Story：An unjust election
【明報專訊】IN an ordinary secondary school, a student union election was held. Competition was fierce but results were almost certain. Dominic was the current student council president and he very much wanted to be re-elected. He and Victor, a strong challenger, entered the last round of voting. As far as Dominic was concerned, he thought he would surely be the winner. But when the result was unveiled, Victor emerged victorious and won by a large margin.
The result was hard for Dominic to swallow. For him, he always dominated the students' conversation. And he feared that his classmates' attention would be diverted from him to Victor. ''I can't let him be the victor!'' Dominic spent some time devising an elaborate scheme rather than doing revision and homework.
He called upon his underlings and dished out orders to them. ''Spread rumours across different classes that the election was a fraud and make them suspicious. I'll make good use of Campus TV and the student newspaper to propagate a disgusting image of Victor!'' Dominic promised students who supported him that he would help abolish the weekly test for them.
Then, in his waning days as president, he proposed a motion that the election result be nullified and restarted. All members of the council were his men so the motion went unchallenged. But he still needed to notch up more than half of the students' votes in a referendum.
Victor loved reading newspapers, including his school's. He was shocked when he saw the ''news'' that he cheated in the recent exam. Knowing that students were afraid of weekly tests, Victor held weekly tutorial classes with teachers to teach those who were academically weak.
''I don't believe in any of the school media's words. How could someone so clever have cheated in an exam?'' One student questioned.
''I want all students to be sincerely convinced.'' Victor held many talks and appealed to students' willingness to study.
Most of the students were convinced by Victor's teaching and voted against Dominic's motion.
''Victor is the victor!'' The principal announced.
by Ian Lam
◆Food for thought
An unjust election in a school might just be a storm in a teacup. But one in a country could breed corruption and harm the interests of the general public.
■Gear up
Answer the following questions after reading the story.
(1)Victor cheats in a recent exam.
( True / False / Not given )
(2) Dominic uses _____________ to try to change students' perception towards Victor.
(3)The principal doesn't want to clear Victor's name.
( True / False / Not given )
(Answers on next text)
■Glossary
fierce (adj) 激烈
underling (n) 手下
nullify (v) 使……無效
notch up (phr v) 取得
[Smarties' Power English 第301期]
