名人教英文：选举大哉问
特首选举成为香港的热门话题，美国来年亦举行总统竞选，多名共和党人摩拳擦掌，角逐党内提名。今期《时代周刊》文章the big questions就前麻省州长mitt romney的胜算提出三大问题。
第一条问题是："his rivals keep getting unhorsed（被拉下马）. for mitt romney, could things get better?" romney的对手相继宣布退选或被揭疮疤，似乎对他有利。
文章指出："he's the early-state, polling and fundraising leader." 我们经常见early-stage（早期）一词，但early-state是什么呢？在美国总统初选，有些州份较早投票，结果往往左右大局。这些州叫early states，early-state正是由此衍生出来的复合形容词。在一些early states，romney的民意支持和筹款表现暂时领先，而且他有秘密武器，或可助他早日得到提名："romney also has secret weapons that could help him wrap up（完成）the nomination early."
他的武器包括 "privately pledged political endorsements that the campaign will unfurl" — romney已获一些重量级人物私下承诺支持，会随着竞选活动公开。（unfurl原意是「展开（旗帜之类的对象）」，引伸义为「展示」。）他还有"vast personal wealth, largely untapped（未被利用）so far, available for ...expensive campaign goodies（好东西）"。
第二条问题是："so what is keeping him up at night?" 有什么事情令他担忧呢？他的全国支持度目前仅徘徊于25%。另外，就算他赢出初选，也可能元气大伤："an extended one-on-one fight against a candidate with conservative and tea party credentials could drain（消耗）romney before the general election against the president."
第三条问题是："can he unite the party as george w bush and ronald reagan did?" 文章对此表示保留："many republicans remain unenthusiastic about romney. they are distrustful of his recent public conversions（转变）on abortions, gun control and gay rights or turned off by his massachusetts health care law. unenthusiastic即「冷淡」，turned off则更差，有「厌恶」之意。不过，若romney胜出初选，挑战奥巴马，届时共和党人面对共同敌人，或会团结起来。
英语单词词汇学习：
campaign 竞选运动
early states 在初选较早投票的州份
endorsement 支持
nomination 提名
polling 民意调查