Koizumi's LDP wins
Edited by Kovis


Holding a leaflet of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a woman looks at Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during his stumping tour in Tokyo, September 10.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) gained a landslide victory in Sunday's general election by capturing 296 seats in the 480-seat House of Representatives.

Coupled with the 31 seats gained by the LDP's coalition partner, the New Komeito party, the country's governing bloc won a total of 327 seats in the general election, while the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), saw a staggering setback in its first decline since its founding in 1996.

According to NHK TV station, the DPJ suffered a rout in the election, gaining only 113 seats, slumping from the 177 seats it achieved in the last general election in 2003.

The chamber's 480 seats also include nine seats for the Japanese Communist Party, seven for the Social Democratic Party, six for three new parties (People's New Party, New Party Nippon and New Party Daichi) and 18 for independents.

With the LDP assured of a majority on its own, Koizumi is certain to be reelected as premier in a special parliament session to resubmit the bills for the privatization of Japan Post - the centerpiece of his policy agenda - for passage during the session.

About 103.36 million people were eligible to choose from 1,131 candidates for the powerful lower house's 480 seats, to which 300 members are elected in single-seat constituencies and 180 in the 11 proportional-representation blocks.

The two major parties - the LDP and the DPJ - vied for a seat in 280 of the 300 districts across Japan but media polls showed Koizumi's camp took the lead in attracting voters through the 12 days of official campaigning that began August 30.

Koizumi dissolved the lower house on August 8 to call the election as the postal privatization bills failed to clear the Diet, with a larger-than-expected number of LDP members joining the opposition in voting against them.

 

 

World in Pictures
Photo source: ImagineChina

	Living in a cardboard box 美国: 300只快递箱子做家具 Broke DIY nut Jose Avila boxed clever by kitting his home out with cardboard furniture. Creative Jose, aged 21, used 300 FedEx packing boxes to build his own unique brand of designer furniture.
	Pedigree pooch gets the push 德国: 众犬绝技大比拼 Shih Tzu half-breed dog Ben (R) is pushed in a little shopping cart by a Labrador retriever, September 7 in Markkleeberg near Leipzig, eastern Germany. The dogs performed their show to promote the International Pedigree Dog's Breeding Fair taking place on September 10 and 11.
	Bullfighting dwarfs 法国: 侏儒斗牛别有风味 Bullfighting dwarfs of the Spanish Corrida Dwarfs Company fight bulls in the arena of Mont-de-Marsan, southwestern France, September 3, as part of their world tour. The dwarfs are between 1.02 to 1.32m tall and the bulls weighed around 200kg.
	Glowing toilet 澳大利亚: 夜光马桶圈防止夜起跌伤 A glow-in-the-dark toilet seat that a Melbourne hospital credits with a reduction in falls among elderly patients, Melbourne, September 8. The hospital has installed the toilet seats, which retail at 60 dollars a piece (45 USD) and which have reduced the number of falls, particularly among patients who need to relieve themselves at night.
	Soapbox race 瑞士: "肥皂车"比赛 A soapbox, designed as a mouth, races down the course during the second annual soapbox race in Lausanne, Switzerland, September 4. 51 cars took part on the 500 meter course.

 

 

World in Words
Collected & translated by Beverly

"We're so grateful for the incredible donations we receive from the community, but we'd like people to use common sense in deciding whether the items are suitable to donate to charity shops or whether they should be recycled elsewhere."
"我们十分感谢社会各界踊跃捐赠各种物品, 但我们也希望人们在捐赠时能用常识加以判断, 看看它们是否适合被捐赠给慈善商店, 还是应当被送到其他地方进行回收. "
Oxfam has asked Britons to be more selective about items they give to the charity's shops.
--英国牛津饥荒救济委员会已向该国国民发出请求, 希望他们在向慈善商店捐赠物品时能进一步精挑细选.

"The school has developed this course as a way to provide a pathway for those students into future employment and keep them connected to education."
"学校开设这门课程既为这些学生的未来就业开辟新的道路, 同时也保证他们能继续接受教育. "
An Australian high school hopes to stop beach-loving students from bailing out of class by making surfing an approved subject.
--澳大利亚一中学希望通过将冲浪列为学校正式课程这一举动来阻止那些冲浪爱好者的逃学行为.

"It will certainly be 20 years or more before that happens."
"实现这一目标将需要20年甚至更长的时间. "
Said Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, during a global leadership forum about a manned mission to Mars.
--首位踏足月球的宇航员--尼尔·阿姆斯特朗在一全球论坛上就搭载人类登陆火星的任务发表了自己的看法.

"If it takes in 30,000 people, the queues will be very long and buying lunch would take a very long time."
"如果3万人同时入园, 等候的队伍会非常长, 买午饭会浪费很多时间. "
Hong Kong's government has urged the Walt Disney Company to cut the maximum number of people allowed into its new park after visitors complained of long queues at a trial opening over the weekend.
--香港政府要求迪斯尼公司降低游客的最高流量, 因为上周末香港迪斯尼乐园试营业期间, 园内人满为患, 大排长龙, 游客们怨声载道.

 

Vocabulary
landslide victory 压倒性胜利
coalition 联合
staggering 蹒跚的, 摇晃的
rout 溃败
slump 暴跌
eligible 符合条件的