A motion at the Labour party conference, which begins on Sunday, is expected to call on the party to take advantage of break cla

admin2016-01-29  24

问题     A motion at the Labour party conference, which begins on Sunday, is expected to call on the party to take advantage of break clauses in agreements between the government and private operators. Last week, the Labour leader announced that his party would take back routes as contracts expired rather than opening the contracts to new bids.
    The motion will cause further anxiety among some shadow cabinet members who believe the party is already too hostile towards big business under Corbyn and his shadow chancellor, John McDonnell.
    Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, which is behind the conference motion, said Labour should consider speeding up re-nationalization through invoking break clauses. "The franchises should be brought back into public ownership as they expire, but to accelerate this, Labour should think about using break clauses within the franchises if this is in the interests of passengers. "
    Every franchise would have a break clause through which the contract could be ended earlier than planned, Cortes said. "If Labour takes over(in 2020), only five franchises are up for(full)renewal over that parliament," he said. "The last time a private company(Railtrack)ran the tracks, we ended up with two major accidents at Hatfield and Potters Bar. "
    It is understood that TSSA could use provisions for emergency motions to update their wording to welcome Corbyn’s announcement on public ownership. Train drivers’ union Aslef is expected to second the call. Its leader, Mick Whelan, said: "We will support any opportunity for the railways to be bought back into public ownership. "
    In the run-up to the election, former leader Ed Miliband stopped short of endorsing full re-nationalization, saying that publicly owned enterprises could bid to take back contracts when franchises expired.
    In a sign he wants a clearer policy than his predecessor,Corbyn told the Independent on Sunday: "We know there is overwhelming support from the British people for a people’s railway, better and more efficient services, proper integration and fairer fares. On this issue, it won’t work to have a nearly-but-not-quite position. Labour will commit to a clear plan for a fully integrated railway in public ownership. "
    A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents Network Rail and train operators, questioned the logic of enforced re-nationalization by breaking with existing contracts. "When rail franchising was introduced, the railway ran at a £ 2bn-a-year loss in terms of its day-to-day costs but today, it virtually covers its running expenses. " " There is more to do to improve rail services but why get rid of a model that is working for passengers and taxpayers?"
What does the phrase "second the call"(Line 2, Para. 5)probably mean according to the text?

选项 A、Back the call.
B、Take the call immediately.
C、Call for a second time.
D、Make the second effort.

答案A

解析 这是一道词义题,定位到第五段第二句后,还需要进一步定位到第三句,在第三句中我们就能看到线索词support。而[A]选项中的back就能和support同义替换。其他三个选项我都在利用second的表面含义,不过能定位的同学应该不会受到我的干扰。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/gQZ7FFFM
0

随机试题
最新回复(0)