新西兰英语 507 End of Parliament

 　　Parliament finished this week to prepare for the elections on November 26th. When Parliament starts again, it will be a new government with some new MPs and many old ones. 14 MPs made farewell speeches because they are leaving. Our new government could be a National government or a Labour government or a coalition¹ government where there is an agreement between a bigger party and some smaller parties.

　　After the Rugby World Cup finishes on Sunday, MPs will begin their election campaign. Already some billboards³ with photos of MPs have appeared but there will be more. We can expect debates between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition⁴, on radio and TV. We can also expect to get leaflets in our letter boxes – some from the candidates in our electorate⁵ and some from the political parties telling us why we should vote for their party.

　　In this election, we have two votes, one for the candidate and one for the party. In this election we also vote for or against MMP. If we don’t like MMP, we can vote to go back to FPP – First Past the Post. If most people vote to keep MMP, there will probably be some changes to make it fairer.

　　Listen to Nlovember 24th 2008 to hear about the last election results and Referendum on MMP to hear more about MMP.

　　Vocabulary

　　MP – Member of Parliament

　　farewell – goodbye

　　campaign – the time when candidates try to persuade people to vote for them

　　billboard² – a big poster usually high above the road

　　debate – discussion or argument

　　leaflet – sheet of paper with information

　　candidate – the person in your electorate wanting to be your MP

　　electorate – the area where you can vote for one MP

　　MMP – mixed member proportional; if a party gets x% of the vote, they get x% MPs in Parliament

　　FPP – the candidate who gets most votes wins e.g if A gets 51% of the votes and B gets 49%, A wins.

　　Questions

　　1.Do you think MMP is better than FPP or do you like a different system of voting?

　　2.Do you always vote? It is not compulsory⁶ in New Zealand (it is compulsory in Australia). Why do you think some people do not want to vote?

　　3.We have national elections every three years. Do you think this is the right length of time between elections?

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

3 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

4 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。

5 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

6 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。