时间:2019-02-18 作者:英语课 分类:新西兰英语


英语课

  Although the Australian elections were held yesterday, there is no still no decision about which party won. Labor 1 won about 72 seats and the Liberals won about 73. Some seats are still too close to know who won. There are 150 seats in the Federal parliament so the winning party needs to win 76. Four Independents and one Green party member won seats.

Both the Labor leader, Julia Gillard, and the Liberal leader, Tony Abbott are talking to the Independents, hoping to form a coalition 2 – two or more parties working together. The Independent MPs are in a good position to demand a reward, like becoming a Cabinet Minister.

It will be another two weeks before 2 million postal 3 votes arrive. Australians, who are away from home, can vote by post before the elections.

There will also be some re-counting of votes, especially if an MP has lost by just a few votes. That takes time, so it will probably be another two weeks before we know whether Australia will have a Labor coalition government or a Liberal coalition government. In the meantime, it is called a ‘hung parliament”.

New Zealand is used to coalition governments now. We have a National government in coalition with ACT and the Maori party. In 1996, Winston Peters of the New Zealand First party took six weeks to decide which party he would support. He finally chose the National party. His reward was the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

The Australian election results will probably not affect New Zealand very much. Our governments have always managed to have a good relationship with Australian governments.

Listen to June 26th 2010 for more about Julia Gillard becoming Prime Minister just two months ago.

Questions

1. In Australia it is compulsory 4 for everyone over the age of 18 to vote. Do you think voting should be compulsory?

2. NZ now has an MMP voting system. Listen to Sept 8th 2009 for more about MMP. This gives small parties a chance to win seats in Parliament. Is this a good system?

3. Australia has an upper house and a lower house. New Zealand used to have an upper house but it was abolished in 1950. What advantages does an upper house have?

4. Like New Zealand, Australia has elections every three years. Do you think four or five years is a better gap between elections?



n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合
  • The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
  • Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。
adj.邮政的,邮局的
  • A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
  • Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。
n.强制的,必修的;规定的,义务的
  • Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗?
  • Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。
学英语单词
acceleration due to gravity
adhering moulding material
admission of goods free of duty
agri-food
airmail receipt
athletic sports
Bantheville
barbaresque
Baurtregaun
benzene pentacarbonic acid
block data subprogram
body cloth
bowl lute
breast anchor
Byttneria aspera
China Ocean Shipping Group) Company
circuit training
circumsecondary
coordinate complex salt
correction and compensation device
Crateva
crisis periodicity
cumuli-
dedicated device
earthed aerial
Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman
end relief angle
entire evidence
exhaustive sufficient estimator
factoring out
fair form
finger pad
fixed-penalty
gender mender
gjovik
granpas
hemispheria
heterocentrotus mammillatus
Hiddai
honyudisin
husel
image optics
incident face
intergrout
jose-maria
Katunitsa
knee brace
laguarta
lead dinitroresorcinate
length capacity and weight
linear energy transfer(LET)
long term sustainability
magnaflux
make a summary
marely
marine galley equipment
mechanical digitsdisplay
mold paint
nails up
native law
native mercury
new term
nonpiezoelectric
Normanises
objective analysis
Oreocomopsis
orlans
paper-to textile printing
Parrot Beak
predesigned pH value
prenotes
profit plan
proper palmar digital nerve of median nerve
propfan engine
pseudoepitheliamatous hyperplasia
quantitative index
quinquefid
rack truck
recirculation outlet loop
reset counter
root stalk
rosin-cored solder
rubattel
set the stage for
ship-towed long-range acoustic detection systems
Shoalhaven R.
special clock
stress yield
subselect
successionist
sunblinds
tertium quids
thoruraninte
Turdus migratorius
ultimate sensitivity or threshold
unborn child
unfuckability
vertical refresh
very open pack ice
wages fund
Walls Seamount
xero