CNN 2010-05-13

Question is, who is going to live at 10 Downing Street? The UK is trying to figure that out after last week's parliamentary elections. None of the parties got a majority of seats. So now, a scramble¹ is on. In the UK, people vote for members of parliament. Whichever party wins a majority of the seats in parliament gets to form the new government, and that party's leader usually becomes prime minister. Gordon Brown has held that job since 2007. He heads up the Labour Party. But they only got 29 % of the vote in last Thursday's election. The Conservative Party, which is led by David Cameron, got 36 %. Over the weekend, Brown and Cameron both met with Nick Clegg. He is in charge of the Liberal Democrat² Party, which got 23 % of the vote. Clegg could form a coalition³ -- basically, sort of team up -- with either the Labour Party or the Conservative Party and then together, form a majority.

Well, we're staying in Europe. An ash cloud from a volcano is causing problems for airplanes. And if that story sounds familiar, it's because it is! This is the same volcano and the same problem. It's in southern Iceland under a glacier⁴; it's been erupting since last month. The problem is the ash that you are seeing right here. If this ash gets into a jet's engine, it can cause the engine to fail. Back in April, concerns about the ash shut down air travel across most of Europe for nearly a week. This weekend, several hundred more flights were canceled, and some officials closed airports in Italy, Spain and Scotland.
 

1 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

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 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。