[其他]文章阅读--Candidates debate, voters looks for a reason

iampm

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Candidates debate, voters looks for a reason to pick one over the other

By Associated Press
Friday, October 1, 2004

President Bush and John Kerry [related, bio] debated for 90 minutes Thursday night about the Iraq war, terrorism and homeland security, each making a pitch to voters that he is better suited to run the country. To find out what American voters thought, Associated Press writers watched the debate with critical voting groups in key states, from Pennsylvania to Arizona.

    ---

    In LANCASTER, Pa.: At Franklin & Marshall College, professors at the school experimented with an instant electronic polling system to determine whether students' views of the candidates would change after viewing the first debate.

    The answer? Not much.

    In a room of about 90 students, the majority of whom supported Kerry before the candidates took the stage, undecideds dropped by 6 percent after the debate and Kerry and Bush each picked up 3 percent.

    The students sat attentively in the auditorium throughout most of the debate. They laughed at one point as Bush stammered in responding to comments Kerry made about the cost of the war in Iraq and whether it was worth fighting.

    ``I really was looking at their character and their demeanor and their comfort level,'' said Erin Statler, a freshman from Arlington, Va., and undecided voter. ``I thought Kerry was well-prepared.''

    ---

    In MILWAUKEE: Downright passionate about the presidential election and living in a swing state where the 18- to 24-year-old voting bloc could have real impact, some friends got together in a 1920s-vintage apartment near downtown for a debate party.

    It didn't help undecided Michelle King make up her mind.

    ``After this, I'm not any more clear. I'm more in the middle than I was before,'' said the 22-year-old marketing coordinator for a business services and accounting firm. She likes Bush's stance on such issues as stem-cell research and gay marriage, but has more faith in Kerry's economic plan.

    ``I honestly don't know what it's going to take. I'm really now putting a lot of stock in what comes out of the candidates' mouths,'' she said, vowing to watch the rest of the debates. ``That will really be the deciding factor.''

    Andrea Sitzberger assembled the group of 10, mostly young professionals, who sat in a semicircle around a living room television.

    At times the group was lighthearted, poking fun at the candidates' tans and rolling their eyes at phrases both candidates used several times.

    But more often they were serious, some of them taking notes as the candidates spoke.

    Sandy Kaye, a 23-year-old Kerry supporter who works for the chamber of commerce, found the whole night inspiring - even when people didn't agree with her.

    ``To me, the most important thing is to get people my age voting. I don't care what your belief is, I just want you voting,'' Kaye said. ``So I find this incredibly encouraging.''

    ---

    In MIAMI: Maria Mercedes de Caldera, a waitress at the El Atlacatl restaurant in Little Havana, stopped clearing a table full of empty dishes to watch Kerry speak about the war in Iraq.

    ``It's the first time I've listened to what this guy has to say about Iraq,'' murmured Caldera, 23, who studies tourism at Miami Dade College by day and waits tables at night. ``So far, I think he's doing better than Bush. I wasn't sure if I could vote for Kerry, but now, after tonight, I think he'd be a good president.''

    By the end of the night, many of the 30 or so patrons having dinner and a drink at the Salvadoran restaurant agreed that Kerry had scored a victory in style, if not also in substance.

    Marlene Ramirez, 32, a Cuban immigrant who teaches English to adults, went against the tide. Though registered as an independent, Ramirez said she was leaning a bit more to Bush after listening to him debate. ``Bush is constant in his policies - he doesn't change his position on issues just to please people, like Kerry does,'' she said. ``Consistency - I like that in a leader.''

    ---

    In CONCORD, N.H.: Drinks flowed, neon beer signs blinked, karaoke blared.

    In this leadoff primary state, the long presidential campaign has numbed some ears to speechifying.

    Still, a handful of bar-goers near the Statehouse strained anyway to hear the television, intent on catching at least pieces of the debate. By the end, a few were swayed - but more repelled than reeled in.

    Kerry was ``spending so much time getting people to doubt Bush, that I don't get a message from him,'' groused Steven Guinard, of Peterborough. Undecided beforehand, he found himself leaning toward Bush.

    David Joyal, a Republican, thought Bush looked uneasy, clamping his lips and sometimes fumbling for words.

    ``This is the most uncomfortable I've ever seen him,'' he said. ``It moved me more toward Kerry than I ever thought I would go.''

    ---

    In YOUNGTOWN, Ariz.: On one side of the town square in this retirement haven near Phoenix, folks gathered Thursday night for a jam session of gospel and old-time rock'n'roll. On the other, Richard Delaney was singing along to another tune: President Bush's portrayal of John Kerry as inconsistent.

    The 71-year-old retired truck driver gathered with a handful of seniors in a conference room to watch the first faceoff between the presidential candidates. Delaney was firmly in the Bush camp pre-debate on everything from preventing terrorism to gun ownership. What he heard only solidified his support.

    He snickered as Bush cast Kerry as a waffler on issues, and nodded in agreement as the president defended the war in Iraq. ``Bush was saying what he felt,'' said Delaney. ``Kerry was saying what he thinks people want to hear.''

