美国共和党党内竞争日趋紧张

短语讲解：

1. The Midwest state of Iowa has scheduled its presidential caucus vote for January 3, in what amounts to the official start of the process to choose a Republican Party nominee to run against President Barack Obama next year.

amount to意味着
例句：His words amounted to a threat.
他的话实际上是威胁。
run against同…竞选
例句：Who is going to run against Senator Brown?
准备同布朗参议员竞选的是谁?

2. Perry chose to focus on allegations several years old that Romney knowingly employed illegal immigrants to cut his lawn.

focus on (使)集中于
例句：He focused his eyes on me.
他注视着我。

3. At one point a clearly frustrated Romney gently put his hand on Perry’s shoulder in an effort to get him to stop talking.

in an effort to穿上, 戴上; 把…放在…上
例句：Put the plates gently on the table, they are very delicate.
把碟子轻轻放在桌上, 这些碟子非常易碎。
in an effort to为了
例句：They rebuilt the cinemas in an effort to reach out to the young people.
他们重建了电影院，试图吸引青年人。

4. Rounding out the Republican field are former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman.

round out完成；使更完善; 使丰满；变丰满；使变圆
例句：The only way to round out your education is by going deep into the realities of life.
使你所受教育更加完善的惟一方法是深入生活实际。

5. But Cain spent most of the latest debate trying to fend off attacks from rivals that his tax plan would wind up hurting poor and middle class voters.

fend off挡开;避开
例句：The politician fended off the question.
那位政治家避开了这个问题。
wind up使结束
例句：She wound up her speech with a quotation.
她以一句引言结束她的演讲。

6. “Politicians, they don’t want to throw out the current tax code and put in something that is simple and fair,” he said.

throw out拒绝; 否决
例句：The suggestion was made at the conference, but they threw it out.
这个建议在会上提出来了, 但他们不予考虑。
put in提交, 提出; (使)在内; 把…放于…中; 做, 履行
例句：If the goods were damaged in the post, you can put in a claim to the post office.
物品在邮寄过程中如有损坏，可向邮局提出索赔。

7. Analysts say Cain has risen in the polls because conservative Republican voters are still looking for an alternative to Mitt Romney.

look for寻找
例句：She is looking for her lost child.
她正在寻找失去的孩子。

8. Perry is now trying to regain his footing and offer a stronger challenge to Romney, but political strategist Matthew Dowd, an analyst for ABC News, says the tensions between the two men could turn off voters.

turn off ]使(某人)厌烦(或沮丧)，使失去兴趣(或热情)，使不喜爱
例句：The film really turned us off.
这部影片真让我们烦透了。