2015考研英语阅读共和党党内提名

　　The Republican nomination

　　共和党党内提名

　　It s showtime

　　表演正当时

　　The Republicans are, at last, seriously getting onwith choosing a candidate to take on Barack Obamanext year

　　共和党终于认真物色候选人参加明年大选，与奥巴马一决高下

　　IT HAS been said so often that it has come to look self-evident. But is the Republican field inthe race for next years presidential election really so weak? Democrats said much the sameabout their own candidates in 1991, only to see Bill Clinton capture the White House.

　　选局再明显不过了。然而共和党阵营在明年的总统大选中真的不堪一击吗?1991年民主党也认为自己的候选人没有胜算，但最终比尔??克林顿赢得了大选，入主白宫。

　　True, Americans take a dim view of the field so far, if recent surveys by the Pew ResearchCentre and the Washington Post are to believed. Only 25% had a good impression of the likelycandidates. Many stars have decided to sit this race out. But this week brought a surprise. Lessthan a week after announcing that he was running again, Mitt Romney, who came second toJohn McCain in 2008, found himself head-to-head, at 47% each, against Barack Obama in aWashington Post/ABC poll. Maybe the president is not unassailable after all.

　　事实上，要是皮尤研究中心和华盛顿邮报近期所做的调查属实的话，美国人对共和党参选阵营持悲观态度。只有25%的人对共和党大选候选人持好印象。许多政治明星人物都决定独善其身，隔岸观火。然而本周爆出了一个惊人的消息。根据华盛顿邮报和美国广播公司进行的调查，在米特??罗姆尼宣布第二次参选的几天后，就与巴拉克??奥巴马各获得47%的支持率。也许总统之位并非遥不可及。2008年米特??罗姆尼曾和同为共和党籍的约翰??麦凯恩一起参加党内提名选举，后宣布退出。

　　That said, Mr Romney is the clear front-runner . The others have a lot of ground to makeup before they can match his combination of namerecognition and financial resources.

　　据称罗姆尼的领先优势十分明显。其他人要想与他的知名度与财富相匹及，恐怕还有许多方面尚需完善。

　　Consider Tim Pawlenty, the former governor ofMinnesota. An evangelical Christian who balanced hisstates budget has obvious appeal both to thepartys social conservatives and its fiscal hawks.And yet his mild public manner makes his policiesseem less threatening than those of other conservatives to voters in the middle. In theory,this is the ideal place to start. The trick for any candidate is going to be winning thenomination of a party that the tea-party movement has driven sharply to the right withoutalienating too many of the voters in the centre on whom final victory will depend.

　　我们来看看前明尼苏达州州长蒂姆??普兰提。这位虔诚的福音派神学基督教徒将明尼苏达州治理的井井有条，预算平衡，使得党内的社会保守派人士以及财政鹰派人士都对他青睐有加。此外，此人气质温和，这也使得中间选民觉得他的执政策略要比其他保守派人士的威胁性要少一些。理论上讲，他获得了一个理想的开局。所有候选人手段用尽的最终目的都是为了赢得党内提名，茶党运动把党内提名选举推向了极端右翼趋势，但此举没有失去可以左右最终结果的中间派选民的支持。

　　As a wolf in sheeps clothing, Mr Pawlenty has become a favourite among political insiders. Butaccording to the Pew survey, less than half of America has ever heard of him. Afterannouncing his candidacy from Iowa at the end of May, Mr Pawlenty has now embarked on thelong slog of making his name more widely known. At a speech this week at the University ofChicago he set out his economic stall firmly on the right, promising to slash the size ofgovernment and boost growth by simplifying income taxes, cutting corporate taxes andeliminating taxes on capital gains, dividends and inheritance. Critics dismissed his plans asfantasy.

　　普兰提可谓一只披着羊皮的狼，颇受政界人士欢迎。不过根据皮尤研究中心所做的调查，只有不到一半的美国人知道此人。五月底，普兰提在爱荷华州宣布参选。此后，为了提高知名度，他进行了一连串的造势活动，本周他在芝加哥大学进行了一场演讲，宣布要坚定的实行右翼倾向的经济政策，承诺大幅度缩减政府规模，降低所得税和公司税，取消资本收益税、股息和遗产税，以此来促进经济发展。然而批评家则认为他的计划不过是不切实际的空中楼阁罢了。

　　One other former governor, Gary Johnson of New Mexico, has joined the race and a second,Jon Huntsman of Utah, is on the point of formally doing so. Mr Johnson is a rank outsider, butMr Huntsman is exciting interest as a more charismatic version of the front-runner.