    Town councilman Larry Oglesby skipped the sing-a-long across the street to watch. A registered Democrat and retired Teamster, Oglesby voted for Bush in the last election but wanted to give Kerry a chance. The Democrat put on a good show, he concluded, but didn't have the substance to back it up.

    ``Kerry came up with a lot of plans, but he had no details. It's like a mechanic with no tools,'' said Oglesby, 63. ``Bush is probably not the greatest president. But between the two, I'll vote for Bush.''

    ---

    In ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: There were times Marva Randolph didn't even finish crunching her chips and guacamole before she blurted out a mouthful of criticism at the television screen.

    A 56-year-old registered nurse who works for the Indian Health Service, she was among nine American Indians - some of them relatives - who closely watched the candidates.

    Randolph started off the night laughing and joking. But midway through the debate, she turned serious, particularly regarding when the subject was the cost of the Iraq war.

    ``If we could show the people ... on the pueblo what $200 billion looks like visually, and that we spent that amount of money on the war and not on this land, they would see how important this all is,'' said Randolph, a Kerry supporter.

    Indians make up nearly 9 percent of the voting-age population in this state that Democrat Al Gore won in 2000 by only 366 votes.

    ---

    Associated Press writers Martha Raffaele, Martha Irvine, Todd Lewan, Jeff Donn, Pauline Arrillaga and Melanie Dabovich contributed to this story.   
   


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iampm

MEANING

When you pay lip service to something, you talk about it and either don't mean what you say or don't do what you are talking about. A lot of people just pay lip service to things like exercising, eating better or doing other good things for themselves. They come up with good ideas, but don't follow through.

USE

I used to be a big talker. That means I would pay lip service to many ideas, but never really think about them again or follow through on them. Nowadays, I try not to talk about what I am planning on doing until after I have done it. It's so much more interesting to talk with someone who has done things, rather than someone who plans on doing things in the future.


FOR EXAMPLE:

"I'm going to start a business. No, really! I mean it this time. This isn't just lip service"

"Bob said he would come to my party. I don't believe him. Everything he says is just lip service. He never follows through."

"The teachers wanted more money. I couldn't believe they believed when the school told them they would get a raise next year. Can't they tell it's all a bunch of lip service?"

rainday

thanks,and could you talk your experience on listening ?

iampm

Rainday,sorry for replying so late due to my damn broken computer(
...If just for test,my advice is to get totally familiar with the tested questions----recite the necessary words and most importantly, think about the questions and answers which have been tested thousands of times...and also we are supposed to devide different parts to learn listening such as news,dialogues or passages...and so on. So we must choose a suitable test questions.I believe every test has its rule and If we grasp the rule,we can become  rulers^-^
But for other purposes,just pick out the suitable materials like voa bbs or movies soap movies which can arouse your interests very much....and keep on learnin(i prefer to watch movie,and i think that is also very practical)
To improve English is a long and persisting process,there is no complete easy-going way to learning,for real....

iampm

hope more can join us and share your experience with us?

tshbird

eminently • \EM-ih-nunt-lee\ • adverb
: to a high degree : very

转自:http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl

iampm

Today we provide sth new^_*

iampm

Once we refer to Hawthorne,The scarlet Letter comes to our minds immediately,but here i strongly recommend his short stories,The Birthmark,which also deserve your likeness,not only for his neat organization,technical plot arrangement,the obbressive atosmosphere from the begining till the end of the story which forces us to feel personally on the scene,but for Hawthorne's real pain as a man who lost himself in the scientific world, and as a man who is bearing sin all his life. This is a story about horror,beauty,disaster,coldness,sin......It will not be shaded even compared with Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.Hope more will read it and point out your opinion about this short story.

iampm

A touching piece.
Try to bear love in our heart,let it flow silently, smoothly, and permanently....

iampm

开始打造精品阅读了哦，大家积极提供文章。。。

iampm

Please note the title of the sentence,is it a right sentence here？

mofeisite

A Nice Cup of Tea
  If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.
   This is curious, not only because tea is one of the mainstays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire1, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

   When I look through my own recipe2 for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On erhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial3. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

   First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese4 tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays ——it is economical5, and one can drink it with out milk ——but there is not much stimulation6 in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.

   Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities——that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn7 is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron8, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britannia ware9 teapots produce inferior tea and enamel10 pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter11 teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

   Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.12

   Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart13, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the w
eek, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes——a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.

   Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are suppo
sed to be harmful.14 Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

   Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about.15The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

   Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

   Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup ——that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.

   Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

   Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools16 of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

   Lastly, tea ——unless one is drinking it in the Russian style ——should be drunk ——without sugar ——I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make avery similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

   Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your teaby sweetening it again.

   These are not the only controver-sial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized17 the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

iampm

Thank you for your nice reading piece, Mofei~
Apparently we can  feel a strong distinction between west and Chinese culture  in this small cup of tea--or maybe we can take it as coffee here. The writer must be a westener,I guess and fortunately, he does not agree to add water in the tea after all