One thing I would like to see in politics, particularly British politics, is more women in parliament. About 34% of our MPs are women, which is the highest it’s ever been, but it’s still not close to 50%.
In order to be elected though, you first have to stand, don’t you?
不过，为了当选，你首先必须站起来，不是吗？
Georgina(乔治娜)
Yes, we use the verb stand when you are a candidate someone can vote for.
是的，当您是某人可以投票的候选人时，我们会使用动词 stand。
Sam(山姆)
Women in politics is our topic today. Before we get into it, today’s question. Which country has the highest percentage of women in its parliament? Is it: a) Rwanda; b) Sweden c) New Zealand What do you think, Georgina?
I’m not sure. I know New Zealand was one of the first countries to allow women to vote and they currently have a female prime minister – but I think it’s actually an African country. So I’m going to say Rwanda.
OK. We’ll see if you’re correct at the end of the programme. There are a number of projects in the UK at the moment trying to get more women interested in standing for parliament. One of these is the campaign ‘sign-up-to-stand’ from an organisation called 50:50 Parliament. Lucrece Grehoua is someone who has taken up that challenge and is hoping to stand in upcoming elections. She was a guest on the BBC Radio programme Woman’s Hour. She wasn’t always interested in politics, though. How does she describe it?
I didn’t really see myself in the Houses of Parliament. When we see it on TV it looks extremely boring, politics looks boring, especially as a young person and so when I saw that 50:50 Parliament were including women and including young women, including a diverse range of young women, I thought ‘wow, this is really for me and it can be for me’. So I decided to #signuptostand. Ever since I’ve just been excited at the prospect of me standing for parliament.
Boring! She thought it was boring, particularly as a young person. In fact she couldn’t see herself as a politician. She couldn’t imagine herself doing it.
She says that she is now excited at the prospect of standing. What does she mean by that?
她说，她现在对站立的前景感到兴奋。她这话是什么意思？
Georgina(乔治娜)
The prospect of something is the possibility of something. So before, she thought it was boring, now she’s excited at the possibility that she could be a member of parliament.
某事的前景就是某事的可能性。所以以前，她认为这很无聊，现在她对自己成为国会议员的可能性感到兴奋。
Sam(山姆)
So, what was it that made her change her mind and think that politics wasn’t so boring after all? Here’s Lucrece Grehoua again.
那么，是什么让她改变了主意，认为政治毕竟没有那么无聊呢？卢克丽丝·格雷胡亚又来了。
Lucrece Grehoua(卢克丽丝·格雷胡阿)
I think everybody has a politician within them because we all get anger about something but unfortunately when we see it, it’s all jargon, it’s not very… words that we can understand. Even just as a working class person who hasn’t, you know, been to a private school and who’s come from a disadvantaged background and so I realised politics is for absolutely everybody, it’s just the way that you speak about it has to be tailored to everyone.
One of the things she didn’t like about politics was the jargon.
她不喜欢政治的一件事是行话。
Georgina(乔治娜)
Well, no one likes jargon, do they? Jargon is the very specific language and vocabulary relating to a particular profession. Inside the profession people know what it means, but from outside it can seem very complicated and confusing.
Lucrece said she came from a disadvantaged background. This means that when she was growing up her family didn’t have very much money and that made life and study very difficult.
But even though, or maybe because, she came from a disadvantaged background she has become interested in politics and thinks that it can be something for everyone, but rather than use jargon you have to tailor the way you speak for everyone. To tailor something is to make it fit – in the same way that a tailor makes clothes fit, you can tailor your language to make it easy for everyone to understand. And one way to do that is to cut out the jargon!
That’s just about all we have time for today. But before we review the vocabulary, it’s time to get the answer to today’s quiz question. Which country has the highest percentage of women in its parliament? Is it: a) Rwanda; b) Sweden c) New Zealand Georgina, what did you say?
An educated guess and a correct guess. Well done. And well done to everyone else who got that right too! According to 2019 figures, Rwanda’s parliament has over 60% women MPs. Go Rwanda! OK, let’s remind ourselves of today’s vocabulary.
If you can see yourself as something, it means that you can imagine yourself doing that thing.
如果你能把自己看作是某种东西，那就意味着你可以想象自己在做那件事。
Georgina(乔治娜)
The prospect of something, is the possibility of something, so for example, the prospect of becoming an MP is something that excites Lucrece.
某事的前景，就是某事的可能性，因此，例如，成为国会议员的前景是让卢克莱斯兴奋的事情。
Sam(山姆)
Something that we all hate, except when we use it ourselves, is jargon. Words and language that are very specific to a particular job and which are difficult for people outside that profession to understand.
/1 
