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2016年考研英語(yǔ)閱讀材料:NIMBYism and the election
ON first glance, the constituency of Brentford & Isleworth, in west London, looks like a typical Conservative Party heartland. It is full of boutique shops and cafés. The back streets are lined with pretty Victorian terraced houses.
Yet Mary Macleod, the Conservative incumbent, has a fight on her hands to hold the seat. This is partly down to demographics. Along with plenty of middle-class residents the seat is dotted with council estates, and is also home to large Pakistani and Indian populations who have tended to vote for the Labour Party. But one of the biggest problems for Ms Macleod is not on the ground but in the air.
Each day dozens of aeroplanes fly over the constituency, which is near Heathrow airport. And depending on the outcome of the Airports Commission, which was set up by the coalition government to look into airport expansion, and which will report after the election, even more could criss-cross over the area.
Ms Macleod first won the seat in 2010 with a majority of 1,958 by campaigning heavily against airport expansion. And although Heathrow is not the only issue worrying local voters, winning the seat could still hinge on how effectively the Conservative incumbent can distinguish herself from Ruth Cadbury, the Labour candidate, who is also against a bigger airport. Ms Macleod's plight points to a larger problem for the Conservatives. Too often for comfort, well-meaning plans to improve the country's roads, airports and railways clash with the NIMBYish instincts of their core supporters.
The country's infrastructure is creaking. Sir Howard Davies, who heads the Airport Commission, estimates that Heathrow is full to capacity while Gatwick, the other option for airport expansion, will be full by 2020. According to the World Economic Forum British roads rank a lowly 30th in the world for quality, just above Chile and Sri Lanka. David Cameron, the prime minister, acknowledges the problem. The Conservative Party manifesto, launched on April 14th, commits to previous plans to splash out 15 billion ($22 billion) on the road network and 38 billion on the railways over the next parliament. Mr Cameron also reiterated support for HS2, a shiny new 42 billion high-speed railway from London to Manchester.
Yet in doing so, Mr Cameron has infuriated many natural Conservative voters. HS2, which runs through a series of safe blue seats in Buckinghamshire, is particularly divisive. The railway is a “headache” on the doorstep, admits one Conservative MP seeking re-election, as he is often limited in how vocally he can oppose it. To add to Tory woes, the UK Independence Party, which scooped up six council seats in 2013 along the route, is making hay on the issue. It claims to be the “only” party against the “construction disruption” HS2 will bring (although the Green Party also opposes it).
NIMBYs pose difficulties for any government, but particularly for Mr Cameron's, which has often trumpeted the notion that it is investing in Britain's infrastructure to levels not seen since the Victorian era. If economic growth is to be sustainable, then more infrastructure will be needed to support it. But if Heathrow is given the go-ahead for expansion, for instance, it will be “campaign, campaign and campaign again,” warns Barbara Reid, a local resident and former Conservative councillor. Getting Britain moving will require a big push from the next government―especially if the Tories win.
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乍一看，位于西倫敦的布倫特福德和艾爾沃思選區(qū)像是典型的保守黨中心地帶。這里的精品店和咖啡店星羅密布。后街是一排排漂亮的維多利亞連棟房屋。
然而保守黨人瑪麗?麥克勞德要想贏得這個(gè)地區(qū)的選票還得苦戰(zhàn)一番。這部分與人口統(tǒng)計(jì)有關(guān)。連同大量的中產(chǎn)階級(jí)居民，該中心地帶散布著地方所屬地產(chǎn)，同時(shí)也是傾向于為工黨投票的巴基斯坦人、印度人的家鄉(xiāng)。但麥克勞德面臨的最大問(wèn)題不在地面上而是在空中
該選區(qū)位于希思羅機(jī)場(chǎng)附近，每一天都有幾十架飛機(jī)掠過(guò)其上空。聯(lián)合政府設(shè)立了機(jī)場(chǎng)委員會(huì)來(lái)調(diào)查機(jī)場(chǎng)擴(kuò)張情況，具體情況將在選舉后進(jìn)行報(bào)告，根據(jù)其結(jié)果，也許會(huì)有更多的飛機(jī)在這片區(qū)域上空穿梭。
2010年，麥克勞德以強(qiáng)烈反對(duì)機(jī)場(chǎng)擴(kuò)建開(kāi)展競(jìng)選活動(dòng)，以1958的多數(shù)票贏得了席位。盡管希思羅機(jī)場(chǎng)不是當(dāng)?shù)剡x民唯一擔(dān)憂的事，但麥克勞德的當(dāng)選仍取決于這位保守黨人在與同樣反對(duì)建設(shè)大機(jī)場(chǎng)的工黨候選人露絲?凱德波里相比時(shí)，能多有效地提高自己的辨識(shí)度。麥克勞德的困境指出了工黨存在的一個(gè)更大問(wèn)題。通常為了提高舒適度、意圖良好的升級(jí)城市道路、機(jī)場(chǎng)和鐵路等計(jì)劃會(huì)觸動(dòng)鄰避主義核心支持者的敏感神經(jīng)。
英國(guó)的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施正在咯吱作響。領(lǐng)導(dǎo)機(jī)場(chǎng)委員會(huì)的霍華德?戴維斯閣下預(yù)計(jì)希思羅容量已達(dá)到飽和，而機(jī)場(chǎng)擴(kuò)建的另一選址蓋特威克將在2020年達(dá)到飽和。根據(jù)世界經(jīng)濟(jì)論壇數(shù)據(jù)顯示，英國(guó)道路質(zhì)量在世界排名低至30名，僅略高于智利和斯里蘭卡。大衛(wèi)?卡梅倫首相意識(shí)到了這個(gè)問(wèn)題。于4月14號(hào)發(fā)表的保守黨宣言承諾要堅(jiān)持原有計(jì)劃，花費(fèi)150億英鎊(220億美元)在道路網(wǎng)建設(shè)上，下一屆議會(huì)將花費(fèi)380億在鐵路建設(shè)上?？穫愐仓厣炅藢?duì)HS2(花費(fèi)420億英鎊新建的從倫敦到曼徹斯特的高鐵)的支持。
然而這樣做，卡梅倫激怒了很多保守派選民。HS2雖在白金漢宮里贏得了一眾議員的支持，但特別有爭(zhēng)議性。一保守黨人承認(rèn)，該鐵路確實(shí)是家門口的“麻煩”，他正在試圖重新當(dāng)選，因?yàn)樗馨l(fā)出的反對(duì)之聲是有限的。新晉的托利黨敵人、2013年在沿線撈得了6個(gè)議會(huì)席位的英國(guó)獨(dú)立黨正借此事獲取私利。它聲稱是“唯一”反對(duì)HS2帶來(lái)的“建筑破壞”的政黨(盡管綠黨同樣也反對(duì)HS2)。
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鄰避主義者給任何政府都帶來(lái)了麻煩，但對(duì)卡梅倫政府來(lái)說(shuō)尤其如此，它經(jīng)常吹噓在為英國(guó)基礎(chǔ)建設(shè)投資上，其規(guī)模之大自維多利亞時(shí)代以來(lái)都十分罕見(jiàn)。如果經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)穩(wěn)定的話，就需要更多的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施來(lái)支持。當(dāng)?shù)鼐用袂以鵀楸Ｊ攸h議員的芭芭拉?瑞德警告，如果希思羅的擴(kuò)建得到許可，它將演化成“競(jìng)選，競(jìng)選，再競(jìng)選”。要讓英國(guó)繼續(xù)前進(jìn)需要下一屆政府大力推一把――特別是托利黨當(dāng)選的話。
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