19.We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?
19.我们选出的美国参议员任职几年？
Answer: Six (6)
答案：6年
Explanation: U.S. senators serve (or work in their public position) for six-year terms that are staggered, which means they don't all begin and end at the same time.
解释：美国参议员一任（在政府部门工作）六年，其任期交错，这就意味着参议员们不是同时开始和同时结束任期的。
One-third of the senators are elected every two years.
三分之一的参议员是每隔两年选出来的。
With staggered terms, there are always some senators who have experience and can guide the new senators.
由于任期错开，参议院总会有一些资深参议员引导新进参议员。
This gives the Senate continuity.
这就让参议院有了连续性。
In any organization, continuity (or the way that something stays the same over time) is extremely important.
在任何组织里，连续性（随着时间的流逝某事保持不变的方式）都是十分重要的。
The United States Senate is no exception (or no different).
美国参议院也不例外。
If all the senators started and ended their terms (or the period of time they work in their public position) at the same time, then all the new senators would begin at the same time and nobody, or only very few people, would know how Senate meetings should be.
如果所有参议员同时开始并同时结束任期（在政府部门中工作的时间段），那么所有新进参议员将同时开始任职，这样他们中没有人，或只有少数几个人知道参议院会议是怎样召开的。
All of the senators would be trying to learn their new job at the same time and the Senate would not run very smoothly or easily until they did.
所有参议员都要同时熟悉他们的新工作，因而，直到参议员们都熟悉了自己的工作，参议院才能很顺畅或很容易地运行下去。
译文为秀哈英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
