美国国家公共电台 NPR--英国的鲍里斯·约翰逊支持率怎么跌得这么快？

搜索

复制

How did Britain's Boris Johnson fall so far so fast?

Transcript¹

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a historical landslide² election two years ago. But now he's fighting for his political life.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

A little more than two years ago, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a historical landslide election. Today, he's fighting for his political life. Now, the problem is parties, not the political kind, the really fun kind. More specifically, his office, No. 10 Downing Street, is accused of throwing a number of parties, even as such gatherings⁴ were banned by the very pandemic rules Johnson's own government created. NPR's Frank Langfitt is outside No. 10 Downing Street in London. Frank, remind us briefly⁵, how did Johnson fall so far so fast?

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE⁶: Yeah. Well, he was doing very, very well as recently as a few months ago. But there's been this drip, drip of, basically, leaks about a series of what most of us would consider parties but he tends to call work events. And it's been coming out. And the problem is, this is a time when, of course, in many cases, people were not gathering³ inside. They were not even seeing some of their loved ones. And what seems to have happened is there was kind of a partying culture. Certainly, that's what we're hearing in No. 10 Downing Street. I'll give you a couple of examples. Back - not so long ago, there was a - I guess it was last year - wine and cheese garden party, where the prime minister was actually photographed. He said he thought that was a work event.

There were also stories of people bringing in wine in a suitcase. And there were two events which No. 10 had to apologize last week. And these came on the eve of the funeral for Prince Philip, the queen's husband. And this was a really - as they say in British English, a very bad look because the next day, the queen was in a chapel⁷ out at Windsor Castle, sitting alone with a mask on mourning her husband while the night before, people were drinking it up, apparently⁸, in No. 10.

MARTINEZ: How many parliamentarians in Johnson's Conservative Party are calling for his head right now?

LANGFITT: Publicly, very few, A - only six. There's one who's been on TV recently, Andrew Bridgen. He's up from around the northeast of Birmingham. And he said one day last week, he got 300 emails from constituents⁹ who wanted Johnson out. And this is what Bridgen told Sky News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANDREW BRIDGEN: It's not just one mistake by Boris Johnson and those at No. 10, it's a pattern of behavior. And the pattern of behavior indicates to me that they think that they can do what they want, and the rest of us have got to do as we're told.

LANGFITT: And, A, I think this is really galling¹⁰ to a lot of people because Boris Johnson for many years has been perceived as somebody who's a rule breaker, even going back to his days at the University of Oxford¹¹. And so people do see this - not just a pattern recently, but sort of kind of his style. And the problem is, A, you know, this is a very serious time where people were losing loved ones, weren't able to say goodbye to them because they followed the rules. And this really, really - I think, this has really upset people here.

MARTINEZ: And some of these events happened as far back as 2020. Why are we only hearing about them now?

LANGFITT: Yeah. That's a great question. Here's what everybody thinks is going on. Somebody either inside No. 10 Downing Street or a number of people who knew exactly what was going on during the height of the pandemic, they want to get the prime minister. And in a very expert way, they have been leaking something every few days. And so basically, the prime minister is taking hit after hit after hit. He can't really respond because he never knows what's coming next. There was even another report of an event that came out today. And so the idea is that he has some pretty well-informed enemies who are trying to get him out of office.

MARTINEZ: What are the chances of that, though, happening, that he leaves?

LANGFITT: It could easily happen. But it's too early to say. In order to do this in the parliamentary system here, 54 parliamentarians from his party, the Conservative Party, have to write, asking for a leadership challenge. We don't know how many of those letters have come in. But we don't think we're anywhere near 54. And so that's - we're going to have to see how that plays out in the next few weeks. There's also an internal investigation¹². And we'll have to hear the results of that.

MARTINEZ: NPR's Frank Langfitt joining us from outside 10 Downing Street in London. Frank, thanks.

LANGFITT: Happy to do it, A.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

3 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

4 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

9 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 galling   

adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的

参考例句：

• It was galling to have to apologize to a man she hated. 令人恼火的是得向她憎恶的男人道歉。
• The insolence in the fellow's eye was galling. 这家伙的傲慢目光令人恼怒。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

11 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

12 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。