英语听力精选进阶版 6220

Conservative David Cameron Wins 保守党的戴维·卡梅伦获胜

After days of political horse-trading the UK finally has a new government and a new Prime Minister, following the resignation of Labour's Gordon Brown on Tuesday evening.

Since last Thursday's general election resulted in a hung parliament, a situation in which none of the political parties has an overall majority, British politicians have been attempting to form a coalition¹ government.

Such a government is comparatively rare in the UK. Indeed this is the first coalition since the Second World War.

So how did it happen?

Last week's general election saw the public vote split amongst the political parties in such a way that no party achieved the 326 seats required to gain a majority and therefore form a government.

This situation is known as a hung parliament, and means that two or more of the opposing parties have to unite in order to have more than 326 seats between them.

The Conservative party won 306 seats while Labour and the Liberal Democrats² got 258 and 57 seats respectively.

This meant that the Liberal Democrats effectively became 'kingmakers', with the power to choose which rival to form a coalition with.

Both Labour and the Conservatives attempted to woo the Lib Dems with various offers over the last few days, but in the end Gordon Brown resigned both as Prime Minster and as Labour leader, paving the way for the new government.

Many have seen the Lib Dems as the real winners in this situation, given the fact that their leader Nick Clegg has been appointed Deputy Prime Minister and four others have received ministerial appointments.

However, it remains³ to be seen how effectively David Cameron's Conservatives can work with their new partners.

Glossary 词汇表

political horse-trading 政治交易、讨价还价 

resignation 辞职 

Labour 工党 

general election 大选 

hung parliament 无党派占绝对多数的议会/悬空议会 

political parties 政党 

overall majority 占绝大多数 

coalition government 联合执政政府 

comparatively rare 相对少见的 

public vote 公众投票 

seats 议席 

unite 联合 

Liberal Democrats 自由民主党 

respectively 分别地 

kingmakers 拥立国王的人 

rival 对手 

woo 求得赞同、讨好 

paving the way 铺平道路 

Deputy Prime Minister 副首相 

ministerial appointments 部长级的任命

1 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。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。