新西兰英语 525 ACT may win in Epsom

 　　ACT party member John Banks had a cup of tea with Prime Minister John Key this morning in a café in the Epsom electorate¹ in Auckland. Although John Key cannot say, “Vote for John Banks,” he said that if Banks wins, the National Party will be happy to have ACT as a coalition² partner. It is interesting that the National candidate in Epsom, Paul Goldsmith is trying to win support for his party not for himself. He wants people to give the party vote to National. If ACT wins in Epsom, they could get 2 or 3 MPs in Parliament to support a National government. This depends on the percentage of votes for the ACT party. However, if Paul Goldsmith wins, that is only one MP.

　　After the 2008 election, ACT, the Maori Party and United Future were coalition partners who supported National. This gave National enough MPs to form a coalition government.

　　John Banks is a well-known politician. He was elected as a National MP in 1981. In 1990, he became the Minister of Police, the Minister of Tourism and the Minister of Sport. After he left Parliament, he was Mayor of Auckland from 2001 to 2004 and again from 2007 to 2010. However, he was defeated in 2010 when Len Brown became the new mayor.

　　Vocabulary

　　Coalition – a government made up of two or more political parties; the party which has the most votes forms the government but a coalition party supports that government on most issues

　　Defeated – beaten, did not win

　　Questions

　　Many people are unhappy about the National Party using the MMP voting system to gain more MPs to support them. Other people think it is good to have a coalition government because the minor³ parties have some control over the National government. What do you think?

1 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。

2 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。

3 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。