country where voters have recently elected more Republicans into state office, Johnson is hoping to get a boost from younger Democrats 8 in Knoxville, like students at the University of Tennessee. But she knows that in order to win in November, she needs to win over some Republican voters.


“Most of my family are Republicans, and I don’t think that they feel Mitt 9 Romney is somebody who represents them," says Johnson. "A lot of Tennesseans don’t feel like Mitt Romney represents them.”


Gary Johnston says many people throughout lower income Appalachian communities in East Tennessee don’t identify with the Republican nominee 10 for President because Mitt Romney is wealthy and doesn't know what its like to be unemployed 11.


“I’ll begrudgingly 12 vote for him, though I think he’s a good man,” said Johnston.


Johnston says he is starting to warm up to both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan after watching television coverage 13 of the Republican National Convention in Tampa which he said "humanized" the Republican ticket.


Gloria Johnson hopes the same happens for President Obama in Charlotte, where as a delegate from Tennessee, she plans to cast her vote for his nomination 14 for a second term as President. 




1 democrat
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员
  • The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
  • About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后,他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。
2 retired
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
3 doomed
命定的
  • The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
  • A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。
4 stimulus
n.刺激,刺激物,促进因素,引起兴奋的事物
  • Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
  • Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。
5 passionately
ad.热烈地,激烈地
  • She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿,也能爱得一往情深。
  • He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。
6 activists
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 )
  • His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
  • Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 billboard
n.布告板,揭示栏,广告牌
  • He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
  • Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。
8 democrats
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )
  • 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》
9 mitt
n.棒球手套,拳击手套,无指手套;vt.铐住,握手
  • 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。
10 nominee
n.被提名者;被任命者;被推荐者
  • 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。
11 unemployed
adj.失业的,没有工作的;未动用的,闲置的
  • There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
  • The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。
12 begrudgingly
小气地,吝啬地
  • Then, begrudgingly, I clean up – which doesn't really take that much time. 于是,为了省钱,我打扫干净--那也不需要花很多时间。
  • His terrible directness made me feel peeved, and begrudgingly I conceded that he was right. 他的坦率让我恼火。我承认他是对的,但十分不甘心。
13 coverage
n.报导,保险范围,保险额,范围,覆盖
  • 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。
14 nomination
n.提名,任命,提名权
  • 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。