The official, somewhat contradictory, explanation was that the monument needed restoration and in any case stood on a site needed for a new building to house the country's parliament.

官方的解释有些矛盾，一方面说是纪念碑需要修复，而另一方面又说无论如何纪念碑恰恰矗立于一个需要容纳国会的新建筑物的选址地点上。

youdao

Japan's new prime minister, Naoto Kan, has pushed a debate about raising the consumption tax to the top of the campaign for the upper house of parliament.

日本的新任首相菅直人推动了在上议院竞选活动中关于提高消费税率的讨论。

youdao

Shortly after the Iraqi parliament approved the new election law, President Barack Obama went before reporters at the White House.

VOA: standard.2009.11.08

This could mean more law-making powers are devolved from Westminster to Cardiff, he has suggested, or the creation of a new upper House of Parliament, modelled on the US Senate with equal representation for Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

BBC: Scottish independence: What will it mean for Wales?

In the upper house of the New South Wales parliament, for instance, he claims to hold what he calls "the balance of prayer".

BBC: Penny Wong: Australia's non-story of the week

Two days later, after cursory debate, the lower house of parliament passed a new law allowing Japan's ailing life insurers to cut the rates of return they guaranteed to policyholders, and thus to break unprofitable contracts.

ECONOMIST: A costly week for ordinary Japanese