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On the 36th day after they had voted, Americans finally learned Wednesday who would be their next president: Governor George W. Bush of Texas.

Vice President Al Gore, his last realistic avenue for legal challenge closed by a U. S. Supreme Court decision late Tuesday, planned to end the contest formally in a televised evening speech of perhaps 10 minutes, advisers said.

They said that Senator Joseph Lieberman, his vice presidential running mate, would first make brief comments. The men would speak from a ceremonial chamber of the Old Executive office Building, to the west of the White House.

The dozens of political workers and lawyers who had helped lead Mr. Gore’s unprecedented fight to claw a come- from-behind electoral victory in the pivotal state of Florida were thanked Wednesday and asked to stand down.

“The vice president has directed the recount committee to suspend activities,” William Daley, the Gore campaign chairman, said in a written statement.

Mr. Gore authorized that statement after meeting with his wife, Tipper, and with top advisers including Mr. Daley.

He was expected to telephone Mr. Bush during the day. The Bush campaign kept a low profile and moved carefully, as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next steps.

Yet, at the end of a trying and tumultuous process that had focused world attention on sleepless vote counters across Florida, and on courtrooms from Miami to Tallahassee to Atlanta to Washington the Texas governor was set to become the 43d U. S. president.

The news of Mr. Gore’s plans followed the longest and most rancorous dispute over a U. S. presidential election in more than a century, one certain to leave scars in a badly divided country.

It was a bitter ending for Mr. Gore, who had outpolled Mr. Bush nationwide by some 300000 votes, but, without Florida, fell short in the Electoral College by 371 votes to 367—the narrowest Electoral College victory since “the turbulent election” of 1876.

Mr. Gore was said to be distressed by what he and many Democratic activists felt was a partisan decision from the nation’s highest court.

The 5-to-4 decision of the Supreme Court held, in essence, that while a vote recount in Florida could be conducted in legal and constitutional fashion, as Mr. Gore had sought, this could not be done by the Dec. 13 deadline for states to select their presidential electors.

James Baker 3rd, the former secretary of state who represented Mr. Bush in the Florida dispute, issued a short statement after the U. S. high court ruling, saying that the governor was “very pleased and gratified."

Mr. Bush was planning a nationwide speech aimed at trying to begin to heal the country’s deep, aching and varied divisions. He then was expected to meet with congressional leaders, including Democrats. Dick Cheney, Mr. Bush’s ruing mate, was meeting with congressmen Wednesday in Washington.

When Mr. Bush, who is 54, is sworn into office on Jan.30, he will be only the second son of a president to follow his father to the White House, after John Adams and John Quincy Adams in the early 19th century.

Mr. Gore, in his speech, was expected to thank his supporters, defend his hive-week battle as an effort to ensure, as a matter of principle, that every vote be counted, and call for the nation to join behind the new president. He was described by an aide as “resolved and resigned."

While some constitutional experts had said they believed states could present electors as late as Dec. 18, the U. S. high court made clear that it saw no such leeway.

 The U.S. high court sent back “for revision” to the Florida court its order allowing recounts but made clear that for all practical purposes the election was over.

In its unsigned main opinion, the court declared, “The recount process, in its features here described, is inconsistent with the minimum procedures necessary to protect the fundamental right of each voter."

 That decision, by a court fractured along philosophical lines, left one liberal justice charging that the high court’s proceedings bore a political taint.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in an angry dissent: “Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the law.”

But at the end of five seemingly endless weeks, during which the physical, legal and constitutional machines of the U. S. election were pressed and sorely tested in ways unseen in more than a century, the system finally produced a result, and one most Americans appeared to be willing at lease provisionally to support.

The Bush team welcomed the news with an outward show of restraint and aplomb. The governor’s hopes had risen and fallen so many times since Election night, and the legal warriors of each side suffered through so many dramatic reversals, that there was little energy left for celebration.

单选题 The main idea of this passage is “_____”
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】文章第二段就提到， 戈尔在高等法院的裁决下计划正式退出选举， 对应文中的“planned to end the contest formally”。 而后讲述竞选成功的布什行动低调表示对戈尔的期望， 并点明371—367的选票结果是和全国最高法院的欺诈性裁决有关， 令戈尔痛心疾首， 布什则感恩不已。 文末提到， 因为此次选举事件， 高等法院司法程序沾上了政治污点。 即使目前布什成功当选美国总统， 大多数美国人似乎也只是暂时支持他。 这一切说明此次选举， 布什胜之不武， 沾上了政治污点， 对应题目中的A选项。 本文关注的重点在于布什获胜之因， 而非美国选举过程， 故排除B选项。 高等法院在本次布什竞选过程的作用是偏袒布什， 给出了欺诈性裁判， 排除C选项。 落败的戈尔很难受， 这是一个事实， 而非文章的主旨。
单选题 What does the sentence “as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next step” mean?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】阅读题干内容， 可定位至文章中第七段， 布什希望戈尔祝贺他成功竞选， 布什团队也努力保持一个低调的形象， 谨慎行动。 后文中提到落败后的戈尔在演讲中号召民众支持新总统， 他的助手也称他“resolved and resigned”意为“坚决而又顺从天命的”。 可知， “as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next step”该句的言外之意是布什团队希望戈尔能够承认失败， 并支持他， 对应题目中的B选项。
单选题 Why couldn’t Mr. Gore win the presidential election after he outpolled Mr. Bush in the popular vote? Because_____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题考查的是， 为什么在民众投票中得票高于布什票数的戈尔最后没有成功竞选为美国总统的原因。文章中部提到， “It was a bitter ending for Mr. Gore, who had outpolled Mr. Bush nationwide by some 300000 votes, but, without Florida, fell short in the Electoral College by 371 votes to 367—the narrowest Electoral College victory since “the turbulent election” of 1876”， 正是佛罗里达州的选票情况造成了371—367这样的最终投票结果， 而“Electoral College”意为“选举团”， 是每一个州人民选出一群人组成选举团， 由他们直接选举总统。 从而可知， 美国总统是由选举团提名选举产生， 对应题目中的C选项。
单选题 What was the result of the 5-to-4 decision of the Supreme Court?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】本题考查的是最高法院5比4之裁决带来了什么样的后果， 而文章中提到,“The 5-to-4 decision of the Supreme Court held, in essence, that while a vote recount in Florida could be conducted in legal and constitutional fashion, as Mr. Gore had sought, this could not be done by the Dec. 13 deadline for states to select their presidential electors”， 由此可见， 该项裁决的实质就是， 依据宪法， 戈尔要求的重新计票只能等到12月13日才可以进行， 而当月的12号正好是各州挑选总统选举人的截止日期。 因此， 重新计票与否对总统选举实际上毫无作用， 因而， 这项裁决的实质就是反对重新计票， 对应题目中的D选项。
单选题 What did the “turbulent election of 1876” imply?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】分析题干关键词“turbulent election of 1876”， 这里指的1876年选举事件其实是候选人海因斯认为自己输了， 正准备放弃， 谁知对手涉嫌欺诈行为， 应此前者提议在有争议的州进行重新计票， 结果海因斯以一票之差险胜。 这两次选举的共同点是重新计票和险胜， 对应题目中的B选项。 A选项完全一样的说法表达有误。文章也没有把1876年的选举比作2000年的选举， 排除C选项。 D选项中的将其作为一个例子， 文章中并没有说明， 可以予以排除。