[學測指考必備時事焦點] 2020年美國總統大選：川普 v.s 拜登

1. The huge number of postal votes cast during this pandemic election, and different states’ laws about how to count them, meant this always was going to take longer if the race was tight.

(在這場疫情高張的選舉中，大量的郵寄選票以及每一州的法律都有不同的計票方式，意味著若是雙方選情膠著，則要花更多的時間計票。)

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tight (adj.) （比賽等）勢均力敵的

• 同義字：even, close

2. A candidate has to win the majority in a system called the electoral college, where each state gets a certain number of votes or “electors” roughly in proportion to its population. There are 538 state votes and the person who gets 270 wins the prize.

（候選人需要贏得的是選舉人團投票的多數選票，每個州都有一定數量的”選舉人”票數，具體分配額度與各州人口數量份額大致相當。選舉人團共有538張選票，得到270票的候選人會成為總統。）

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candidate (n.) 候選人

• 同義字：competitor, nominee

electoral college (n.) （政治或宗教的）領袖選舉團
in proportion to （某物各個組成部分或一物與另一物之間的）相稱，協調，均衡，勻稱

3.Donald Trump has done better than expected and Joe Biden has failed to win those battleground states which count votes quickly, but the Democrat is closing the gap in crucial states as votes get counted.

（唐納·川普的表現比預期要好，喬·拜登未能贏得那些迅速計數選票的戰場州，但隨著選票的計數，民主黨正在縮小關鍵州的差距。）

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Democrat (n.) （美國）民主黨黨員；民主黨支持者

• 相關單字：Republican 美國共和黨黨員

crucial (adj.) 至關重要的；關鍵的；決定性的

• 同義字：key, decisive
• 補充用法：a crucial decision/question 至關重要的決定／問題

4.Mr Trump has launched some legal challenges, but analysts suggest most of these challenges concern small numbers of ballots that might not make a difference in the end, with the exception of Pennsylvania.

（儘管川普表示會從法律上發起挑戰，但分析家認為，這些挑戰中的大多數都與少數選票有關，最終可能不會有所差別，賓夕法尼亞州除外。）

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launch (v.) 發起

• 同義字：start , begin

ballot (n.) 選票

• 同義字：tally , ticket , poll

5.It now looks like polling data ahead of the election didn’t tell us the whole story about the American public. Many observers didn’t realise the race would be so tight.Currently Mr Biden leads Mr Trump in the share of the popular vote by about three percentage points.

（現在看來，選舉前的民意調查數據並沒有告訴我們有關美國公眾的全部故事。 許多觀察者沒有意識到這場比賽會如此緊張。目前，拜登先生在普選中領先川普約三個百分點。

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poll (v.) 對…進行民意調查

• 同義字：survey , canvass

percentage (n.) 百分比，百分率

• 補充用法：percentage point(s) 百分點