GRE阅读练习：降低年龄门槛鼓励年轻人投票.docxVIP

Word文档下载后（可任意编辑） 第 第 PAGE 1 页 共 NUMPAGES 1 页 GRE阅读练习：降低年龄门槛鼓励年轻人投票 GRE阅读训练：GRE阅读练习：降低年龄门槛鼓励年轻人投票 GRE考试精品课程指导  Why the voting age should be lowered to 16?  为什么选举年龄应该降低至16岁?  How young is too young?  到底几岁才算太年轻?  Rich democracies give different answers, depending on the context: in New Jersey you can buy alcohol at 21 and cigarettes at 19, join the army at 17, have sex at 16 and be tried in court as an adult at 14.  发达的民主国家给出了不同的答案，取决于事项的不同：在新泽西州，年龄达到21岁可以买酒，19岁可以买烟，17岁可以参军，16岁可以有性生活，14岁就可以被当作成年人出庭受审。  Such thresholds vary wildly from place to place.  类似这样的门槛不同地方有较大差异。  Belgian youngsters can get sozzled legally at 16.  比利时的年轻人在16岁就可以合法饮酒。  But on one thing most agree: only when you have turned 18 can you vote.  但是在一件事上大多数国家都是一致的：只有年满18岁才有选举权。  When campaigners suggest lowering the voting age, the riposte is that 16- and 17-year-olds are too immature.  当人们宣传建议降低投票年龄时，反对的人说16、7岁的年轻人还太不成熟。  This misses the real danger: that growing numbers of young people may not vote at all.  这会使人们忽视真正的危险：越来越多的年轻人可能根本不再去投票。  The trend across the West is disturbing.  整个西方的这种趋势很令人不安。  Turnout of American voters under 25 at presidential elections fell from 50% in 1972 to 38% in 2012; among over-65s it rose from 64% to 70% (data for the 2016 election are not yet available).  25岁以下的美国选民参与总统选举的投票比例从1972年的50%降到2012年的38%;超过65岁的选民的投票比例由64%增长到70%(2016年的选举数据还未公布)。  For congressional races, the under-25 vote was a dire 17% in 2014.  2014年的国会议员选举，25岁以下的选民的投票比例只占寥寥17%。  A similar pattern is repeated across the rich world.  类似的模式正在发达国家不断重现。  Young people’s disenchantment with the ballot box matters because voting is a habit: those who do not take to it young may never start.  年轻人对民主投票的觉醒至关重要，因为投票是一种习惯，那些没有投票习惯的年轻人或许永远不会开始投票。  That could lead to ever-lower participation rates in decades to come, draining the legitimacy of governments in a vicious spiral in which poor turnout feeds