2006年VOA标准英语-Prodi Makes Headway in Italian Election

By Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
05 April 2006

For the past five years, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has headed the center-right coalition¹ government. It has been the longest serving government in post-war Italy. On Sunday, Italians will vote in a general election. Sabina Castelfranco takes a look at Romano Prodi, the man who is challenging the prime minister to lead Italy's next government.

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Romano Prodi  
  

Romano Prodi is not new to politics or to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He is the only person to have beaten the prime minister in an election. It happened in 1996 and it could happen again. For months Prodi has been ahead of the prime minister by at least 3 percentage points in opinion polls.

Romano Prodi is a former economics professor who had been president of the European Commission. His style has little in common with the current prime minister. Prodi lacks the charisma² of his opponent. He is quieter, some say dull. 

Silvio Berlusconi   
  
Still, he does have one thing that endears him to Italian voters: Mr. Berlusconi's support of the U.S.-led war in Iraq has been deeply unpopular in Italy. Under a Prodi premiership Italy would be likely to place less emphasis on close relations with the United States, and would instead renew ties with its traditional partners, in particular France and Germany.

Italians will cast their ballots³ on Sunday and Monday to choose whether Mr. Berlusconi or Prodi will lead the next Italian government.

In addition to his pro-European foreign policy stance, Prodi is respected for his expertise⁴ on the economy and industrial policy.

"Let's look at Italy today," he said, "and what Berlusconi did with public spending. We had five percent surplus, we threw it all away, that's 40 billion euro. Public spending has risen out of control, 2-3 percent of GDP."

Prodi's economic program for a center-left government includes boosting employment by cutting labor⁵ costs, increasing competition and reducing the budget deficit⁶. Prodi has also vowed⁷ to fight tax evasion⁸ and halt the rise in non-permanent job contracts.

In its over 200-page election manifesto⁹ titled "For the Good of Italy", the center-left also said it had plans to speed up Italy's slow trials system, grant legal recognition to civil union, including those between couples of the same sex, and change a tough law on immigrants.

But Prodi has come under heavy fire for failing to clearly explain his tax plans. His intention to restore an inheritance tax, abolished by Berlusconi, has raised alarm. He has not specified¹⁰ at what level the tax would be set, saying it will only affect rich people.

"We will apply the inheritance tax only on those who have incomes of several million euro," Prodi said.

It was not easy for Prodi to put together his manifesto. His center-left "Union" alliance stretches from Roman Catholic centrists to liberals, to hard core Communists. He is also in the curious position of having no party of his own.

Mr. Berlusconi has repeatedly cast doubt on Prodi's ability to keep his coalition together, saying he will only have five of his own deputies to count on and 150 from the various parties making up his alliance.

Mr. Berlusconi said it was very difficult for him to keep together his majority with a political force, the first in Italy, of 264 deputies. He said he could not imagine how Prodi would be able to do it with just a handful of his own deputies.

On the issue of foreign policy, the center-left challenger also has different views from the prime minister. Prodi has pledged to pull troops out of Iraq as soon as possible, if he is elected.

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• 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。

2 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

3 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》

4 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

5 labor   

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

参考例句：

• 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。

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 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。

8 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

9 manifesto   

n.宣言，声明

参考例句：

• I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
• His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。

10 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。