VOA标准英语2010年-Political Negotiations in Britain Cont

Britain's Liberal Democrats¹ party leader Nick Clegg talks to the media as he leaves his house in London, 10 May 2010

Four days have passed since Britons went to the polls, but the shape of the country's future government is unclear. Last week's general election resulted in a hung parliament and now the Conservatives, who won the most votes, are in talks with the third place Liberal Democrats to form a possible coalition².

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, said Friday his party and the Conservatives are working "flat out" in order to come to a deal.

 "I do not think a prolonged period of uncertainty³ is a good thing, that is why I want to arrive at a decision, we want to arrive at decision, as soon as possible," Clegg said. "But I hope people will equally understand that it will be better to get the decision right rather than rushing into something that will not stand the test of time."

Mr. Clegg held talks with Conservative leader David Cameron on Sunday and they spoke⁴ again Monday. They are trying to strike a deal that would see a Conservative-led government take power in Britain.

The Conservatives won the most votes in last week's election and won the most seats in parliament, but they did not win an overall majority.

London School of Economics political analyst⁵ Tony Travers says the Liberal Democrats are likely to give the Conservatives the support they need in order to form a government.

"As of now all the mood music suggests that they will manage to create an agreement," said Travers.

But he says Mr. Clegg may choose to provide parliamentary support for the Conservatives without forming a coalition. The Liberal Democrats, in this scenario⁶, would agree not to vote down key government policies such as the budget.

Mr. Clegg opened talks first with the Conservatives because they won the most votes. But if the two parties fail to make an agreement, Mr. Clegg could side with Labor⁷, giving the party that has led Britain for more than a decade a chance to hold on to power. Mr. Clegg and Labor leader Gordon Brown met for talks Sunday.

Mr. Brown is still officially Prime Minister of Britain, but Travers says he is not in a strong position.

"Gordon Brown is like a man sitting, waiting in an execution room in many ways," said Travers. "I mean at any moment he could get the phone call saying it is all over the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have made an agreement, there will be a Conservative prime minister. And Gordon Brown would then have to set off to the palace to resign."

Politicians on all sides say the stability of Britain's economy is central to talks.

Political history lecturer Lawrence Black, from Britain's Durham University, says the financial markets want to see an end to the political deadlock⁸ and immediate⁹ moves to downsize Britain's record budget deficit¹⁰. But he says speed is not necessarily the number-one priority.

"The key thing is an economically viable¹¹ coalition more than one that is reached with great speed - something that is going to reassure¹² the markets that the economic problems are really top of the agenda," Black said.

The Conservatives won the most seats in Britain's parliament, but were 20 seats short of an absolute majority.

Britain's electorate¹³ last returned a hung parliament in 1974.
 

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 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。

7 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。

8 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

9 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

10 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。

11 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

12 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

13 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。