新西兰英语 246 Jeanette Fitzsimons retires from Parliame

　　The Green Party MP and co-leader, retired¹ from Parliament today. She has been in Parliament for 13 years.
She was elected as a list MP for the Alliance Party in the first MMP Parliament in 1996. At that time, the Greens were part of the Alliance Party. Then in 1999, she won the seat of Coromandel for the Green Party. Now the Green Party has nine MPs.
She has been the Green Party expert on Energy, Science, Transport, Agriculture, Climate Change and Economics. The Green Party is against nuclear energy and GM food. The party supports more cycle ways and public transport.
Once in a TV poll, people voted her as the politician that they trusted the most. She has never been rude or unpleasant in Parliament. She said that a lot of time is wasted in Parliament with unimportant matters like where Bill English should park his car instead of worrying about what the world will do when oil for his car runs out. She thinks the most important thing she has done in Parliament was the home insulation² scheme, helping³ people to pay for insulation to make their homes warmer.
Listen to February 25th 2009 to hear about Jeanette Fitzsimons as co-leader.
To find out more about MMP, listen to September 8th 2009
Questions to Think About
The Green Party has only nine MPs. Do the main political parties listen to the Green Party?
MMP gave the Greens a chance to be in Parliament. Do you think MMP is a good system?

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。