　　前新墨西哥州州长加里??约翰逊以及犹他州州长洪博培都宣布参与党内提名选举，约翰逊属于冷门候选人，然而洪博培却野心勃勃，希望成为魅力超凡的领先者。

　　Like Mr Romney, he has good looks and a successful record in business. He was popular forpresiding over Utahs biggest-ever tax cut. But like Mr Romney he is a Mormon, still a handicapin presidential races. And he too carries some baggage that will alienate the Republican base.

　　和罗姆尼一样，洪博培相貌英俊，从商成绩斐然。因领导犹他州实施有史以来最大的减税案而备受欢迎。然而他和罗姆尼一样都是摩门教徒，这一点成为了他赢得总统竞选的一大障碍。而且他本人所持的某些理念也造成了他和共和党之间存在着摩擦。

　　Mr Romneys problem is that he pioneered in Massachusetts a version of the hated Obamacare the Republicans vow to repeal. Mr Huntsmans is that he accepted Mr Obamas offer of being ambassador to China and said nice things about his boss. More troubling to the Republican base are the support he expressed for the presidents economic stimulus package in 2009, his moderate position on civil unions for gay couples and his participation, when governor, in a regional cap-and-trade scheme. Nate Silver, a polling analyst for the New York Times, argues that none of the other contenders had adopted so many moderate positions, and that this put the former ambassadors chances of winning the nomination near zero.

　　罗姆尼的问题在于他曾在马萨诸塞州倡导奥巴马推行的医改政策，而这一政策恰恰是共和党人发誓要根除的眼中钉。而洪博培的问题则在于他曾接受奥巴马总统的任命担任美国驻华大使，并且对奥巴马总统这位老板极尽溢美之词。洪博培曾公开支持奥巴马总统于2009年提出的一揽子经济刺激计划，对于同性夫妻同居一事采取温和态度，时任犹他州州长之时参与了地区总量管制和交易规则的推行，这些都令共和党恼怒不已。纽约时报民调专家内特??希尔表示：没有哪位提名竞争者采取了如此之多的温和态度，这样一来，这位前大使赢得党内提名的可能性几乎为零。

　　Messrs Romney, Pawlenty and Huntsman are seen as candidates who, if they could win the nomination, stand a fair chance of doing well against Mr Obama. Others might be called the insurgentsthose with less appeal to the mainstream voter but eager followers in the base. The best-known of these is Sarah Palin. Whereas only 32% of Americans have heard of Mr Huntsman, says Pew, the former governor of Alaska is now familiar to a whopping 97% of Americans.

　　罗姆尼、普兰提和洪博培这三位候选人，不论哪一位赢得党内提名，都将在明年的总统选举中与奥巴马旗鼓相当。其他候选人或许可以称之为捣乱分子-这些人得不到主流投票者的支持，但是在共和党铁杆追随者中却有很大的号召力。其中最著名的当数萨拉??佩林。据皮尤研究中心提供的数据，这位前阿拉斯加州长在全美知名度高达97%，而洪博培却只有32%。

　　Since being chosen as Mr McCains running-mate in 2008, Mrs Palin has courted publicity tirelessly, most recently with the One Nation bus tour she launched in Washington, DC, on Memorial Day. Not all the publicity has been favourable, however. For example, she was widely mocked after giving a mangled account in Boston of Paul Reveres famous ride and refusing to admit her mistake.

　　自2008年成为麦凯恩的竞选伙伴起，佩林女士便孜孜不倦的进行宣传造势活动，最近一次宣传活动是在阵亡将士纪念日这一天，她在华盛顿特区发起的名为同一个国家的公车巡游活动。然而并非所有的宣传活动都受到民众欢迎。举例来说，有一次她因为歪解著名的保罗??里维尔夜骑的故事而成为了众人的笑柄，她本人则拒绝承认错误。

　　Reveregate exemplifies Mrs Palins problem as a candidate. Nobody knows whether she seriously intends to join the race or, if she does, how seriously to take her. Although she has fiercely loyal fans , she inspires fierce dislike as well. The Washington Post/ABC poll found two out of three Americans saying they would definitely not vote for herand more than six out of ten said she was not qualified to be president.

　　里维尔门事件说明了佩林女士作为候选人的问题所在。没有人知道她是否是认真地打算参加选举，抑或她准备拿出多少诚意来参加选举。尽管她拥有很多铁杆支持者，但是人们还是不怎么喜欢她。据华盛顿邮报和美国广播公司所做的民意测验，三分之二的美国人表示他们决不会投票给她，超过十分之六的美国人认为她不够格做美国总统。