リーディング＆リスニング “US Election Result”
All eyes are on the US as the country heads to what some say is its most important election in recent history. We find out what happened and what we can expect in the weeks and months to come.
米国は最近の歴史の中で最も重要な選挙であると言われている選挙に向かっているため、すべての目が米国に向けられています。 何が起こったのか、そして今後数週間から数か月の間に何が期待できるのかを調べます。
People often compare US elections to a circus and look you can kinda see why. There are performances, costumes, tricks. Well, kind of, I mean the trick is catching the hat. And a whole lot of dancing. But this circus has a serious outcome and, once Election Day came along, the future of the country was in the hands of your average Joe or Joanne. Voting isn’t compulsory in the US but hundreds of millions of Americans chose to have their say; the most voters the US has seen in more than a century. But while the end game for these two is, of course.
DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: Winning, winning, winning.
First there was a lot of counting, counting, counting to be done. The threat of coronavirus meant a lot of Americans mailed in their votes, so this was an even slower process than usual, and I’m not sure these guys really got enough of a…
JOE BIDEN, US PRESIDENT-ELECT: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
There you go. As the numbers rolled in, it was clear that this would be a grab your popcorn, edge of your seat, nail bitingly neck-and-neck kind of election. But there was confidence on both sides.
JOE BIDEN, US PRESIDENT-ELECT: We believe we’re on track to win this election.
DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.
Wait, what? No, he hadn’t. But the controversy didn’t end there. President Trump started accusing his opposition of rigging the election and called for counting to stop. But after several tense days of waiting, it finally became clear that one presidential candidate did have enough votes to win. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t Trump.
KAMALA HARRIS, US VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: The president-elect of the United States of America, Joe Biden.
JOE BIDEN, US PRESIDENT-ELECT: For all those of you, who voted for President Trump I understand the disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple of times myself. But now, let’s give each other a chance.
Biden supporters across America were literally dancing in the streets.
US CITIZEN: It’s one of the great days in American history. You know. We really proved that democracy wins.
Is that a watermelon? Clever. Anyway. They also celebrated Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, who became the first woman of colour to become Vice President of the United States.
KAMALA HARRIS, US VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: To the children of our country regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message. Dream with ambition.
US CITIZEN: It gives women of colour and minorities, you know, hope, like we can dream big, so I am excited to see that.
So that’s it. The election is finally over, right? Eh, not quite. President Trump isn’t ready to admit defeat. He’s demanding a recount of votes in some states and says he’s going to challenge the election result in court. Many Trump supporters are backing that.
US CITIZEN: So, we’re here to show support for our president and we know that there’s absolutely no way they’ve counted all of our legal votes.
Others say Joe Biden is the winner fair and square.
US CITIZEN: America spoke, the people spoke. You gotta count every vote, ok.
We won’t have an official winner for a few weeks yet, and that winner won’t be sworn into office until January, but no matter what happens this is an election that’s made history and won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
