美国国家公共电台 NPR Polls Open In The World's Largest Democracy: Fun Facts On India's Election

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Voting is getting started today in the largest general election the world has ever seen. India is home to 900 million eligible¹ voters, and polls there are opening this morning. Because of the vastness of the country and with so many people to reach, this election is going to be carried out in several stages, meaning it will be weeks before votes are in and counting can actually begin. More than 500 parliamentary seats are up for grabs here, and that includes that of incumbent² Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is running for a second term. NPR's Lauren Frayer is at a polling station in northern India.

Hi, Lauren.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE³: Hi there.

GREENE: So where exactly are you, and what's the atmosphere like?

FRAYER: I'm in a courtyard of a school that's being used as a polling station a couple hundred yards from the Ganges River. And people are streaming out of the school here after voting, with ink on their fingers that signifies they have voted. And this is one of one million polling stations across this country. And when I say polling station, sometimes it's just, like, a handful of people with an electronic voting machine. The rules say that no Indian voter should have to travel more than 2 kilometers. So that's less than a mile and a half to vote.

And so election officials have trekked⁴ across glaciers⁵, through jungles, to get this voting infrastructure⁶ out to every last citizen. Now, it's all electronic voting on machines, machines that sort of fit in a small suitcase. And we've seen these election commission workers, you know, wading⁷ across rivers with these machines overhead to get in place for this polling.

GREENE: God. Those are some incredible scenes you're describing. As you've been talking to voters, I mean, what have you been learning, and does it sort of give us a sense from afar of what this election is about and what people are finding important?

FRAYER: So it's really a sort of a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. He was elected five years ago, 2014, with this historic majority. He made a lot of promises. People are evaluating his performance. The Indian economy is booming, but unemployment has also hit a four-decade high. Crop prices are low. That means food is cheap. That's good. But farmers are struggling. Their profits are low.

Where I am, in Haridwar, this is a place where Modi's party has done really well before. This is sort of the Hindi heartland, Modi's base. And earlier, I met a couple of elderly gentlemen, retirees, hanging out on the banks of the Ganges River talking about Prime Minister Modi.

SHASHI PRAKASH SHARMA: He's doing his best for the country.

FRAYER: And you think five more years?

SHARMA: Yes. I want. Belongs to a poor family.

MOHAN LAL: We like him as a person. Policies? We are not directly into politics. We are normal people.

FRAYER: So that was Shashi Prakash Sharma and Mohan Lal, and they say they like Modi, the man, you know, the former tea seller. For them, his policies are really secondary, except for national security. And that's something that comes up a lot talking to voters. Violence broke out this winter between India and its neighbor, Pakistan. Airstrikes. Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. And so during all of that, Modi cast himself, really, as this safe pair of hands to care for the country.

GREENE: All right. Setting up the election in India, a massive election, 900 million eligible voters. It's going to take a while before we can actually figure out who won and whether Narendra Modi gets another term. NPR's Lauren Frayer covering it for us this morning.

Lauren, thanks a lot.

FRAYER: You're welcome.

1 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。

2 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 trekked   

v.艰苦跋涉，徒步旅行( trek的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在山中）远足，徒步旅行，游山玩水

参考例句：

• They trekked for three days along the banks of the Zambezi. 他们沿着赞比西河河岸跋涉了三天。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Six-man teams trekked through the woods, respectively for 72 to 96 hours. 6人一组的小分队，经过长途跋涉，穿过了森林，分别用72小时到96小时不等。 来自互联网

5 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

7 wading   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The man tucked up his trousers for wading. 那人卷起裤子，准备涉水。
• The children were wading in the sea. 孩子们在海水中走着。