VOA慢速英语:Does Sexism Affect US Presidential Race?(翻译)

For the first time, a major American political party has a woman as its candidate for president.
美国主要政党中出现女人作为其总统候选人，这还是第一次。

The Democratic Party officially nominated Hillary Clinton for the presidency three months ago.
民主党在三个月前正式提名希拉里·克林顿为总统候选人。

But why did it take so long for a woman to be nominated in a country that works to empower women around the world?And, do feelings about the place of women affect how Americans react to a female candidate?
但为什么在一个致力于赋予世界各地女性权力的国家，女性被提名的时间经历如此之长呢？ 而且，对女性地位的感受是否会影响美国人对女性候选人的投票？

Clinton’s aides believe some people will not vote for her because she is a woman.
克林顿的助手相信，有些人会因为她是女性而不投票给她。

Michele Swers is a professor of American government at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.She co-wrote a book called “Women in the Club.”
米歇尔·斯韦茨是华盛顿哥伦比亚区乔治敦大学美国政府的教授。她合着了一本名为《俱乐部中的女人》的书。

Swers says many people are likely to consider only men when they think about strength and the ability to lead.
斯韦茨表示，许多人想到权利和领导能力时可能只会考虑男性。

“And woman travels in a narrower lane,so that women in politics have to prove both that they hold masculine qualities of leadership,but still also hold feminine personality traits that people assume women have.”
“女性的仕途更窄，因此，女性在政治上必须证明她们持有男性化的领导气质，但仍然保持人们认为女性应该具备的个性特征。”

Swers says Hillary Clinton is often criticized for showing a lack of warmth in her dealings with others.She also has been criticized for being calculating—having self-interest guide her decisions.
斯韦茨表示，希拉里·克林顿经常被批评与人交往时表现的不够热情。她也被批评为是精于算计，即自我利益影响她的决定。

But Sonya Michel notes that when Clinton does show her feelings, she is also questioned.Michel, a retired University of Maryland professor, studies the history of women and gender.
但索尼亚·米歇尔指出，当克林顿展示她的感情时，她同样也会受到质疑。米歇尔，是马里兰大学一位退休的教授，主要研究妇女和性别的历史。

“And the more she tries to avoid those kinds of criticisms,people say, ‘Well is she strong enough?Is she firm enough?You know, how can she, you know, how can she operate on a world stage?’”
“她越是试图避免这种批评，人们会说：‘她够强吗？够坚定吗？你知道吗，她是怎样游走在世界舞台上的呢？’”

Georgetown’s Michele Swers says the United States has not had a woman as president because of its political system.
乔治敦的米歇尔·斯韦茨说，美国因其制度原因，没有一位女性选为总统。

In her words, “when it comes to presidential nominations you need to not just work your way up through the party,but you need to build your own coalition, your own coalition of donors,your own coalition of connections to various state party leaders.And all these things have been dominated by men over time,so it’s harder for a woman to have those connections and to break in,” she said.
用她的话说，“当涉及到总统提名时，你不仅需要一步步努力从而得到党内的认可，也需要你建立自己的联盟，拥有自己的捐助者联盟，自己与各州州长联系的联盟。一直以来，所有这些事情都被男人主宰，所以一个女人很难有这些联系，也很难有所突破。”她表示。

That is likely why Clinton is the first presidential nominee of a major party.She has many connections from all the years she was secretary of state and a member of the Senate.In addition, she is the wife of former President Bill Clinton.
这很可能就是克林顿成为一个主要政党的第一总统提名人的原因。多年来她积攒了很多人脉，她曾是国务卿和参议院的成员。此外，她是前总统比尔·克林顿的妻子。

Maryland’s Sonya Michel believes that it is easier in other political systems for women to lead.“Europe—especially in the countries that have parliamentary systems—people vote for the party,” she says.“They don’t necessarily vote for the candidate; they don’t vote for the person who is going to become prime minister.”
马里兰的索尼亚·米歇尔认为，在其他政治制度中，妇女更容易成为领导。 “在欧洲，特别是在有议会制度的国家，人们投票支持某个党”，她表示。“他们不一定会投票给候选人，他们不会投票给即将成为首相的人。”

Swers says some of the criticism of Clinton is not based on her gender.
斯韦茨表示，对克林顿的一些批评并不是基于她的性别。

“I think the criticisms related to the, the email servers and the campaign donations to the Clinton foundation are legitimatein that they question values that we hold about transparency, about honesty, about character in our leadership.”
“我认为与克林顿基金会有关的电子邮件服务器和竞选捐款的批评是合理的，因为他们对于我们的透明度、诚实、以及领导人物性格的价值观提出质疑。

Professor Swers says that in many cultures, women are expected to be more honest, more trustworthy and more likable than men.
斯韦茨教授说，在许多文化中，女性应该比男性更诚实，更可信，更令人喜欢。

Reporter Dori Toribio works for the Spanish broadcasting group Mediaset.She thinks women candidates are also expected to be more prepared.
记者汤姆·托贝尔是为西班牙广播集团Mediaset工作的。她认为女性候选人应该准备的更充分。

“The thing with, with women in politics—you have to be older, you have to be tougher and,in my point of view, you have to be 10 times better than a manso that you can get to that point—you have to prove yourself all the time.”
“在政治上，你必须更有资历，你必须更坚强，在我看来，你必须比一个男人厉害10倍，这样你才能达到这一点，而且你必须一直证明自己。”

On November 9th, the U.S. and the rest of the world, will know whether Hillary Clinton will make history.
11月9日，美国和世界其他地区将知道希拉里·克林顿是否会创造历史。

I’m Anne Ball.
安·保尔为您报道。