新西兰英语 04 Electoral Finance Act

　　Parliament is still discussing the Electoral Finance¹ Bill. This Bill is about how much money political parties and other people can spend on an election.
Last general election, in 2005, there were some problems over spending money to encourage people to vote for different parties. One problem was that most parties, but especially Labour, spent taxpayers’ money when they sent out information about their policies. They had to pay this money back because it was illegal to use taxpayers’ money this way. If they want to advertise their policies, the party has to pay.
Another problem was expensive newspaper advertisements by a religious group telling people to vote for National and pamphlets² telling people not to vote for the Greens. These were anonymous³ advertisements – they did not say who paid for them. They cost more than one million dollars. There were other anonymous donations to political parties.
New Zealanders do not want government to be decided⁴ by the party with the most money. This Electoral Finance Bill will limit how much money a party can spend in an election year and how much money other people, like religious groups, can spend to support a party. The limit will be $120,000. Many people are angry about this Bill because they say it will stop free speech for the whole election year. The next general election will be held next year, probably in November, so if the Bill passes, groups will have to be careful about their election spending from January 1st. In the past, election spending was limited for just 3 months before the election.
Some New Zealanders are so upset about the Bill that they have marched in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to protest. Even the Law Society does not support this Bill.
The government wanted this Bill passed a long time ago but opposition⁵ parties in Parliament are still asking questions and trying to get the government to stop the Bill. The government has made 150 changes but still opposition parties, like National and ACT, are not happy with it. There are many other Bills for Parliament to pass before the Christmas break so it seems likely that Parliament will have some late nights in the next 2 weeks.

1 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

2 pamphlets   

n.小册子( pamphlet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Distribute these pamphlets among them before you leave, will you? 请你在离开之前把这些小册子发给他们好吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He fell under suspicion for distributing seditious pamphlets. 他因散发反政府传单而遭到怀疑。 来自辞典例句

3 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

4 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。

5 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。