2020年经济学人 一周要闻 英国正式开启疫苗接种 拜登提名黑人防长 英国脱欧进入最后关头

The world this week

本周国际要闻

Politics

政治

Britain began the world’s first vaccination¹ programme for covid-19 using a fully² tested vaccine³. Thousands of people, mostly the very elderly and frontline health workers, received the Pfizer/BioNTech jab in hospitals. Family doctors will also administer the injections, as will care homes by Christmas. Canada became the second country to approve the Pfizer vaccine and will start distribution soon. In America regulators were on the verge⁴ of approving it.

英国采用了一种经过全面检测的疫苗，启动了全球首个针对新冠肺炎的疫苗接种项目。成千上万的人在医院接种了辉瑞联合BioNTech研发的疫苗，其中大部分是老年人和一线医护人员。在圣诞节前，家庭医生处和疗养院也将开展疫苗接种项目。加拿大成为第二个批准辉瑞疫苗接种的国家，并将很快开始分发疫苗。美国的监管机构也即将批准该疫苗。

General Lloyd Austin was tapped by Joe Biden to be his defence secretary. If confirmed, General Austin, who has led America’s command in Afghanistan and Iraq, will be the first black person to hold the job. He will also be a former military man in a position that by tradition goes to a civilian⁵. Donald Trump⁶’s first defence secretary, James Mattis, also came from the armed forces.

乔·拜登任命劳埃德·奥斯汀将军为国防部长。如果这一提名得到确认，曾领导美军驻阿富汗和伊拉克司令部的奥斯丁将军将成为首位担任这一职务的黑人。他还将成为担任这个传统上留给平民的职位的退役军人。特朗普的首任国防部长詹姆斯·马蒂斯(James Mattis)也是军人出身。

The House of Representatives passed a defence bill, with 140 Republican votes, that would, among other things, remove the names of Confederate generals that adorn⁷ some military bases. Mr Trump says he will reject the bill, but it has been approved by a two-thirds majority, enough support to override⁸ a presidential veto. It now goes to the Senate.

众议院以140名共和党人的投票通过了一项国防法案，除其他事项外，该法案还将更名部分以南方联盟将军名字命名的军事基地。特朗普表示，他将否决该法案，但该法案已获得三分之二的多数票通过，足以推翻总统的否决。现在法案已经移交参议院。

The House also passed a bill that would decriminalise marijuana and overturn the sentences of those who have been convicted of non-violent cannabis crimes. Its purpose is to redress⁹ the racial disparities in marijuana convictions (black people are more likely to be jailed for possession). It is unlikely to pass the Senate.

众议院还通过了一项法案，将大麻合法化，并推翻那些对非暴力大麻犯罪人员的判决。其目的是纠正在大麻定罪方面的种族不平等(黑人更有可能因持有大麻而被判入狱)。该法案不太可能在参议院获得通过。

The Supreme¹⁰ Court made its first foray into the jumble¹¹ of lawsuits¹² from Republicans still trying to overturn the election result. In a one-line response with no dissents¹³, it refused to hear a case from Pennsylvania. Joe Biden’s victory will be officially confirmed on December 14th, when the electoral college meets to cast its vote.

最高法院首次介入共和党人仍试图推翻选举结果的诉讼。在一行没有异议的回复中，该院拒绝听取来自宾夕法尼亚州的一起诉讼。乔·拜登的胜利将于12月14日正式确认，届时选举人团将开会投票。

As Brexit trade talks went down to the wire, the British government announced an “agreement in principle” with the European Union over border controls between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Britain also agreed to scotch¹⁴ legislation that would allow it to break international law. Boris Johnson, the prime minister, went to Brussels for a dinner with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, but their meeting left a bad taste in the mouth for those hoping for a breakthrough.

随着英国脱欧贸易谈判进入最后关头，英国政府宣布与欧盟就爱尔兰和北爱尔兰之间的边境问题达成“原则上协议”。英国还同意取消允许其违反国际法的立法。英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊前往布鲁塞尔与欧盟委员会的乌苏拉·冯·德莱恩共进晚餐，但他们的会面给那些希望取得突破的人留下了不好的印象。

France published details of a proposed new law designed to combat the spread of radical¹⁵ Islam. The law, which will go to parliament next year, follows the beheading of a French schoolteacher for showing children cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

法国公布了一项拟议新法的细节，旨在打击激进伊斯兰教的传播。这项法律将于明年提交议会审议，此前一名法国教师因向儿童展示先知穆罕默德的漫画而被斩首。

Venezuela’s dictatorial¹⁶ regime, led by Nicolás Maduro, reclaimed¹⁷ control of the legislature, the one branch of government it did not command. The ruling PSUV and its allies won more than two-thirds of the votes in a legislative¹⁸ election that was boycotted¹⁹ by most of the opposition²⁰. The psuv’s victory means that the opposition’s leader, Juan Guaidó, recognised as Venezuela’s interim²¹ president by more than 50 countries, will lose his role as head of the assembly.

由尼古拉斯·马杜罗领导的委内瑞拉独裁政权重新控制了议会，而议会是政府的分支机构，但并未被控制。执政的统一社会主义联盟(psuv)及其盟友在立法选举中赢得超过三分之二的选票，这次选举遭到大多数反对派的抵制。统一社会主义联盟的胜利意味着反对派领袖胡安·瓜伊多(Juan Guaido)将失去议会主席的职位，瓜伊多被50多个国家承认为委内瑞拉临时总统。

1 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

5 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 adorn   

vt.使美化，装饰

参考例句：

• She loved to adorn herself with finery.她喜欢穿戴华丽的服饰。
• His watercolour designs adorn a wide range of books.他的水彩设计使许多图书大为生色。

8 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

9 redress   

n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除

参考例句：

• He did all that he possibly could to redress the wrongs.他尽了一切努力革除弊端。
• Any man deserves redress if he has been injured unfairly.任何人若蒙受不公平的损害都应获得赔偿。

10 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

11 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

12 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

13 dissents   

意见的分歧( dissent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Even his dissents were widely quoted, and some prompted legislative changes. 甚至他那些异议也被广泛引用，而且有的还促成了法律上的修改。

14 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

15 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

16 dictatorial   

adj. 独裁的，专断的

参考例句：

• Her father is very dictatorial.她父亲很专横。
• For years the nation had been under the heel of a dictatorial regime.多年来这个国家一直在独裁政权的铁蹄下。

17 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

18 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

19 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

20 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

21 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。