VOA标准英语2009年-Exit Polls Predict Big Defeat for Japan's

Polls have closed in Japan's nationwide election for its lower house of parliament. Media exit polling is predicting a big defeat for the party that has ruled Japan for more than half a century.

Just minutes after voting concluded Sunday in Japan, major media outlets¹ were predicting a major shift in the country's national politics.

Cheers of delight went up at the headquarters of candidates for the Democratic Party of Japan, as broadcasters predicted a landslide² victory over the Liberal Democratic Party.
　
A poster of Yukio Hatoyama, leader of Japan's main opposition³ Democratic Party of Japan, Tokyo, Sunday, 30 Aug. 2009

Exit polls indicated the DPJ would gain about 300 of the 480 lower house seats in play.

That result is consistent with months of expectations that LDP Prime Minister Taro⁴ Aso and his party would be replaced by DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama.

The DPJ has campaigned almost exclusively on bread-and-butter economic issues, appealing to voters who blame the LDP for Japan's worst period of recession since World War Two.

The LDP has controlled Japan's legislature almost without interruption for the past 55 years. Many prominent LDP candidates are losing their races to relative newcomers from the DPJ.

On foreign policy, the DPJ has signaled closer regional integration⁵ with East Asian nations, particularly neighboring China. Hatoyama, presumed to be Japan's next Prime Minister, has vowed⁶ to "re-examine" Tokyo's relationship with the United States, but says the U.S.-Japan alliance will still be a cornerstone of the country's security.

 

1 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

3 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。

4 taro   

n.芋，芋头

参考例句：

• Main grain crop has taro,corn,banana to wait.主要粮食作物有芋头、玉米、芭蕉等。
• You celebrate your birthday with taro,red bean and butter.用红豆、芋头和黄油给自己过生日。

5 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

6 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。