[page]中英文本[/page]

Now the United Nations headquarters is located in New York, and there are almost four times as many countries in its general assembly. A bunch of them could see some changes this year in their governments. And we`ve got the campaigns in the U.S. covered, but Fareed Zakaria is going to fill us in on some of the other spots around the world holding elections this year.

You can predict that in 2012 a lot of leaders will say goodbye. No, I`m not gazing into a magic crystal ball. You see, 2012 is the year of elections. Fifty-nine countries will be tallying up votes, local, state or national. There are 193 countries in the world, so that`s about a third of the world`s nations. Twenty-six of these may see a change in national leadership.

Together,these changes could affect 53 percent of the world`s population, representing half of the world`s GDP, and a lot of the change is concentrated in the world`s most powerful countries. Four of the five U.N. Security Council members could see changes at the top. That`s Russia, China, France and, of course, the United States.

These four countries alone represent 40 percent of the world`s GDP. Of all of them, China will not have democratic elections, of course. But it will see the biggest wholesale change at the top. Seventy percent of the country`s leadership will be new.

We`re not expecting any surprises. Russia`s election will be the most predictable. We already know that Prime Minister Putin is going to become President Putin once again.

But even that change isn`t as clear-cut as you`d imagine. For the first time in years, it seems like it`s becoming acceptable in Russia to criticize the Kremlin. There will be changes, too, in Mexico, Egypt and Kenya, just to name a few.

Some of these elections and leadership changes involve nothing more than personnel shifts. Others will be occasions for fundamental debates about the future course of the country. They could mean shifts, so that we see a different Europe, a different China or a different America in the next few years.

So for those of you who have been struck by the volatility of recent years, the roller coaster ride we`ve all been on, from boom to bust, crisis to crisis, I would say keep that seat belt strapped on, because you`re going to see a lot of churn over the next year as well. It may not be bad, but there will be no shortage of political twists and turns around the world. And those are just the ones we know about.

Well, before we go, we mentioned some exceptions to that lack of snow story.
This is one of them. Aspen, Colorado, got some fresh powder over the weekend. It made this video possible and awesome. This iReporter said he`s been seeing reports about the lack of snow. He wanted to get the word out that the conditions were better, at least in some places. You think snowboarding`s easy? Try making it down a slope while you`re holding up a camera on a stick.

One thing is for sure, there`s "snow" way he`ll get "board." We`re going to freeze the puns there early today instead of launching into a run of them, because sometimes these things can just be a slippery slope. Back with more commercial-free headlines tomorrow. We`ll see you then.[qh]
 

现在联合国总部位于纽约,联合国大会几乎是其他国家的4倍。相信一群人能在今年他们的政府中看到一些改变。而且我们还有美国的选战,但法里德•扎卡利亚将带给我们全世界其他地方今年举行选举的故事。
你可以预测,2012年许多领导人将告别政坛。不,我没有凝视着魔力水晶球。你看,2012是选举年。59个国家将通过地方,州及国家的选票决定命运。世界上有193个国家,那是世界上三分之一的国家。26个国家会看到国家领导人的改变。
在一起,这些变化会影响世界53%的人口,代表着世界一半的国内生产总值,许多的改变集中在世界上最强大的国家。联合国安全理事会的4名成员国可以看到变化。俄罗斯、中国、法国,当然还有美国。
这四个国家独自代表世界40%的GDP。所有的国家之中,其中一个国家将的选举会非常民主,当然是的。它也会看到最大的改变。百分之七十的主要领导人将会是新面孔。
我们不希望看见任何惊喜。俄罗斯的选举将是最可预见的。我们已经知道,普京总理将再一次成为普京总统。
但你会想象即使这样的改变也是不明确的。好像在俄罗斯批评克里姆林已经被接受。在墨西哥、埃及、肯尼亚也会发生改变,我只是列举了一些而已。
其中的一些选举和领导方面的改革只涉及人事变动。其他则会有些对于国家为来的基本争论。他们可能意味着转换,以便我们在未来的几年会看到一个不同以往的欧洲及一个不同以往的美国。
所以的人近年波动很大,我们就好像坐过山车一样被从繁荣走向解体,从危机步入再次危机,我想说的是,把安全带系的再紧一点,因为你会在这一年中经历更多。也许不是很坏,但那也不会缺乏世界的政治波折。而那些只是那些我们知道的而已。
嗯,在我们离开之前,我们提到了一些例外的缺雪的故事。
这就是其中之一。科罗拉多州的奥斯本,这使这一视频非常出色。提供者表示他已经看到报告缺乏雪。他想要知道这个词语的意思,至少在一些地方。你觉得滑雪板很容易吗?试着拿着手杖上的相机从山坡上滑下看看。
有一件事是肯定的,有“雪”的话,他就会有“板。我们即将要说的就是这个故事,因为有时这些东西可以是一个灾难性的斜坡。明天这个时候再见。到时候再见。
[page]词语解释[/page]

1. assembly n. 集会，集合

It's an unlawful assembly.
那是非法集会。

2. predict v. 预言，预报

I can predict something with great accuracy.
我能很准确地预测某事。

3. fundamental a. 基本的，根本的

There is a fundamental difference in attitude between these two politicians.
这两位政治家的态度有着根本的区别。

4. volatility n. 挥发性

A mathematical measure of the sensitivity of rates of return on a portfolio or a given stock compared with rates of return on the market as a whole. A high degree of such sensitivity indicates moderate or high pricevolatility.
证券的β因素一种数学手段，对某有价证券或某种给定股票的回报率与整个市场回报率相比的敏感性进行测量。这种高程度敏感性表明其价位处于中度或高度易变状态。

5. churn v. 搅拌，搅动

She churns out romantic novels.
她写了很多浪漫小说，质量很差。