2007年VOA标准英语-Royal Predicts Violence as French Prepare For P

By Anita Elash
Paris
05 May 2007

French voters choose their new president on Sunday. Polls predict conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy will win. During her last day of campaigning, his opponent, Socialist¹ Party candidate Segolene Royal, said a Sarkozy win would spark violence in the multi-ethnic suburbs. Anita Elash reports from Paris.

Segolene Royal gestures while delivering a speech at Rosporden city hall, western France, 04 May 2007

The popularity gap between Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal has grown considerably² in the last few days. The latest poll, published on Friday, predicts he will win the vote by nearly nine percentage points.

Pollsters say Royal lost support after a televised debate on Wednesday evening, when she got angry about questions concerning education for handicapped children.

During the last day of campaigning on Friday, she continued her aggressive stance and told supporters in Western France that a vote for Sarkozy would lead to violence in the largely immigrant suburbs, where he is especially unpopular.

Royal said the right-wing candidate is dangerous for all of France.

In an interview published late Friday, Sarkozy called Royal's comments "the negation³ of basic democratic rules."

Royal's comments fell flat with voters. This English teacher in Paris says they confirmed her view that Sarkozy is a better candidate.

"She doesn't seem to be confident herself or to believe in what she's saying anymore, so I was personally not impressed by what she said and I thought that was just the last straw," she said.

Voter turnout in the first round of voting in April was especially high. Eighty-four percent of people who were registered cast a ballot⁴. Officials say they expect even more will turn out for the final round.

1 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。

2 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

3 negation   

n.否定；否认

参考例句：

• No reasonable negation can be offered.没有合理的反对意见可以提出。
• The author boxed the compass of negation in his article.该作者在文章中依次探讨了各种反面的意见。

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。