美国国家公共电台 NPR--Netanyahu poised for a comeback, with most votes counted in Israel

Netanyahu poised¹ for a comeback, with most votes counted in Israel

Transcript²

Israel's fifth election in under four years may give right-wing former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu his return to power - though Tuesday's vote is still being counted.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Israel's former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, seems poised to take power once again. Israel's votes are not all counted, and assembling a governing coalition³ is tricky⁴, but Netanyahu's party received the most votes in this week's election, and he consolidated⁵ the right-wing vote with hard-right campaign promises. So let's talk this through with NPR's Daniel Estrin, who's in Tel Aviv. Hey there, Daniel.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE⁶: Hi, Steve.

INSKEEP: How certain is Netanyahu's win?

ESTRIN: It does seem fairly certain. By this point, most votes have been counted, at least 85% of the votes. Netanyahu has the big advantage. His Likud party got most of the votes. His allies on the far right have come in third. And together it seems that they will pretty easily be able to form a coalition together with Orthodox Jewish parties. So here's what Netanyahu said to his supporters early today.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: (Speaking Hebrew).

ESTRIN: He was still being cautious, but he said, we are on the cusp of a very big victory. And it is looking good for him because parties opposing him are much more splintered than the parties that are in favor of him. Two parties on the left may not even make it into Parliament this time. We're talking about a secular⁷ Arab nationalist party, which probably didn't get enough votes. And it's unclear if Meretz, the left-wing pro-LGBTQ party, will even make it into Parliament this time. If both of those parties would have made it, we probably would have seen a stalemate.

INSKEEP: Wow. So Netanyahu was prime minister in the '90s, was then prime minister more recently for a decade, was then finally pushed out of office amid allegations of corruption⁸ and other things, could be back in power. How are Israelis responding?

ESTRIN: Well, there were celebrations at the campaign headquarters of the far right, calling for the next government to have tough law enforcement against Palestinians and Palestinian citizens of Israel. One Netanyahu voter told us today that he doesn't care who's prime minister; what's important to him is the Jewish character of the state. Now, on the other side of the map, Israelis who are - oppose Netanyahu are frankly⁹ beside themselves this morning. You see a lot of that on social media. We ran into Marik Shtern today. He's a political analyst¹⁰ but also a very unhappy voter.

MARIK SHTERN: The feeling is quite bad, actually. It's sort of despair. The country is going into a very clear direction of nationalism and religious extremism. But we will be OK. The problem would be with the Palestinian citizens of Israel, the Palestinians in the West Bank. All of them are in real danger for the near future.

ESTRIN: And, you know, he is right. We have spoken to worried Arab voters, especially worried about a far-right provocateur, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is poised to be a cabinet minister in a likely Netanyahu government.

INSKEEP: Setting aside the personnel, is it really clear what a Netanyahu government would do?

ESTRIN: I think the biggest changes that we would likely see is mostly the weakening of the independence of the judiciary. Netanyahu is on trial for corruption. He wants to avoid going to jail. And his allies have made it very clear they're ready to make far-reaching changes to checks and balances in Israeli democracy.

INSKEEP: OK. Again, if you missed the top, Israel held another election. Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is in the lead, and he appears to be poised to form a governing majority, a governing coalition.

NPR's Daniel Estrin. Thanks so much.

ESTRIN: You're welcome.

1 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

5 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

8 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

9 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

10 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。