2022年11月10日 VOA慢速英语：美国国会的控制权仍未决定

 

Republicans made small gains, but Democrats performed better than expected in the midterm elections in the United States. The results left control of the U.S. Congress and the future of President Joe Biden's policies unclear at this time.
共和党人小幅上涨，但民主党人在美国中期选举中的表现好于预期。结果使美国国会的控制权以及乔·拜登总统的政策的未来目前尚不清楚。
 
All 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives were up for election. The Republican Party needed to gain five seats to win control. By early Wednesday morning, Republicans had won a net of six Democratic House seats. But that number could change as more results are released.
美国众议院 435 名议员全部参加选举。共和党需要获得五个席位才能赢得控制权。到周三凌晨，共和党人已经赢得了民主党众议院的六个席位。但随着更多结果的公布，这个数字可能会发生变化。
 
In the U.S. Senate, 35 of the 100 seats are being contested. The Senate is currently evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. However, Vice President Kamala Harris is able to provide a tie-breaking vote for the Democrats. Republicans need to gain only one seat to take the majority.
在美国参议院，100 个席位中的 35 个正在竞争中。参议院目前在民主党和共和党之间平分秋色。然而，副总统卡马拉哈里斯能够为民主党提供打破平局的投票。共和党人只需获得一个席位即可获得多数席位。
 
Several important races that will decide control of the Senate remained too close to declare a winner. And election officials warned that it could take days before the results are known.
将决定参议院控制权的几场重要竞选仍然太接近宣布获胜者。选举官员警告说，可能需要几天时间才能知道结果。
 
Democrats were successful in winning governor's races in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Republicans won in Florida and Georgia, with Nevada and Arizona yet to be decided. Those states were important in deciding the winner of the last presidential election won by Biden.
民主党在威斯康星州、密歇根州和宾夕法尼亚州的州长竞选中取得了成功。共和党在佛罗里达州和乔治亚州获胜，内华达州和亚利桑那州尚未决定。这些州在决定拜登上届总统大选的获胜者方面发挥了重要作用。
 
What's on voters' minds?
选民们在想什么？
 
Just as Republicans had hoped, high inflation was the top consideration for American voters in the midterm elections, a study by VoteCast said. The study of more than 94,000 voters nationwide was conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.
VoteCast 的一项研究称，正如共和党人所希望的那样，高通胀是美国选民在中期选举中的首要考虑因素。芝加哥大学的 NORC 为美联社对全国 94,000 多名选民进行了研究。
 
About half of voters said inflation weighed heavily in their vote as the costs of food, gasoline, and housing have greatly increased in the past year. About eight out of 10 said the U.S. economy was in bad shape. Some blamed Biden's policies and others said Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to the increase.
大约一半的选民表示，由于食品、汽油和住房的成本在过去一年中大幅上涨，通胀在他们的投票中受到了沉重打击。大约十分之八的人表示美国经济状况不佳。一些人指责拜登的政策，另一些人则说俄罗斯入侵乌克兰导致了这一增长。
 
A smaller number, 44 percent, said the future of democracy was their main consideration. Biden had said Tuesday's election was a test of American democracy at a time when many Republicans welcomed Trump's claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
少数人（44%）表示民主的未来是他们的主要考虑因素。拜登曾表示，周二的选举是对美国民主的考验，当时许多共和党人欢迎特朗普声称 2020 年总统大选被他窃取的说法。
 
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn its abortion ruling in Roe v. Wade also played an important part in the midterm elections. Voters approved amendments to protect abortion in California and Vermont and defeated an anti-abortion measure in Kentucky. VoteCast showed that about six in 10, especially Democrats, said they are angry or unhappy with the Supreme Court's decision.
美国最高法院推翻其在罗诉韦德案中的堕胎裁决的决定也在中期选举中发挥了重要作用。选民批准了保护加利福尼亚和佛蒙特州堕胎的修正案，并在肯塔基州否决了一项反堕胎措施。VoteCast 显示，大约十分之六的人，尤其是民主党人，表示他们对最高法院的决定感到愤怒或不满。
 
What's next?
下一步是什么？
 
During the campaign, Republicans said they plan to seek cost savings in Social Security and Medicare. Those are the popular retirement and healthcare programs run by the government. They also want to make permanent the tax cuts enacted by Republicans in 2017.
在竞选期间，共和党人表示他们计划在社会保障和医疗保险方面节省成本。这些是由政府运营的受欢迎的退休和医疗保健计划。他们还希望永久实施共和党人在 2017 年实施的减税政策。
 
Kevin McCarthy is favored to become speaker if Republicans win the majority in the House. He has promised to look for spending cuts in government programs favored by Biden. He told CNN that Republicans would also look closely at continued U.S. arms and financial aid for Ukraine to combat Russia's invasion.
如果共和党在众议院赢得多数席位，凯文麦卡锡有望成为议长。他已承诺在拜登支持的政府计划中寻求削减开支。他告诉美国有线电视新闻网，共和党人还将密切关注美国继续向乌克兰提供武器和财政援助，以对抗俄罗斯的入侵。
 
Other Republican lawmakers have promised to investigate Biden's immigration policy at the southern border and the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some have called for hearings on business activities by the president's son, Hunter.
其他共和党议员已承诺调查拜登在南部边境的移民政策以及从阿富汗撤军的情况。一些人呼吁就总统的儿子亨特的商业活动举行听证会。
 
Biden watched the election results from the White House into the early morning hours of Wednesday. He called to congratulate more than 30 Democratic candidates and told party officials "we're going to surprise the living devil out of people."
周三凌晨，拜登在白宫观看了选举结果。他致电祝贺 30 多名民主党候选人，并告诉党内官员“我们要让人们大吃一惊。”
 
The Associated Press reported that Biden's aides have been drawing up plans to deal with possible Republican control of one or both chambers of Congress -- a possibility that Biden recognized would make his life "more difficult."
美联社报道说，拜登的助手一直在制定计划，以应对共和党可能控制国会一院或两院的问题——拜登承认这种可能性会使他的生活“更加困难”。
 
In two years, the Biden administration pushed through bills to deal with the pandemic and rebuild the nation's roads and bridges. It also set climate policies and attempted to increase U.S. competitiveness with China.
两年来，拜登政府推动了应对疫情和重建国家道路和桥梁的法案。它还制定了气候政策，并试图提高美国对中国的竞争力。
 
Now, aides and allies say, Biden will work to save those gains and prepare his party for the next presidential election.
现在，助手和盟友说，拜登将努力挽救这些成果，并为下届总统选举做好准备。