新西兰英语 538 Labour Party Leadership

 　　After the Labour Party lost the election, the leader, Phil Goff, resigned. Later this week the Party will choose another leader. They will choose between two men – David Shearer¹ and David Cunliffe. Both men have been speaking at Labour Party meetings. Party members are very interested and large numbers of members have attended the meetings.

　　David Cunliffe is the MP for New Lynn in Auckland. In 2007 and 2008 he was the Minister for Health and for Communications and Technology. For the last three years, while Labour was in Opposition², he was the Finance spokesperson for Labour. He has been in Parliament since 1999 but he is still a young man – in his late 40s. His deputy would be Nanaia Mahuta and she could help bring back Maori voters.

　　David Shearer is also an Auckland MP. He won the Mt Albert seat in June 2009 when Helen Clark left Parliament so he has only been in Parliament a short time. However, he was a diplomat³ and has worked for the United Nations, Save the Children and other humanitarian⁴ organizations in Somalia and many other countries where there is war. He says that this means he is good at working with people.

　　The Labour Party believes there must be a change in the future to win the next election.

　　Vocabulary

　　leadership – the job of being a leader

　　resigned – said he would not be the leader any more

　　Opposition – the main party not in government

　　spokesperson – his job was to watch the Minister of Finance and show that Labour had better finance ideas

　　deputy – second to the leader

　　diplomat – represents the government overseas

　　humanitarian – caring for people

　　Question

　　Is it a good idea to have a leadership contest? Does it split the Party or does it create more interest?

1 shearer   

n.剪羊毛的人；剪切机

参考例句：

• A bad shearer never had a good sickle. 拙匠无利器。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Eventually, Shearer lost faith, dropping him to the bench. 最终，希勒不再信任他，把他换下场。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。