The US presidential election is not until November 2012. But Texas Governor Rick Perry already has announced he wants to be the Republican Party candidate for president. That has made some “Tea Party” candidates nervous, since they want the Republican nomination, too.

美国总统大选要等到2012年11月才拉开帷幕，但德州州长里克•佩里已经宣布他将角逐共和党总统候选人。这让一些“茶党”候选人颇为紧张，因为他们也对共和党这一提名虎视眈眈呢。

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The Tea Party is a term adopted by a group of US conservatives who don’t like taxes. It’s based on the Boston Tea Party, which is what a group people were called when they protested British taxes when the US was a British colony.

But the words tea party have a different meaning in the US West and Southwest. If a basketball team is facing tough competition, someone will say, “It won’t be a tea party,” meaning it won’t be a polite fight.

In Texas, where most people choose coffee over tea, the word tea can be an insult. Texas A&M University football team members call their rivals, the University of Texas, “tea sippers.” And the University of Texas football team has been known to call the Colorado football team “tea sippers,” meaning they’re not very tough.

茶党这一说法，取自一群讨厌税收的美国保守主义者。它起源于波士顿茶叶党，当时美国还是英国的殖民地，有一群人起来反抗英国当局的税收政策，因此得名。

但是在美国西部和西南部，tea party这个词还有别的意思。如果一个篮球队面临一场艰难的比赛，有人就会说，“It won’t be a tea party”，意思是说这场比赛不太好打。

在德州，大部分人不喝茶喝咖啡，tea这个词带有侮辱性质。德州农工大学橄榄球队称他们的对手德州大学球队为“tea sippers（茶客）”，而德州大学球队把同样的称呼用于科罗拉多球队，意思是说他们太弱了。

（中国日报网英语点津 实习生沈清 编辑：Julie）

About the broadcaster:

Renee Haines is an editor and broadcaster at China Daily. Renee has more than 15 years of experience as a newspaper editor, radio station anchor and news director, news-wire service reporter and bureau chief, magazine writer, book editor and website consultant. She came to China from the United States.