VOA慢速英语20060121a

IN THE NEWS - Politics: One Woman President Takes Office, While Another Is ElectedBy Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Saturday, January 21, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, the people of Chile elected their first female president -- and Africa's first elected woman president took office.

In Chile, Michelle Bachelet won fifty-three percent of the ballots¹ in a second vote held Sunday. She was the Socialist² candidate of the ruling coalition³. Opposition⁴ candidate Sebastian Pinera, a businessman of great wealth, had forty-six percent.


Michelle Bachelet

Michelle Bachelet is fifty-four years old. She is a medical doctor, and a single mother with three children. Her father was an adviser⁵ to Socialist president Salvador Allende. General Alberto Bachelet was jailed and tortured after a military overthrow⁶ of Allende in nineteen seventy-three. General Bachelet died after six months in prison.

Secret police later put his wife and daughter in torture centers. Once freed, they fled to Australia and then Germany. Michelle Bachelet returned to Chile in nineteen seventy-nine. But the government of Augusto Pinochet refused to let her work as a doctor.

The dictatorship ended in nineteen ninety. In two thousand, President Richard Lagos made Doctor Bachelet health minister. Two years later, she became Chile's first woman defense⁷ minister.

Today, she promises to be a president for all women and all men. She says she will lead a government that will better meet the needs of women and the poor. And she says she will work to continue Chile's economic growth and close ties with the United States. President Bachelet will be sworn in on March eleventh.

In Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in on Monday. She is sixty-seven years old. Over the years she has served in the government and the opposition. She served as finance minister. But she also spent time in prison and exile for her political activism.


Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

Miz Johnson-Sirleaf defeated a former soccer star for president in November. Now she has the job to begin rebuilding a nation torn by civil war. Charles Taylor started a rebellion in nineteen eighty-nine. He later became president. Conflict continued until he resigned in two thousand three.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf promises a break with the past. She says many years of problems have hurt progress and national unity⁸, and kept old disagreements alive. She says her goal is to improve the lives of the people of Liberia.

Miz Johnson-Sirleaf studied economics at Harvard University in the United States. American first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both attended the historic swearing-in.

Liberians call their new president the Iron Lady and Ma Ellen. Miz Johnson-Sirleaf explained both names to a reporter from the New York Times.

The Iron Lady, she says, comes from the toughness of many years of being a professional in a male-dominated world. She says Ma Ellen has to do with the suffering she has seen in Liberia, and how it brought out the motherliness in her.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

1 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》

2 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

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 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。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。