VOA常速英语2008年-Belgium's New Prime Minister Sworn In

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
20 March 2008

Belgium's new prime minister, Yves Leterme, was sworn in Thursday more than nine months after general elections that paralyzed the country. But from Paris, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA there are questions about just how long Mr. Leterme and his government will last.

Yves Leterme, of the Flemish Christian¹ Democrat² party, took over the helm of Belgium's, government replacing caretaker prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt. Mr. Leterme, whose party came out ahead in June elections last year leads a coalition³ government that includes not only the left and right, but also parties from the country's French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders.

The new coalition government represents a breakthrough after a nine-month crisis that left Belgium without a new government as politicians wrangled⁴ over demands by Flemish politicians for greater regional autonomy, among other issues. Francophone parties are generally against the devolution idea.

Even Thursday, political analysts⁵ like Pascal de Witt of the Free University of Brussels, wonder just how long this new government will last.

"It's an open question," he said. "Nobody knows exactly the time for the next government. There is the time of July 2008 which is related for state reform in Belgium -- federal state to regional entities⁶. And there is another date which is very important for the government which is June 2009 regional European elections."

De Witt says if the government collapses⁷, the likely scenario⁸ will be new elections. But that, he says, may not necessarily be bad.

"It is clear the [last] June elections were in a specific context," said De Witt. "Then perhaps a new context could bring new results, clearer results -- either from the French-speaking or Flemish-speaking point of view -- or from the liberal versus⁹ socialist¹⁰ point of view. We don't know, of course. But it's possible to have clearer results, a lot less fragmented political system than now."

The new government must now tackle the tricky¹¹ question of how much power to transfer to the country's regions. But already, businesses have welcomed the new government, saying it is good for Belgium's image and for investment from abroad. 

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 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。

4 wrangled   

v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They wrangled over what to do next. 他们就接下来该干什么而争吵。 来自辞典例句
• They wrangled and rowed with other passengers. 他们与其他旅客争辨吵闹。 来自辞典例句

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

7 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

8 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

9 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

10 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

11 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。