2013年自考英語(二)課文譯文:競選運動

　　競選運動

　　Although presidential elections occur every 4 years, many people feel that they do not have a true understanding of how presidential campaigns operate.

　　盡管總統(tǒng)選舉每四年舉行一次，許多人還是感到他們并沒有真正理解總統(tǒng)競選是如何進行的。

　　The winner in the November general election is almost certain to be either the Republican or the Democratic nominee. A minor-party or independent candidate, such as George Wallace in 1968, John Anderson in 1980, or Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, can draw votes away from the major-party nominees but stands almost no chance of defeating them.

　　11月份大選的獲勝者幾乎肯定是共和黨或民主黨提名的人。小黨派或獨立的候選人，如1968年的喬治?華萊士，1980年的約翰?安德森，1992年和1996年的羅絲?佩羅等，可能從大黨的提名人那里拉走一些選票，但幾乎沒有可能戰(zhàn)勝他們。

　　A major-party nominee has the critical advantage of support from the party faithful. Earlier in the twentieth century, this support was so firm and steady that the victory of the stronger party's candidate was almost a certainty. Warren G. Harding accepted the 1920 Republican nomination at his Ohio home, stayed there throughout most of the campaign, and won a full victory simply because most of the voters of his time were Republicans. Party loyalty has declined in recent decades, but more than two-thirds of the nation's voters still identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans, and most of them support their party's presidential candidate. Even Democrat George McCiovern, who had the lowest. level of party support among recent nominees, was backed in 1972 by nearly 60 percent of his party's voters.

　　大黨提名人具有得到黨的忠實信徒支持這一關鍵的優(yōu)勢。20世紀早些時候，這種支持是非常堅定和穩(wěn)固，實力較強黨派的候選人的勝利幾乎是一種不爭的事實。1920年，華任?G?哈定在俄亥俄州的家中接受了共和黨的提名，而且大部分的競選過程都呆在那里，但只是因為當時大多數投票人都是共和黨人，他獲得了完全的勝利。近幾十年來，各黨派的忠誠度。且他們大多支持本黨派的總統(tǒng)候選人。即使是近年在各黨提名人中，獲得的支持最低的民主黨候選人喬治?麥戈文，在1972年仍然得到本黨幾乎60%的投票人的擁護。

　　Presidential candidates act strategically. In deciding whether to pursue a course of action, they try to estimate its likely impact on the voters. During the 1992 campaign, a sign on the wall of Clinton's headquarters in Little Rock read, "The Economy, Stupid." The slogan was the idea of James Carville, Clinton's chief strategist, and was meant as a reminder to the candidate and the staff to keep the campaign focused on the nation's slow-moving economy, which ultimately was the issue that defeated Bush. As in 1980, when Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan during tough economic times, the voters were motivated largely by a desire for change.

　　總統(tǒng)候選人的行動頗具策略，在決定是否遵循一項行動方針時，他們要盡量估計一下該方針對投票人可能具有的影響。在1992年的大選中，在小石城克林頓競選總部的一面墻上有這樣一塊標牌，上面寫著：“經濟，愚蠢”。這一口號是克林頓的主要謀略家詹姆斯?卡維爾的杰作，它是要提醒候選人和所有工作人員要把競選焦點集中在本國增長遲緩的經濟上，而正是這一點最終擊敗了布什。正如在1980年，吉米?卡特在經濟困難時期敗給羅納德?里根那樣，選民們主要是希望一種改變。

　　Candidates try to project a strong leadership image. Whether voters accept this image, however, depends more on external factors than on a candidate's personal characteristics. In 1991, after the Gulf War, Bush's approval rating reached 91 percent, the highest level recorded since polling began in the 1930s. A year later, with the nation's economy in trouble, Bush?approval rating dropped below 40 percent. Bush tried to stir images of his strong leadership of the war, but voters remained concerned about the economy.

　　候選人盡力突出表現一種強有力的領導的形象，然而，選民們是否接受這一形象，更多地取決于外部因素而不是候選人的個人特點。在海灣戰(zhàn)爭后的1991年，布什的支持率達到了90%，這是自本世紀30年代開始民意測驗以來的最高記錄。一年后，隨著國民經濟陷入困境，布什的支持率下降到了40%，布什力圖讓選民們想起他在戰(zhàn)時強有力的領導形象，而他們關心的卻是本國的經濟狀況。

　　The candidates’ strategies are shaped by many considerations, including the constitutional provision that each state shall have electoral votes equal in number to its representation in Congress. Each state thus gets two electoral votes for its Senate representation and a varying number of electoral votes depending on its House representation. Altogether, there are 538 electoral votes (including three for the District of Columbia, even though it has no voting representatives in Congress). To win the presidency, a candidate must receive at least 270 votes, an electoral majority.

　　候選人策略的形成要考慮到許多因素，包括憲法的這一條款：每個州具有的選舉人票的數量與其在國會中的代表人數相等。這樣每個州可以靠它在參議院的代表人數而有兩位選舉人，憑眾議院的代表人數而獲得人數不等的選舉人?？偲饋砉灿?38張選舉票(包括來自哥倫比亞特區(qū)的3位選舉人，盡管它在國會沒有投票代表)，要贏得總統(tǒng)職位，候選人必須獲得至少270張的多數票。

　　Candidates are particularly concerned with winning the states which have the largest population, such as California (with 54 electoral votes), New York (33), Texas (32), Florida (25), Pennsylvania (23), lllinois (22), and Ohio (21). Victory in the eleven largest states alone would provide an electoral majority, and presidential candidates therefore spend most of their time campaigning in those states. Clinton received only 43 percent of the popular vote in 1992, compared with Bush's 38 percent and Perot's 19 percent; but Clinton won in states that gave him an overwhelming 370 electoral votes, compared with 168 for Bush and none for Perot.

　　候選人特別關注在人口最多的州贏得選票，如加利福尼亞州(擁有54張選票)，紐約州(33張)，得克薩斯州(32張)，佛羅里達州(25張)，賓西法尼亞州(23張)，伊利諾伊州(22張)和俄亥俄州(21張)。僅在11個人口最多的州獲勝就可獲得多數選票，因此總統(tǒng)候選人花費他們大部分的時間在這些州進行競選。1992年，克林頓僅僅得到43%的公民投票，布什得到了38%，佩羅得到了19%。但是克林頓在一些州獲得了勝利，這些州給了他壓倒多數的370張選票，而布什只得了68張，佩羅一無所獲。

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