新西兰英语 347 Election results

　　The most interesting result of the local body elections was the election of the Auckland mayor, Len Brown. He won with 221,000 votes while John Banks got 161,000. Len Brown had been the mayor of Manukau in South Auckland. Now eight councils have become one council of this new super-city. 20 councillors were voted onto the council. Four of those were ex-mayors from Auckland councils and another one was the head of the Auckland Regional Council.
Another interesting result was in Christchurch where Bob Parker kept his job as mayor. Before the earthquake, more people said they were planning to vote for Jim Anderton; however, after the earthquake, this changed. Voters thought Bob Parker worked very hard and did a good job helping¹ the people of Christchurch.
In Dunedin, the mayor Peter Chin lost his seat to Dave Cull² who had been on the council. In Wellington, mayor Kerry Prendergast is leading by 40 votes but there are 1000 special votes which have not been counted yet so this result could change.
In 2007, only 44% of eligible³ people voted. It is too early to know how many people voted this time but Aucklanders showed a lot of interest in the elections for the new super-city so the percentage of voters is probably more than last elections.
Listen to September 26 2010 for more about Auckland and local body elections.
Questions
1. Is a postal⁴ vote better than going to a polling place to vote?
2. Is three weeks too long or not long enough to do your postal voting?
3. Why do you think less than 50% of eligible voters have voted in the past?

1 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。

2 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

3 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

4 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。