2006年VOA标准英语-Israeli Election Campaign Begins

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
07 March 2006

Israel's election campaign began on Tuesday with different parties unveiling their campaign ads, and the candidates stepping up attacks against each other.  VOA's Jim Teeple reports from our Jerusalem bureau three weeks before Israeli voters go to the polls on March 28.

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Israelis sit next to campaign posters at Kadima Party headquarters in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv
  

Israelis pay close attention to political advertisements, and Israeli election campaigns only begin when the parties unveil their campaign ads as they have now done. 

Those two jingles¹ for the Kadima Party and the Labor² Party will be played over and over between now and March 28 when voters go to the polls to select a new government.   

Ariel Sharon  
  
Less than three months ago, Israel's political future seemed pre-determined.  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, leading his newly formed centrist Kadima Party was virtually guaranteed of an overwhelming victory; a victory he said he would use to set Israel's final border with the Palestinians.

As the architect of last year's unilateral Israeli withdrawal³ from the Gaza Strip Mr. Sharon had emerged as a historic figure in Israel, trusted across the political spectrum⁴.  Using his accumulated political capital, Mr. Sharon left the Likud Party, a party he helped to form, to establish Kadima - taking some of Israel's leading politicians from both the right-wing Likud party and the left-wing Labor party to form a centrist political bloc⁵, a move that proved overwhelmingly popular with Israeli voters.

However, everything changed in early January, when Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke and cerebral⁶ hemorrhage that left him comatose⁷ in Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where he remains⁸ to this day.  Israel's politicians rallied around Mr. Sharon's deputy, Ehud Olmert, a former mayor of Jerusalem and Mr. Olmert was quickly named acting⁹ prime minister and given the task of leading Kadima to an election win.    

Ehud Olmert   
  
Polls in January showed Mr. Olmert coasting to an easy victory and winning the mandate¹⁰ he said he wanted to carry out Ariel Sharon's goal of setting Israel's final border with the Palestinians.  However, recent polls show support for Kadima slipping, with some potential voters defecting to the Likud Party, even though Kadima still holds a commanding lead over Likud, its nearest rival.

Corruption¹¹ allegations surrounding Ariel Sharon's son who, acting as his father's political enforcer, dispensed¹² jobs and favors across the political spectrum, as well as questions about the propriety¹³ of Mr. Olmert's multi-million dollar sale of his house to a foreign investor¹⁴, have dented¹⁵ Ehud Olmert and Kadima's fortunes.  Akiva Aldar, a leading columnist¹⁶ for the daily Ha'aretz newspaper says Mr. Olmert has discovered his political honeymoon¹⁷ is over. 

"Ehud Olmert does not have the charm, the charisma¹⁸ and the experience of his predecessor¹⁹, and he has to answer questions that Sharon had the privilege of avoiding," he said.  "Ehud Olmert doesn't get any discounts from the Israeli public or the media and, of course, from the other parties.  Sharon was a very unique species and that is the reason we saw Kadima reaching more than 40 seats or more than one third of the electorate²⁰.  Now we are going back to normal life and it seems that Ehud Olmert doesn't have all the answers."  

Hamas supporters during rally in support of candidates for parliamentary elections in  Hebron (file photo)  
  
Israeli politics was also turned upside down on January 25, when the Islamic militant²¹ group Hamas won on overwhelming victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections.  It was a victory that few in Israel predicted and a development that Israel's government, preoccupied²² by Mr. Sharon's illness and upcoming elections seemed unprepared for.   To many in Israel, Mr. Olmert's government has seemed on the defensive²³ since the Hamas win, something this ad by the Likud Party is seeking to reinforce. 

The ad which is meant to sound like a Hamas broadcast, thanks Mr. Olmert for allowing the Palestinian elections to proceed, and for allowing the initial transfer of millions of dollars of customs and tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority, something Israel says it will now no longer do since Hamas has been named to form a new government. 

Akiva Aldar of Ha'aretz says even though many Israelis support the idea of pulling back from much of the Palestinian territories, ads like the one created by the Likud Party exploit fears that Israelis have about how Palestinian militants²⁴ seemed to have capitalized on last year's Gaza disengagement.   Aldar says the Hamas victory solidified²⁵ those fears and had an immediate²⁶ impact on Israel's upcoming election. 

"Actually the emergence²⁷ of Hamas has also forced a new agenda on the campaign because now we are back to issues of security and whether we should go back to the process or not," he added.  "It seems that Hamas is dictating²⁸ to us the agenda; the old bad agenda, that looks to many people as existential [based on existence] while social and economic issues look like something you can put on the back burner. "

That has hurt Israel's Labor Party, led by a firebrand Labor leader Amir Peretz, as well as some of Israel's smaller parties who usually join governing coalitions²⁹.  The Labor Party's traditional message of helping³⁰ the poor and opposing free market economic policies does not seem to have much resonance³¹ with Israeli voters concerned with security issues and a Hamas government that refuses to disarm³² or recognize the Jewish state.

1 jingles   

叮当声( jingle的名词复数 )； 节拍十分规则的简单诗歌

参考例句：

• Can I give Del and Mr. Jingles some? 我可以分一点给戴尔和金格先生吗？
• This story jingles bells for many of my clients. 这个故事对我许多客户来说都耳熟能详。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

4 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

5 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

6 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

7 comatose   

adj.昏睡的，昏迷不醒的

参考例句：

• Those in extreme fear can be put into a comatose type state.那些极端恐惧的人可能会被安放进一种昏迷状态。
• The doctors revived the comatose man.这个医生使这个昏睡的苏醒了。

8 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。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

11 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

12 dispensed   

v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• Not a single one of these conditions can be dispensed with. 这些条件缺一不可。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage. 他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 propriety   

n.正当行为；正当；适当

参考例句：

• We hesitated at the propriety of the method.我们对这种办法是否适用拿不定主意。
• The sensitive matter was handled with great propriety.这件机密的事处理得极为适当。

14 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

15 dented   

v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• The back of the car was badly dented in the collision. 汽车尾部被撞后严重凹陷。
• I'm afraid I've dented the car. 恐怕我把车子撞瘪了一些。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

17 honeymoon   

n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月

参考例句：

• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。
• The happy pair are leaving for their honeymoon.这幸福的一对就要去度蜜月了。

18 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

19 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

20 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。

21 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

22 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

24 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

25 solidified   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• Her attitudes solidified through privilege and habit. 由于特权和习惯使然，她的看法变得越来越难以改变。
• When threatened, he fires spheres of solidified air from his launcher! 当危险来临，他就会发射它的弹药！

26 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

27 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

28 dictating   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• The manager was dictating a letter to the secretary. 经理在向秘书口授信稿。 来自辞典例句
• Her face is impassive as she listens to Miller dictating the warrant for her arrest. 她毫无表情地在听米勒口述拘留她的证书。 来自辞典例句

29 coalitions   

结合体，同盟( coalition的名词复数 )； （两党或多党）联合政府

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war. 历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• All the coalitions in history have disintegrated sooner or later. 历史上任何联盟迟早都垮台了。

30 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

31 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

32 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。