VOA标准英语2011-Nigerian Ruling-Party Delegates Gather to

Delegates from Nigeria's ruling party are gathering¹ in the capital for a convention to choose their presidential nominee². Politicians will decide the fate of regional power-sharing in Nigeria.

Nigeria's ruling party has won the last three presidential elections. So this nominee will clearly be the frontrunner in April's vote.  But party delegates in Abuja are also deciding the future of an informal power-sharing deal that rotates the presidency³ between Nigeria's mainly Muslim north and its predominantly Christian⁴ south.

If delegates choose former vice⁵ president Atiku Abubakar, they will be sticking to an agreement that gives northern Nigerians another four years in office following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

If delegates choose current president Goodluck Jonathan, they will be breaking with that plan in favor of a southern leader who took office amidst the political uncertainty⁶ surrounding Mr. Yar'Adua's death.

Professor Sylvester Monye is the executive secretary of Nigeria's National Planning Commission. He says President Jonathan has clearly demonstrated his ability to revive the country's economy, moving so decisively that Monye says it is sometimes difficult for people to understand how much he has done so quickly.

"You wouldn't believe that, for the first time in about 12 years in Nigeria, we have had a Christmas and New Year come and gone without any single queue in any petrol station," said Monye. "For the first time in over ten years, we have all our refineries⁷ working. For the first time in 28 years, we now have a national medium-term plan which means that we are now planning and executing plans based on some framework unlike before, when we were doing things like we were groping in the dark."

This is expected to be a close contest between Mr. Jonathan and Mr. Abubakar. Mr. Jonathan has the advantage of incumbency⁸. Mr. Abubakar has the advantage of standing⁹ as the consensus¹⁰ candidate of Nigeria's powerful northern political class.

University of Abuja political science professor Kabiru Mato says the strength of northern support for abiding¹¹ by the regional power-sharing agreement may be just enough to tip the contest in Mr. Abubakar's favor.

"That's one of the factors really that, in my view, will sway quite a lot of northern votes to vice president Atiku Abubakar because, truly, the question of rotation¹² and zoning of political offices, especially the presidency, is an integral part of the PDP constitution," noted¹³ Mato. "So if that is the issue, then there is a great deal of sympathy that likely will benefit the former vice president, especially from the conservative voting force that will be delegates in the party primary."

The opposition¹⁴ Action Congress of Nigeria party has scheduled its primary to follow Thursday's People's Democratic Party contest. The Action party says the loser of the ruling-party primary is welcome to run for its nomination¹⁵.

1 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

2 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

7 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

8 incumbency   

n.职责，义务

参考例句：

• Every incumbency employee has his year-end bonus.所有的在职员工都可以领到年终奖金。
• Administrator ethic includes administrative incumbency and administrative conscience.行政人员伦理包括行政义务和行政良知。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

11 abiding   

adj.永久的，持久的，不变的

参考例句：

• He had an abiding love of the English countryside.他永远热爱英国的乡村。
• He has a genuine and abiding love of the craft.他对这门手艺有着真挚持久的热爱。

12 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

14 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

15 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。