VOA标准英语2009年-New Poll Shows Lack of Confidence in Kenya's Go

One year after the signing of a power-sharing agreement in Kenya, a new survey indicates a sharp decline in public confidence in the country's coalition¹ government. The poll comes as corruption² scandals and a proposed electoral commission widen the government's partisan³ divisions.
　
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki (l) and opposition⁴ chief Raila Odinga sign agreement in Nairobi, 28 Feb 2008

This week marks the first anniversary of the power-sharing agreement signed between Kenya's two main political parties, which put an end to weeks of violence, following disputed presidential elections. That the government is still together and widespread violence has not returned can be seen as an achievement.

But when asked in a new survey by Steadman - a prominent Kenyan polling outfit⁵ - to name the government's main accomplishments⁶, the reply of more than two-thirds of respondents was a resounding⁷ "nothing."

Similarly, less than a third of the sample thought that Kenya's leaders are committed to tackling the major challenges facing the country, from fighting corruption, to punishing those suspected of involvement in the post-election violence.

In the past year, the country's two major political groups have both lost support. Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement remains⁸ more popular than President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity⁹, by a margin¹⁰ of 38 to 23 percent. According to researcher Tom Wolfe, who conducted the survey, a growing number of Kenyans say they have abandoned both parties.

"I looked at political party alignment¹¹ figures a year ago," Wolfe said. "At that time 53 percent identified with ODM, PNU was at 29 percent, ODM-Kenya was at seven percent. But the interesting thing is, a year ago, those who said they didn't affiliate¹² with any party were only seven percent. Now it's 37."

Recent weeks have seen the already-prominent divisions between the coalition partners grow even more glaring.

Last week, Justice Minister Martha Karua, an ally of the president, led a failed attempt to oust¹³ Agriculture Minister William Ruto, an ally of the prime minister, about corruption allegations.

This week, the government has been responding to parliament's rejection¹⁴ of the proposed head of Kenya's new electoral commission. Cecil Miller¹⁵ has been accused of having close ties to political leaders from President Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic¹⁶ group from Central Kenya, reopening the ethnic political divisions that marked the 2007 election.

Fewer than one third of the respondents in the Steadman survey think the coalition government will hold together until the next elections, scheduled for 2012.

A recent report by the Quaker church in Kenya suggests that ethnic tensions in the Rift¹⁷ Valley remain acute. The region saw the worst of the post-election violence, much of it between members of Ruto's Kalenjin group and the Kikuyu group of Karua and President Kibaki.

Quaker Peace Director John Muhanji says there remains a real risk of renewed violence.

"Unless the Kenyan leaders, both the church and the political elite¹⁸, and the entire community, especially from our top leaders, take the initiative of reconciling these communities, if elections are called tomorrow, there will be a lot of violence in the Rift Valley," Muhanji said.

Adding to popular frustrations¹⁹ with the government's performance has been a sluggish²⁰ economic performance, caused in large part to last year's clashes. Kenya's finance minister announced this week that growth for 2008 was less than 2.5 percent, down from more than seven percent in 2007.

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 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

6 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 resounding   

adj. 响亮的

参考例句：

• The astronaut was welcomed with joyous,resounding acclaim. 人们欢声雷动地迎接那位宇航员。
• He hit the water with a resounding slap. 他啪的一声拍了一下水。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

10 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

11 alignment   

n.队列；结盟，联合

参考例句：

• The church should have no political alignment.教会不应与政治结盟。
• Britain formed a close alignment with Egypt in the last century.英国在上个世纪与埃及结成了紧密的联盟。

12 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

13 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

14 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

15 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

16 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

17 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

18 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

19 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

20 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。