American Cafe 美语咖啡屋 第021课

Y: 各位听众好，欢迎到美语咖啡屋，我是杨晨。

J: Hello. Welcome to American Cafe 美语咖啡屋. I'm Jody. So, Yang Chen, this is a big political year in the United States. The race for the White House is not going to be an easy one.

Y: 你说的没错。今年的竞争非常激烈。现在你只要一打开电视，就能看到竞选广告里民主党和共和党在相互攻击。

J: But Yang Chen, don't forget; it's not only the White House. There are also Congressional races going on in the States that are very important. In fact, our guest today is Richard Martin, the campaign manager for Christopher Turman's congressional challenge in West Virginia.

Richard Martin: My name is Richard Martin. I'm managing Christopher Turman's Congressional challenge in West Virginia 2.

Y: Oh, Richard是一个竞选活动负责人。他刚才说的West Virginia 2是什么意思?

J: West Virginia 2 means the Second Congressional District in West Virginia. All States are divided into districts and those districts each has their own congressional representation.

Y: 这种选区的划分还挺复杂的。

J: So complicated! That's why I'm not in politics. So, I asked Richard why he is drawn to politics. Here's what he had to say.

Y: 我看我们还是听听Richard来解释他为什么热衷于政治吧。

Richard Martin: I've been a political professional for about 5 years. I'm drawn to it mostly because I...I...I believe that all too often the government's used as a tool for certain people to get what they want done and it sort of ignores what would be better for most people.

Y: Richard投身政治是要促使政府为大众，而不是为少数人服务。嗯，我觉得他这个理念很崇高啊。

J: Oh, absolutely. Many people believe that government is a tool that is used by huge companies and big business and not everyday people, you know, 老百姓。

Y: 对，我们选国会议员就是要让他们为老百姓服务。

J: Exactly. And Richard believes that the better representatives we elect, the better everyone's lives will be. Now, let's hear from Richard.

Richard Martin: I think the better representatives we elect the better everyone's lives are gonna be. And we need our government to work for the people and not the huge companies.

Y: 他说得没错。政府就是应该代表人民的利益，所以大家都应该参与政治。那候选Turman先生有没有在集会上讲话呢？

J: Of course, here's the candidate, Christopher Turman, explaining why he is running for office in West Virginia. He also slams, oh, “slams”... Yang Chen, 用汉语怎么讲？

Y:就是猛烈抨击的意思。

J: He slams his opponent, a Republican woman named Shelly Moore Capito by saying that she was only elected on the coattails of President Bush.

Y: 你刚才用coattail这个词，就是上衣或燕尾服的下摆。这让我想起中文里的“裙带关系”，是不是这个意思呢？

J: 就是了！Exactly! Let's first hear Turman use the phrase "to ride on someone's coattails."

Turman: And this event is my first event and this is the first time I'm going to say publicly why I am running. In 2000 George Bush won the White House by winning West Virginia. And in 2004 he is going to lose the White House by losing West Virginia. And Shelly Moore Capito who came in on his coattails is going to go home with him.

J: Riding someone's coattails to the top is common in politics. Coattail is spelled C-O-A-T-T-A-I-L.

Y: 你是在什么地方采访了Richard？周围好象很吵。

J: Oh, we spoke at a fundraiser for the candidate.

Y: 其实关于竞选筹款也有很多法律条文，不过那些法律条文实在太枯燥，今天我们就不谈了。

J: Well, we won't talk about it today. But, Yang Chen, if you want to pursue your dream of running for office someday, you'll have to know about fundraising. You could run to be the mayor of ... Happyville!

Y: 如果我成为Happyville的市长，我会让所有的街道都干净整洁，Happyville永远鸟语花香，坐taxi不用花钱，买东西不用排队......

J: Yang Chen! Yang Chen, wake up and smell the coffee. You're not running for mayor of Happyville. You're the host of American Cafe 美语咖啡屋. Now, will you say goodbye to everyone.

Y: 噢，对不起，我们下次再见。

J: Vote for Yang Chen!