英语听力精选进阶版 13750

Britain's new mayors

Summary

1 May 2012

London first voted for a mayoral figurehead in the year 2000. Since then the idea has spread and now ten more major English cities are to vote in a series of referendums on whether to do the same.

Reporter:

Rob Broomby

Report

A decade ago when London chose its first directly elected mayor some feared it would become a shallow political beauty contest. But the idea has taken off. 16 authorities now elect or are about to elect their mayor; ten more British cities are about to decide.

This is Birmingham's so called Council House built with some grandeur¹ in the nineteenth century to run Britain's second largest city. If voters say yes, they could scrap² the traditional council here and choose an executive mayor. But one recent poll suggested the idea is unpopular and voters here remain divided. 

Some experts want to go further and give mayors control of local health and policing, though that remains³ highly controversial. Many democracies around the world already have directly or indirectly⁴ elected mayors and in mainland Europe it's common.

So a 'yes' vote in a large number of British cities could be followed by more; in a decade local government will have been transformed.

1 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

2 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

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。

4 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。