1. drop out ①退出（get out）；②退学
2. financial might财力=financial power
3. wage a battle/war 宣战
4. have the potential to有可能
5. stoke resentment激起民愤
stoke vt. 激起（stir up）
6. take steps 采取行动=take measures
7. feeble prospects 前景渺茫
=gloomy future
feeble light 微弱的光
feeble excuse 站不住脚的理由
8. amount to sth可以说是
a no-expenses-spared effort to do sth不惜一切代价
9. from the outset 从一开始=from the beginning
10. gender-based discrimination性别歧视
11. lament UK /ləˈment/ vt. 抱怨（complain about） n. 哀伤
12. turnout UK /ˈtɜːnaʊt/ n. 到场率，出勤率 turn out 结果是……
13. benefactor UK /ˈbenɪfæktə/ n. 金主，赞助人 benefit n. 好处
14. exceptionally adv. 特别地，异常地（very）exception n. 特例
15. thwart UK /θwɔːt/ vt. 阻止（prevent）
16. unsparing UK /ʌnˈspeərɪŋ/adj. 严酷的，毫不留情的（strict）
no-expenses-spared adj. 不惜一切代价的
17. vulnerability UK /ˌvʌlnərəˈbɪləti, ˌvʌnrəˈbɪləti/ n. 弱点
18. identify vt. 指认，指出
19. stop-and-frisk 拦截搜身
①Michael R. Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race and backed Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday, throwing the financial might of the Democratic Party’s biggest benefactor behind the former vice president’s campaign as Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont vowed to wage a long battle for the nomination.
②His exit and immediate move to back Mr. Biden had the potential to anger supporters of Mr. Sanders and stoke resentment among progressives that party power brokers were again taking exceptionally aggressive steps to thwart Mr. Sanders’s candidacy.
③But Mr. Bloomberg’s decision to leave the race came primarily from an unsparing assessment of his own feeble prospects.
④Mr. Bloomberg’s candidacy was unprecedented in its financial firepower, amounting to a no-expenses-spared effort to take control of a presidential race. But he never escaped a set of serious political vulnerabilities that his advisers identified from the outset, including his long record of supporting stop-and-frisk policing and numerous accusations made by women about harassment and gender-based discrimination.
