首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Last year, when squatters broke into Ann Keen’s house on a quiet, suburban street in Brentford, west London, the neighbours’ rea
Last year, when squatters broke into Ann Keen’s house on a quiet, suburban street in Brentford, west London, the neighbours’ rea
admin
2015-06-14
25
问题
Last year, when squatters broke into Ann Keen’s house on a quiet, suburban street in Brentford, west London, the neighbours’ reaction was surprising: they made soup for the interlopers. But then, Mrs. Keen is the Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth, and one of the politicians most vilified over the parliamentary-expenses scandal. Although Brentford is just eight miles from Westminster, Mrs. Keen and her husband, Alan, who is MP for neighbouring Feltham and Heston, claimed for the cost of maintaining a second home close to Parliament. This was not against the rules of the day but it riled many locals, who dubbed the couple "Mr. and Mrs. Expenses". In the end the Keens had to pay back £1,500 that they had claimed while renovating their Brentford home.
Brentford and Isleworth is a Neapolitan ice cream of a constituency, made up of posh Chiswick in the east, predominantly white working-class Brentford in the middle and multicultural Hounslow in the west. A three-way marginal, it is a microcosm of the national election.
The campaign is being fought on two main issues. The first is, unsurprisingly, scandal. Mary Macleod, the Tory candidate, is keen to exploit anger over Mrs. Keen’s accounting. But Ms. Macleod herself is not untouched by controversy. Rivals claim that she has received money from Lord Ashcroft, a controversial Conservative donor who has "non-domiciled" status and thus is presumed to pay little tax in Britain. Ms. Macleod says the funds came from Conservative headquarters, not directly from Lord Ashcroft, although she accepts that he contributed to them.
Thanks to Lord Ashcroft or not, Ms. Macleod’s campaign has been a slick one, and the Tories are favourites to overhaul Labour’s 4,411 majority. Ms. Macleod maintains that Labour is her only serious rival. Just as the Conservatives are pushing the message at the national level that a vote for Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, is a vote for five more years of Gordon Brown and Labour, so locally they hope to scare off potential Lib Dem voters with the idea that splitting the anti-Labour vote means more of Mrs. Keen.
The nation’s new-found love affair with the Lib Dems does not yet make them obvious winners in Brentford and Isleworth. The party gained 23% of the vote in 2005, compared with the Tories’ 30% and Labour’s 40%. The Lib Dem candidate, Andrew Daker, provides a sharp contrast to the well-oiled Labour and Conservative machines. Whereas Ms. Macleod has an army of supporters canvassing the streets of Chiswick, Mr. Daker cuts a solitary figure handing out leaflets outside primary schools and train stations. Whereas Ms. Macleod has traversed the country in search of a parliamentary seat—she stood in 1997 in Ross, Skye and Inverness West Mr. Daker, a local councillor, pushes his neighbourhood roots. His talk rarely drifts from local issues, such as the regeneration of Brentford’s High Street and, most importantly, Heathrow airport.
Heathrow’s shadow hangs over the constituency and, with scandal is seen as the most important issue in the election. Although the airport is economically vital to the area, noisy jumbos concern many residents and plans lor a third runway, supported by Labour, are hugely unpopular. Those plans have now been put on hold, but the fact that Mrs. Keen who is also lukewarm on the proposal did not follow 28 Labour MPs in voting for a Conservative motion to rethink expansion is another stick for her rivals to beat her with.
In the end, however, the contest may well come down less to policies and more to which candidate has thrown the stickier mud. In another reflection of the national campaign, the Tory candidate challenged her Labour rival to a public debate. Unlike Gordon Brown, Mrs. Keen declined. Some suspect she thought she would have more to lose than Ms. Macleod in a public slanging match: critics accuse her of straining for invisibility in the middle of her own campaign. The local paper, the Hounslow and Brentford Times, says that she spoke to them this week for the first time in six months.
This passage is mainly about
选项
A、fights between parties for election.
B、scandals of the politicians.
C、policies of each party.
D、how election is proceeded.
答案
A
解析
主旨题。本文从第一段开始便谈Mrs.Keen滥用议会公款的丑闻,接着又谈到她的对手Ms.Macleod牵涉私收钱财的丑闻,随后又提到Mrs.Keen在建机场的事宜上处理不当,授对手以口实,但作者提到各党派候选人的丑闻并不是为了这些丑闻本身,而是为揭露大选的激烈竞争服务的,文中随处可见campaign,election,voter这样的字眼,故选[A]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/FVOO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Fromthedescriptioninthepassage,welearnthat______.ThepassagecitesthefollowingexamplesEXCEPT______toshowseny
HowtoPresentaSeminarPaperToinvolvetheirstudentsmoreactivelyinthelearningprocess,manyuniversityteachersusua
TheAmericanWay:FreedomTheheartoftheAmericancalendarisJuly4.Americanshavecelebratedthisdateas"Independence
WhywasCharlesTayloraccusedofcrimesagainsthumanity?
Punditswhowanttosoundjudiciousarefondofwarningagainstgeneralizing.Eachcountryisdifferent,theysay,andnoonest
A、BeijingEducationalPress.B、LiaoningEducationalPress.C、LondonGuinnessWorldRecord.D、IrelandGuinnessWorldRecord.C
WhatisthemovingdirectionofTropicalStormGert?
TheNewYorkpolicedepartmentsaystherehasbeenno【N1】______againstthecity’ssubwaysystem,butadditionalsecurityhasbe
JourneyinCatastrophes:ThreeFormsofViolentStormsI.WindsandstormsA.Winds’movinginviolentstorms—bringingabout
Iwasonly8yearsoldonJuly20,1969,whenNeilArmstrong,38-year-oldcommanderofApollo11,descendedthecrampedlunarmo
随机试题
会计最基本的职能是()。
作为传统组织理论和管理理论的汇集者,法约尔提出了计划、协调、控制、预算等组织管理七要素。
A.缺铁性贫血B.巨幼细胞性贫血C.溶血性贫血D.铁粒幼细胞性贫血E.再生障碍性贫血网织红细胞计数减低的是
修复体粘固后患牙长时间持续疼痛,最可能
下述哪种表现不是血栓闭塞性脉管炎的特点
做尿糖定量检查的尿标本,容器中应加入的防腐剂是()
(2017年)某法院推行办案责任制后,直接由独任法官、合议庭裁判的案件比例达到99.9%,提交审委会讨论的案件仅占0.1%。对此,下列说法正确的是:()
某隔板絮凝池设计流量为50000m3/d,絮凝池总水头损失为0.29m。水厂自用水量按照5%计,水的密度ρ水=1.00g/cm3,水的动力黏滞系数μ=1.0×10-3Pa.s;测得的絮凝池总的速度梯度G为20s-1,则絮凝池的有效容积为()m3。
投资者以市价申报的方式参与科创板股票交易,不包括以下()。
现有A、B两个互斥项目,A项目的净现值为50万元,年限为4年;B项目的净现值为60万元,年限为6年。假设折现率为10%,在用共同年限法(用最小公倍数法确定共同年限)确定两个项目的优劣时,下列说法中正确的有()。
最新回复
(
0
)