【美国精神】第25期

Explanation:   

  The fifty states of the United States have very different sizes, both in terms of (or related to) how much land there is and the population (or how many people there are). Some states are very large but have very few people; other states are very small but have many people. Even so, all fifty states need to be represented in the federal government. 

 

  What was the solution? The Founding Fathers, or the people who created the U.S. government, decided¹ to have two parts for lawmaking. One is the Senate, where each state has two representatives known as senators, no matter how many people live there. The other is the House of Representatives, where the number of representatives that each state has is proportional to its population, meaning that states with large populations have more representatives in the House than those states with small populations. 

 

  Each state is divided into a number of districts (or areas), one for each representative that it has in the House. Each representative is elected by the people living in his or her district. Changing where the district boundaries (or the lines between districts) are drawn² on the map can change which political party has more power in a district. Redistricting, or changing the district boundaries, is called gerrymandering when it influences (or affects) the results of elections so that one political party is more likely to win. As you can see, this is a very big issue because redistricting can decide which political party has power. 

 

  Sometimes gerrymandering is used to make district boundaries match (or be the same as) where racial groups (or groups of people with the same skin color) live. If the district boundaries are drawn so that white people are the majority (the largest group) in each district, then it is more likely that only white representatives will be elected. Obviously gerrymandering is unfair, but it is very common in modern politics.  Many have criticized this practice of racial gerrymandering.

 

问题：

Why do some states have more Representatives？

Answer:   

•  (Because of) the state’s population  

•  (Because) they have more people  

•  (Because) some states have more people 

1 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。

2 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。