2007年VOA标准英语-Nigeria's Election Marred by Violence, Logistic

By Nico Colombant
Lugbe, Nigeria
21 April 2007

The presidential and legislative¹ election in Nigeria, Africa's most populous² country, has taken a slow and troubled turn as many voting centers were without ballots⁴ for hours Saturday, while police said they had foiled an attack on election headquarters in Abuja.  VOA's Nico Colombant reports from the village of Lugbe outside the capital.

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This Lugbe, Nigeria, resident has his voting card, but no ballot papers, 21 Apr 2007

Tempers flared⁵ as hundreds of voters waited in the muggy⁶ heat amid open sewage, with no sign of ballot papers.

An observer delegation⁷ led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright arrived before any election material. 

After shaking hands with would-be voters, Albright went looking for officials from the Independent National Election Commission, known as INEC.

ALBRIGHT: "You are all INEC officials? And you have the voter registration⁸ lists? "

ELECTION OFFICIAL:  "They are bringing everything."

ALBRIGHT: "But what do you have?  Oh, you have the manual."

Another observer was former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark.

CLARK:  "How many voting places are there here in this poll?"

ELECTION OFFICIAL: "There are about five."

CLARK:  "So how many voting boxes do you have? Five?"

ELECTION OFFICIAL: "At the moment, we have one box, but they are bringing them in."

Some voters waited patiently, 21 Apr 2007

One resident, Victor, expressed the frustration⁹ of many waiting.

"I am disappointed with what is happening in Nigeria. No election," he said.  "Last week, they said they did gubernatorial elections, but declared false winners.  We are no longer happy.  Our people are frustrated¹⁰ and we are suffering. People will say they have won and yet no election. It is just very unfair.  Please we need a change.  It is high time the whole system is changed for good. Our country is so messed up.  No road. No electricity.  No hospital. No water. No medical services, nothing is happening in Nigeria."

Some in line gave up and decided¹² to go home.

"They say they are going to take action about these things, but we are standing¹³ [here for a long time], and we do not see anybody standing there or taking action about it," said another resident.  "It is slow, because look at the time.  What is the time now? That is what I am talking about."

But a father of six said he was going to wait. He said he hopes the new government will stop demolishing¹⁵ poor areas like Lugbe and instead help them.

"In Lugbe, we are poor people. We are so many, then we need hospitals, " he said.  "If the government can give us. We do not want the government to demolish¹⁴ Lugbe, as they demolish many places, so we are begging the government to leave us in Lugbe, not to demolish Lugbe.  They should leave us here."

Only men stayed in line. They said women were doing chores and would vote later.

Voting started in a few places on time, but in many cases ballot papers for the legislative election were missing.  Officials said there were mistakes on some of them, prompting possible re-votes next week.

Presidential ballots had to be reprinted to include current vice¹¹ president and opposition¹⁶ candidate Atiku Abubakar, who was reinstated by a Supreme¹⁷ Court decision, but his party said old ballots were still being used.

Meanwhile, firefights which began overnight in southern Bayelsa state, including at the hotel where the ruling vice presidential candidate was staying, continued on voting day.

In Abuja, police said a tank laden¹⁸ with explosives crashed into a poll near election headquarters, but did not explode.

In the presidential election, more than 20 candidates are competing to replace President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was denied a chance to run for a third term by the outgoing parliament.   The main contenders are the ruling party's Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and former military general Muhammadu Buhari.

1 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

2 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

3 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

4 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 Flared   

adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
• The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

6 muggy   

adj.闷热的；adv.（天气）闷热而潮湿地；n.（天气）闷热而潮湿

参考例句：

• We may expect muggy weather when the rainy season begins.雨季开始时，我们预料有闷热的天气。
• It was muggy and overcast.天气闷热潮湿，而且天色阴沉。

7 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

8 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

9 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

10 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 demolish   

v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等)

参考例句：

• They're going to demolish that old building.他们将拆毁那座旧建筑物。
• He was helping to demolish an underground garage when part of the roof collapsed.他当时正在帮忙拆除一个地下汽车库，屋顶的一部份突然倒塌。

15 demolishing   

v.摧毁( demolish的现在分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings. 这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。 来自《用法词典》
• Conventional demolishing work would have caused considerable interruptions in traffic. 如果采用一般的拆除方法就要引起交通的严重中断。 来自辞典例句

16 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。

17 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

18 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。