英语名人堂：海伦·伊丽莎白·克拉克
Helen Clark (born in 1950) is the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand. She was in office between 1999 and 2008 and won three consecutive national elections. She is the second longest serving prime minister in NZ’s history. In 2008, she won the UN Environment Programme Champions of the Earth award for her plan to make NZ the world’s first carbon zero nation.
Clark grew up in a farming family and she developed a great love for the land. As a teenager, she became politically active. She protested against the Vietnam War and foreign military bases in New Zealand. She graduated from university with a Master’s degree in politics in 1974. Her research was based on politics in the countryside.
Clark won her first election in 1981. She rose up through the ranks and served in different posts as Minister of Housing, Conservation, Health, and finally as Deputy Prime Minister. She has significantly reformed her country’s welfare system. She introduced many popular measures, including raising the minimum wage six times and abolishing interest on student loans.
In 2008, Clark signed a landmark agreement that handed back land to the indigenous Maori population. She was a fierce opponent of the invasion of Iraq and criticized American actions. She has forged strong relations with China, whose president calls her an “old friend”. She believes that “it’s inevitable that NZ will become a republic” and “reflect the reality that NZ is a…21st century nation”.
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