2006年VOA标准英语-Kuwaiti Women Exercise Right to Vote

By Challiss McDonough
Kuwait City
29 June 2006

In Kuwait, women turned out in large numbers to exercise their newly won right to vote. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough has more from Kuwait City on the parliamentary election, in which 28 women also competed for seats in Parliament.

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A Kuwaiti woman, left, cast her vote at a polling station in Salwa, Kuwait City, June 29, 2006  
  
As temperatures soared to near 50 degrees Celsius¹, women who came to vote for the first time ran a gamut² of campaign workers handing out bottles of water or vanilla³ ice cream, as well as some last-minute encouragement about how to cast their ballots⁵.

A woman backed up a golf cart, emblazoned with her candidate's name, ready to ferry overheated voters to the polling station entrance. Other volunteers escorted women to the voting area under umbrellas to protect them from the blazing sun, or spritzed them with water to cool off.

"And we're trying to help our candidate to get as many votes as he can," said a female campaign worker. "Everyone is having an umbrella, all the parties, all the candidates, and they're having spray waters, Evian. And, see, we have here a movable buggy, or car, and we hope for the best."

In this conservative Shi'ite district, most of the first-time voters arrived at the ladies' polling station wearing heavy black abayas and headscarves. Scores of women of all ages waited in line outside a schoolroom, patiently fanning themselves with campaign flyers to keep cool. Despite the heat, the crowd was all smiles.

In the air-conditioned cool of the voting room, a female election worker wearing an abaya and a pair of stiletto heels walked over to the wheelchair of an elderly woman.

Turning away from the male judge overseeing the voting, the older woman pulled aside her face veil, so the election worker could verify her identity. A helper then wheeled the woman over to the voting booth, so she could mark her ballot⁴.

This is the first time that Kuwaiti women have had the right to vote, granted by parliament last year, and they said they would not be deterred⁶ by hot weather or long lines.

"It was a great feeling, really. It was really great," said one woman. "And this election, it's really a very difficult one, because, you know, most, maybe 90 percent of the Kuwaiti people are anti-corruption⁷. And, if you have seen the youth, they brought us the hope again. You know, sometimes you get frustrated⁸ from all this corruption and political money, but, now, our hope is so high that Kuwait will win in the end, not the corruption."

Because women now far outnumber men on the voters' roll, the candidates have spared no effort to attract women's support. This is being described as one of the most intense election campaigns in Kuwaiti history, and competition has been fierce. The reformists - including both liberal and Islamist groups - are hoping to win enough seats to push their anti-corruption agenda in parliament.

In Kuwait City, turnout at the women's polling stations was impressive. But in other districts far from the center of town, the turnout among women voters was much lighter⁹. Those outlying areas are considered the most conservative, tribal-influenced areas of Kuwait, where opposition to women getting the right to vote was heaviest

1 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

2 gamut   

n.全音阶，(一领域的)全部知识

参考例句：

• The exhibition runs the whole gamut of artistic styles.这次展览包括了所有艺术风格的作品。
• This poem runs the gamut of emotions from despair to joy.这首诗展现了从绝望到喜悦的感情历程。

3 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

4 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

5 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》

6 deterred   

v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告诉他我不感兴趣，可他却不罢休。
• Jeremy was not deterred by this criticism. 杰里米没有因这一批评而却步。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。