The banner hanging over President George W. Bush read united to victory. But as Republicans listened to Bush slog(艰难行进) through his familiar pep talk(鼓舞士气的讲话) last Thursday night, the party faithfully knew they were anything but united. Over the last year, they ejected a majority leader, quarreled over morality and spending, and openly criticized the president on Iraq, port security and a Supreme Court pick.
For five years nobody needed to explain the word "united" to Republicans; it was their biggest strength. The president handed his agenda to Congress and the party leaders delivered the votes. They twisted the arms of small-government conservatives to pass education reforms and Medicare drug benefits. They held their ranks together even as the Iraq occupation was losing supports in 2004. And they picked up seats in two election cycles. But now that company has fallen apart. Members of Congress, tired of being taken for granted by a bossy White House, have lost faith in the president's politican touch.
The stress is starting to show. Republicans are beginning to look and sound like their own caricature(漫画)of the Democrats: disorganized, off message and unsure of their identity. Fearful of defeat in November, GOP candidates are uncertain how to pull themselves together in the eight months left before the elections. The toughest question: whether to run, as they have in the past, as Bush Republicans, or to push the, president out of their campaigns. "What I've tried to tell people is that a political storm is gathering, and if we don't do something to stop it, we'll be in the minority a year from now," says Rep. Ray La Hood from Illinois. "But some people still don't get it."
The president won't have an easy time persuading Republicans to stick with him. Second-term presidents often suffer a six-year slump, losing seats for their party at this point. Bush has actually been lucky in one respect. He held his party together longer than most two-term presidents. Johnson kept control for just eight months until he suffered defeat on the issue of home rule for the District of Columbia in 1965, when Democrats took him on—and won.
Some candidates are happy to stand beside Bush, as long as nobody actually sees them together. Locked in a tight race for re-election, Sen. Mike DeWine chose not to accompany Bush on one trip to his home state of Ohio last month. A week later he attended a private fund-raiser with the president in Cincinnati—out of sight of photographers and reporters.
While listening to Bush's pep talk, the Republicans______.
A. were inspired by the president to hold together
B. lost interest in the frequently heard content
C. disagreed with the president on his slogan
D. felt impatient with the slow speech
A.To return the video to the professor.B.To get the video from the professor.C.To hand
A. To return the video to the professor.
B. To get the video from the professor.
C. To hand in an assignment to the professor.
D. To discuss handouts with the professor.
听力原文: At the beginning of the 20th century, a new music called jazz was born in New Orleans. It was a kind of music in tended to make people happy, but it was not so much a kind of music as a style. of playing. The New Orleans musicians learned to work together to produce a relaxed beat. The beat is so powerful that the listeners can not help dancing.
The best and almost the only place to hear the original New Orleans jazz is in Preservation Hall in the French Quarter of the city. There, seven different hands, made up mostly of very old men, play the old music each evening. Some of the people in the audience are tourists, but most axe serious music lovers who are willing to spend time sitting on plain wooden chairs and benches, and even on the floor. The musicians play the music they want to play, but the audience can ask for a particular song if they are willing to pay for it. Traditional songs cost one dollar and all others cost two.
Old-style. New Orleans jazz is in danger of disappearing because the players are getting old. The music did disappear once before, when people lose interest in it and the musicians had to make their living doing other things. But in 1938 the current jazz revival began, when music historian William Russell found a famous trumpet player Bunk Johnson working in the field and brought him back to New Orleans to play, When Preservation Hall reopened in 1961, the old music finally had a place to live again, and its popularity has grown ever since.
(33)
A. It was born in New York.
B. It is a kind of music as a style. of playing.
C. Hearing jazz, people want to dance to the music.
D. It is played with strong beat.
A.In some large community.B.In most colleges or high schools.C.In the companies that o
A. In some large community.
B. In most colleges or high schools.
C. In the companies that offer jobs.
D. In school libraries.