【美国精神】第21期

Explanation:  

   Americans live all over the United States, but some places are much more popular than others. For example, more than 35 million people live in California, but only about 500,000 people live in Wyoming. One of the challenges (or difficult things to do) in the U.S. government is to let big and small states participate in the government fairly. Is it fair to give both states equal participation¹ in the government? Or should California have more power than Wyoming since it has so many more people? 

 

   The people who created the U.S. government decided² that they would have to answer ‘yes’ to both questions. They created the Senate, where each state has equal power no matter how big or small it is, and they created the House of Representatives, where states with more people have more power than states with fewer people. 

 

   The House of Representatives currently³ has 435 representatives, or people who are elected (or chosen by large groups of people) to make decisions for their states. Congress can pass a law to change the total number of representatives if it wants to, but the number hasn’t changed from 435 since 1910. Larger states have more representatives than smaller states do. Right now, California has the most, with 53 representatives. Several of the smallest states, such as Wyoming, Montana, and North and South Dakota, have only one representative each. 

 

   The U.S. government does a census⁴ every few years, which is an official count of the number of people living in the country.  After each census, how many representatives each state gets of the 435 seats (or positions) in the House of Representatives is redone. This means that states that have grown may get more representatives and states that have shrunk (or become smaller) get fewer representatives. This process is called apportionment, which means deciding how something should be shared among many people or, in this case, among many states. 

 

   In addition to the 435 representatives, the House also has four delegates⁵ who can speak at the meetings but cannot vote. These delegates represent Washington, D.C. (the nation’s capitol), and the country’s territories, which are areas of land that belong to the United States but are not states.

 

问题：

The House of Representatives has how many voting members?  

Answer:   

Four hundred thirty-five (435) 

1 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

4 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

5 delegates   

代表，代表团成员( delegate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The conference was attended by delegates from 56 countries. 此次会议有来自56个国家的代表出席。
• Delegates expressed strong opposition to the plans. 代表强烈反对这些计划。