时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2011年(八月)


英语课

Britons 'E-Petition' for Death Penalty Return


Hundreds of Britons have petitioned their government to reintroduce the death penalty in a new government Internet scheme that was launched Thursday. "E-petitions" that get enough signatures may be debated in parliament.

The leader of the House of Commons said Thursday that if enough people call for Britain to restore the death penalty it should be discussed by lawmakers.

That could be good news for those who signed an online petition Thursday hoping to bring capital punishment back and for a handful of MPs who voiced their support. Ahead of the online petition, Conservative MP Andrew Turner said it's the "proper punishment" for some serious crimes.

Neil Durkin, a campaigner at the international human rights group Amnesty International, disagrees.

"It would be taking the United Kingdom back against the main current, the very strongly running current of the abolition 1 of the death penalty around the world," said Durkin.

Capital punishment is one of a number of issues that have been petitioned in an online government scheme. Other subjects petitioned were for Britain to leave the European Union and for the absolute right to self-defense in one's home.

Any petition signed by more than 100,000 British citizens will be considered for future debate in the House of Commons.

Durkin says it's very unlikely the death penalty will be reintroduced.

"All the indicators 2 are if we have MPs and members of the House of Lords in the U.K. debating this issue, they will almost certainly resoundingly reject any such notion that there should be a reintroduction of the death penalty," Durkin added.

The last execution took place in Britain almost five decades ago. But it's remained a rallying point for some in the British public.

Andy Williamson, Director of the Hansard Society's Digital Democracy program, says he's not surprised that capital punishment is topping the e-petition.

"Whenever you introduce a system like this it unlocks the floodgates and you get these very populist causes," Williamson noted 3. "You will get one about immigration. You will get one about the death penalty. You will get one about decriminalizing or legalizing drugs. They're the ones you expect to see."

Some people have criticized the scheme, saying it allows special interest group to push their causes up the parliamentary agenda and wastes MPs time debating subjects that won't pass into law.

Other critics say e-petitions are a false form of democracy.

Williamson describes petitioning as "democracy-light" but says it's still important.

"It's an absolutely vital part of democracy. Democracy is a continuum. The thing we are most familiar with and most of us do is vote. But we only get to do that about every four or five years, as far as parliament is concerned. And I think what's really important is the democracy that happens in between," Williamson added.

But he says it's important that MPs take the petitions seriously. He says there's a tendency to treat them as a gimmick 4.

In 2007, almost two million people in Britain signed a petition against government plans to introduce toll 5 roads.



n.废除,取消
  • They declared for the abolition of slavery.他们声明赞成废除奴隶制度。
  • The abolition of the monarchy was part of their price.废除君主制是他们的其中一部分条件。
(仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的)指针( indicator的名词复数 ); 指示物; (车辆上的)转弯指示灯; 指示信号
  • The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
  • It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
n.(为引人注意而搞的)小革新,小发明
  • He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事,只当它是一种宣传手法。
  • It is just a public relations gimmick.这只不过是一种公关伎俩。
n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟)
  • The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
  • The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。
学英语单词
1-ethoxyhexane
a chip on your shoulder
a mass of
aclarubicin
active video bit
allotment notice
ascochyta phaseolora saccardo
autegenic
back cord
beside oneself with
bind oneself
blended asphalt
boletus eduliss
camiglibose
cayratinin
cellular embolus
Chinese card
co-publish
Colgate University
cuckold's knot
custody of cargo receipt
cyclohexenecarboxylic acid
dephlogistic
distex process
dogly
etherises
Exxon Corporation
fact social
family myctophidaes
faunlets
fddi full duplex technology
fetterbush
finegan
flat-bottomed land
flowmetry
fran
franchtine
functional convergence hypothesis
funhouse
given data
goat's cheeses
Gradezhnishka Peshtera
halakhas
headsful
hen-cluck stertor
imaginative comparison
Incisura lacrimalis
inductive charging
isopurpunin
KGV
kinski
land-spring
lfso
lisencephalic
loose heald shaft
maine-anjou cattle
manks
maximum condensate flow
Maya architecture
nahas
nathanael greene
noncolorful
nonuniversal
not at all
obligte anaerobiont
oiltight test
optical plumb
para amino salicylate pill
passenger train crew
pastitsio
perigonadial coelom
phosphoruria
pomoes
Purbeck stone
radius-truing device
relacions
salpausselk? subglacial period
Semen Sesami Nigri
Serraptase
shatz
shield retaining snap ring
shoulder to square up
So Ounga
sodaclase
sphenethmoid
sports event
stained-glass windows
stalnaker
stamp one's seal
step chart
suction culvert
sulphur(sulphureted)spring
tap switch
TCAM
Tput
trans-synaptic
traversal of binary tree
Urosol
very short time
vulvitis vulvovaginitis
watered silk
yiannitsa (giannitsa)