(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
And now the VOA Learning English program -- Words and Their Stories.
On this show, we explore common expressions in American English.
Today we talk about expressions related to the biggest contest in the United States – the election of the American president.
Well, except for the first election. That was not much of a contest. On February 4, 1789, all 69 members of Congress voted for George Washington.
Supposedly, Washington didn't even want to be president. John Adams was the runner-up. So, according to the rules at the time, Adams became Washington's vice president.
Elections these days are much harder to win. They can last for years and cost millions and millions of dollars. So it is not surprising that there are many expressions to describe the race for the White House. That expression, in fact, is one of them.
We often call political elections races, a word you probably know from sports. Many expressions we use for political campaigns are borrowed from sports competitions. In fact, sometimes we just cut to the chase and call the presidential election, a horse race.
If the race is close, we can say the candidates are neck-and-neck. This horse racing term means the two candidates are nearly tied in the polls and a winner is difficult to predict. We call such a race – political or otherwise – a dead heat.
In the early part of an election cycle when a party is picking its nominee, usually many candidates are in the running. Sometimes a candidate pulls away from the pack and becomes the clear favorite.
These two terms also come from horse racing. So does down to the wire.
In a horse race, the horses race to the finish and run through a wire as they cross the finish line. A presidential race that is down to the wire is very close. The only way to know the winner is to wait for all the votes to be counted.
If a candidate wins the election by a large margin -- that is to say won by many, many votes -- he or she has won hands down. We also say the race was a landslide. Or you could say the race was simply no contest.
These expressions all mean a candidate won easily.
But if a candidate loses an election by a big margin, we could say that campaign got blown out of the water, as if by a submarine torpedo. Or we might say simply that the candidate got crushed at the polls. More informally, we might also say the candidate got beat like a rug, which is visually entertaining.
Some candidates lose an election because they are unwilling to toe the party the line. In other words, they refuse to go along with the rules and standards of their own political party. This may upset the candidate's base -- the people who usually support that party.
The opposite of toeing the party line is reaching across the aisle. In the U.S., the two major parties are the Democrats and the Republicans. In this expression, the "aisle" refers to the actual physical walkway that divides the legislative halls. Members of the two parties sit on opposite sides.
So "to reach across the aisle" means to make an effort to negotiate with members who are not in your party. Many politicians win elections because of their willingness to work with members of the opposing party. On the other hand, some politicians lose for the same reason.
Voters can, sometimes, be very difficult to predict.
And that brings us to the end of another Words and Their Stories.
I'm Anna Matteo.
重点解析
1.cut to the chase 抓住核心;抓住要害
Hi everyone, we all know why we are here today, so let's cut to the chase.
嗨，各位，大伙儿都知道今天我们为什么在这里，那就直入正题吧。
2.pull away from 使脱离；使脱身
Because he's been so scared about love from his mother, he is afraid of commitment and may pull away from a girlfriend for this reason.
因为他十分害怕来自于母亲的爱，他害怕付出承诺，并可能因此而离开他的女友。
3.hands down 不费气力地,无疑地,把手放下,放下手,容易地
Easiest way, hands down, to make your clients start questioning, really, what the hell you’re doing all day.
最容易的方法，手放下（电话），让你的客户发问，你整天到底在忙些什么事情？
参考译文
这里是VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目。
我们的节目探索美式英语里的常用表达。
今天我们要谈论与美国国内最大角逐相关的表达——美国总统大选（the election of the American president）有关的表达。
好吧，除了第一次选举，那次没什么竞争意味。1979年2月4日，国会的所有69名议员都选了乔治·华盛顿。
据说，华盛顿并不想当总统。约翰·亚当斯是亚军（runner-up）。所以，依据当时的规矩，亚当斯成为华盛顿的副总统（vice president）。
现在的选举想要胜出难多了。现在的选举能耗时数年并且花费数百万美元。所以有很多与这场“总统角逐（the race for the White House）”的表达也就不足为奇了。实际上，那个表达就是其中之一。
我们经常称作政治选举竞赛（political elections races），你可能从体育运动方面知道的这个词。很多我们用在政治竞选方面的词都源自体育竞赛。实际上，有时候我们直接抓住核心（cut to the chase），将总统选举称为赛马（a horse race）。
如果候选人之间实力不分上下，我们可以说这些候选人并驾齐驱（neck-and-neck）。这个赛马术语是说这两个候选人在民意调查中票数持平，谁会赢难说。我们称这种形势的政治竞选或者其他方面为：平局（a dead heat）。
在选举初期，当一个政党挑选其候选人时，通常会有很多的备选候选人竞选。有时，某个候选人会从落后的位置赶超，成为最热门的（the clear favorite）候选人。
这两个术语也出自赛马，“down to the wire（最后关头）”也是。
在赛马比赛中，赛马跑向终点，穿过终点线。到了最后关头的总统竞选就接近胜利了。想知道赢家的唯一办法就是等着投票结果。
如果一个候选人在选举中占绝对优势（by a large margin）——那是说这个候选人赢得了很多，很多的投票——他或者她轻而易举地赢了（won hands down）。
这些表达都是这个候选人赢得很轻松的意思。我们也可以说这场比赛是压倒性的。或者你可以说这场竞选根本就没什么可选性。
但如果一个候选人以较大差额输了选举，我们可以说那个候选人被打得落花流水（got blown out of the water）结束，就像被潜水艇鱼雷击中一样。或者我们可以单纯说那个候选人在民意调查中票数被对手碾压（get crushed）了。更非正式地说，这个候选人被对手吊打（get beat like a rug）了，这个很有视觉上的乐趣。
一些候选人落选是因为他们不愿意服从党派的命令（toe the party the line）。换句话说，他们拒绝遵从他们党派的规章制度。这也许会让该候选人所属党派的群众基础（the candidate's base）很困扰——这些人通常很支持自己的党派。
和不屈服党派命令相反的就是妥协（reach across the aisle）。在美国，两个主要的党派就是民主党和共和党。在这个表达里，“过道（aisle）”指的是真实存在的立法大厅过道。两党成员坐在相对的两边。
所以“to reach across the aisle”意思是努力和非你所在党派的成员交涉。一些政客赢得选举是因为他们愿意与对党成员合作。另一方面，一些政客输掉选举也是这方面原因。
选民有时很难预测。
这就是今天的《词汇掌故》了。
我是安娜·马特奥。
