【多益时事通】高雄「代理市长」上任,英文怎么说?

▲ 高雄代理市长杨明州就职 。(图/记者洪正达摄)

文/徐碧霞Valerie

前高雄市长韩国瑜成为台湾首位被罢免的直辖市市长,不但引起纽约时报华盛顿邮报国际媒体报导,还掀起一波「罢免潮」。目前代理市长已上任,后续还要进行补选,若想外国友人聊这次的「罢韩」,要如何以英文描述投票呢?

罢免该用recall或remove

国际报导里的「罢免」常使用recall这个字。recall可以拆成两个部分来看,字首「re-」和call,「re-」常有的意思为again或back,于是就有「召回」的含义。recall也可以当作名词,如罢免投票即可使用recall vote。

Kaohsiung Mayor, Han Guoyu, has become the first mayor in Taiwan to be recalled. (高雄市长韩国瑜成为台湾第一位被罢免的市长。)

罢免还可用remove someone from office(免除某人的职位),office的意思为「官职」而非「办公室」,因此竞选(某职位)即可用动词run for来和office一起搭配使用,用法是run for office.

然而,在多益范畴里,recall有两个常用的解释,一是产品若有瑕疵或问题时,需要下架和召回时也可使用product recall(产品召回)。另一个重要的意思为动词「忆起」,名词为recollection「记忆」。

The manufacturer has issued a recall for several toys containing lead and other harmful elements. (厂商回收含有铅和有害物质玩具。)

He has no recollection of the things happened before the deadly car crash.(他对车祸发生前发生的事毫无记忆。)

罢免门槛怎么说

这次罢免投票率超过四成,高雄市民出来投票(voter turnout)的意愿也相对高。这里人们出来参与某活动时,可以用turnout这个名词,也可拆开做动词turn out。

The voter turnout has been quite high for the past two presidential elections.(过去两次总统大选的投票率都相当高。)

More than 20,000 fans turned out to celebrate the football team’s victory.(超过2万名球迷出来庆祝球队赢得冠军。)

这次罢免成功需要达到两个条件,一是同意票需超过不同意票,二是投票人数需达高雄总选举人数的1/4的门槛,也就是约57万多票,在此「门槛」的英文可用threshold。

The official vote count showed that the recall passed the threshold.(官方计票显示罢免已达到门槛。)

The store offers free shipping if your purchase exceeds a specific threshold.(如果你的消费金额达到某个门槛,店家就会提供你免运。)

通常在大选完后,胜选或败选的两方会发表谈话,胜选的演讲即可说是victory speech,而落败一方的演说即是concession speech,concession的动词是concede,表示承认(失败)、认输、(不情愿的)让步。

The government has conceded that health care reform has been a disaster.(政府承认医疗改革彻底失败。)

代理该用substitute或replace

目前政府已指定代理市长直到补选(by-election),代理市长可用形容词acting,解释为「暂时代替(某人)职务职责」,所以代理市长即是acting mayor,相对的「在任的」即是incumbent或sitting。

The Executive Yuan appointed Yang Ming-Jou as acting mayor of Kaohsiung to fill the vacancy left by the former mayor.(行政院指派杨明州为代理市长,填补前任市长所留下的空缺。)

appoint (v)也是一个多益高频单字,表示指派,任命,名词是appointment。填补职位的缺,则是用fill这个动词,职位的空缺就用vacancy (n)。

Due to the recent embezzlement scandal, his appointment has been terminated. (因为近来挪用空款丑闻,他的任命已被终止。)

在多益常见、和代理类似的高频单字还有substitute,代换,可用成动词substitute A for B,也可做名词「替代的人/替代品」使用,譬如代课老师a substitute teacher。此外也有replace (v)取代,替换,用法是replace A with B,名词是replacement。

According to the recipe, you can use powdered milk to substitute for cream.(根据这个食谱,你可用奶粉取代鲜奶油。)

Jimmy Chen will replace Randy Fukota as the new chairperson of the committee. (Jimmy Chen将取代Randy Fukota成为委员会的新主席。)

We need to find a replacement before John retires in July.(我们得在John七月退休前赶快找他替补他的人。)

代班还可以用fill in for someone这个片语

I need to take a personal leave on Friday. Can you fill in for me?(我星期五需要请事假,你可以帮我代班吗?)

中选会公告高雄将在8月15日举行市长补选,高雄市民准备好了吗?

【多益模拟试题

1. After losing the election, the candidate still refused ________.(A) conceding(B) to concede(C) being conceded(D) to have conceded

2. Despite the heavy rain, the stadium was ______ _ enthusiastic fans who turned out to support the team. (A) filled in(B) filled out(C) filled up(D) filled with

解析

1. 正解为(B)。题意为「在输掉选举后,这位候选人仍拒绝承认败选。」本题文法题,动词refuse后面需用不定词to加动词原型,因此(B)为正确答案

2. 正解为(D)。题意是「尽管大雨体育馆充满着热情的球迷前来支持他们的球队。」需选择适合句意的动词加介系词组合,因此(D)「充满」是正确答案。

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