VOA常速英语2019--泰国大选初选结果出炉 花落谁家尚不可知

Thais waited Monday for the results of an election called a return to democratic rule, but which has been widely criticized as an exercise designed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to entrench¹ his military’s stranglehold on power.

周一，泰国人等待着选举结果，这次选举据称是回归民主治理，但外界一直谴责这次选举实为泰国总理巴育·詹欧差设计的一出好戏，目的是巩固自己对军方权力的控制。

Preliminary official results released late Sunday showed that with 93 percent of ballots² counted the military-backed Phalang Pracharat party was in the lead with about 7.6 million votes, that’s short of what would be needed for a majority in parliament.

官方公布的初选结果于上周日发布，结果显示：在93%的计票中，由军方支持的公民力量党以760万票数领跑。不过，这个数字还不足以构成议会的大多数席位。

In second place was the Pheu Thai party of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra with 7.1 million votes.

票数第二的是为泰党，前总理他信隶属于该党。该党获票710万。

The campaign was marred³ by allegations of vote buying, however, complaints were few on polling day with election observers from Australia, Canada, the United States and the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations on hand.

这次选举活动被贴上了许多买票的标签，不过，选举日当天却少有苛责之声，因为当天有来自澳大利亚、加拿大、美国以及10个东南亚国家联盟成员的选举观察员。

Security was tight and opinions were mixed as about 52 million Thais voted. But the long shadow of the military is still having an impact, and most of those willing to express an opinion declined to be identified.

安保部署严密，5200万选民的观点不一。不过，军方长期笼罩的阴霾依然产生了影响，大多数愿意表达观点的人要求匿名。

1 entrench   

v.使根深蒂固；n.壕沟；防御设施

参考例句：

• A series of measures were designed to entrench democracy and the rule of law.采取一系列措施旨在巩固民主和法制。
• These dictators have entrenched themselves politically and are difficult to move.这些独裁者在政治上已经站稳了脚跟，很难推翻他们。

2 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》

3 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。