2006年VOA标准英语-Hungary's Prime Minister Survives Confidence Vo

By Stefan Bos
Budapest
06 October 2006

Hungary's prime minister, who has been under pressure to resign, has survived a vote of confidence. Before the vote, he apologized to parliament for not facing the reality of the dire¹ state of the economy. Following the vote, thousands of people joined a mass protest outside parliament to press demands for the prime minister to resign.

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After hours of debate and an emotional speech by the prime minister, the parliamentary chairwoman announced the results of the confidence vote.

She says the vote was 207 to 165 in support of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.

Ferenc Gyurcsany

Mr. Gyurcsany requested the confidence vote to boost support for planned austerity measures. He has been fighting a battle for his political life since last month, after he admitted lying about the dire state of the economy.

The revelation sparked three weeks of sometimes violent protests and calls for his resignation.

On Sunday, Mr. Gyurcsany's Socialist² Party and its coalition³ partner suffered large losses in nationwide municipal elections. The right-leaning opposition⁴ party, Fidesz, said that result amounted to a referendum on the government and its unpopular austerity measures, aimed at reducing Hungary's budget deficit⁵, the highest within the European Union.

Addressing parliament before the vote, Mr. Gyurcsany said he wanted to apologize for his Socialist-led government's failure to, in his words, confront an unsustainable policy, and for luring⁶ voters into believing that the country's problems would solve themselves.

But he rejected accusations⁷ that he knowingly misled the country.

And, he said, the daily protests in the square outside Parliament of recent weeks could not unseat him.

"After finishing this vote of confidence, we have to see how to solve Hungary's problems." But, he adds "we have to do it here, and not on Lajos Kossuth Square, in front of the parliament building."

In the evening, following the vote, Fidesz organized another rally, calling on the prime minister to resign.

1 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

2 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

3 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。

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 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

6 luring   

吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap. 奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。
• Her training warned her of peril and of the wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring. 她的教养警告她：有危险，要出错儿，这是微妙、神秘而又诱人的。

7 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。