托福阅读机经背景：美国党代会致力于激励忠诚.docxVIP

智课网TOEFL备考资料托福阅读机经背景：美国党代会致力于激励忠诚 Every four years in the United States, national political party conventions are held to officially introduce the presidential nominees to Americans. Early conventions were often governed by backroom negotiations to choose the nominees for the Democratic and Republican parties. But now they are mainly ceremonial. And some question the need to hold them any more. 美国的民主共和两党每四年都要召开一次全国党代会以正式向美国人民介绍总统候选人。早期的党代会是由私下谈判来选择民主党和共和党的候选人。现在的党代会主要是一种仪式，因为党的总统候选人在党代会之前已经决定了。所以，也有些人质疑这样的党代会是否还有继续举办的必要。 Just like a whistle that starts a soccer match, the conventions signal it’s time for the real game to begin. This high energy has to carry the U.S. presidential campaign through its final 10 weeks. 就像是足球比赛开场时的一声哨响，党代会标志着真正的竞赛开始了。党代会所表现出的这股热情会持续到总统大选。 In the past, political conventions were punctuated by intrigue and infighting. 在过去，党代会时有明争暗斗,甚至是暴力。 And even violence. Anti war protesters dominated the story outside the 1968 Democratic party convention. 1968年民主党党代会会场外面就爆发了大规模反战示威。 But now, party conventions are just big parties. Everyone knows the nominees. 但是现在，党代会只是大派对而已。大家都知道谁是候选人。 Thats because state primary elections, like the games leading up to soccers World Cup, already decided who would make to it to the final match. This year, the Democrat, President Barack Obama, will face Republican challenger Mitt Romney. There are few, if any spontaneous moments. 这是因为各州的初选，就像为足球世界杯作准备的那些比赛一样，已经决定了谁将参加最后的竞争。今年，民主党人总统奥巴马将迎战共和党挑战者，米特罗姆尼。几乎不会有意想不到的事情发生。 John Hudak, with the Brookings Institution, said, “Everyone looks very similar in the terms of the types of policies that they are advocating for.” 布鲁金斯学会的约翰 赫达克说：“在他们所支持的政策类型上，每个人都看起来很相似”。 Team unity comes with a steep price. Each political party receives $18 million from Americans who chose to donate three dollars from their federal tax return. The conventions are expected to cost each party more than double that -- $40 million. Some say it’s money that should be spent differently. 党内团结是要付出