美国国家公共电台 NPR--Liz Truss is the U.K.'s next prime minister

Liz Truss is the U.K.'s next prime minister

Transcript¹

LONDON — Britain's Conservative Party has announced its new leader is Liz Truss, who has served as foreign minister for the past 12 months. She will be formally appointed as the next prime minister by Queen Elizabeth, likely on Tuesday afternoon.

"I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy," Truss said in her victory speech, adding that she will also take on challenges from high energy bills to the National Health Service.

The result follows a nationwide vote by the party's grassroots members that lasted several weeks this summer. Truss will become the country's fourth leader in a politically turbulent six-year period.

It marks only the third time in history that a woman will assume power in 10 Downing Street, but the third time in recent years that a change of prime minister has occurred without a national general election.

"We will deliver, we will deliver, and we will deliver," Truss said, echoing a key campaign theme. "And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024" — when the next national elections are slated² to be held.

Truss replaces Boris Johnson, who was laid low by a succession of scandals that crescendoed in the first half of this year. After losing support of not only the majority of his fellow Conservative legislators, but also many of his own ministers, he was forced to resign.

Truss spent the summer campaigning against Rishi Sunak, the U.K.'s former finance minister who was her rival for the Conservative leadership. The contest was decided³ by the votes of almost 142,000 party members. Truss secured more than 81,000 of those votes, the lowest proportion of any leader in recent history.

Johnson has continued to serve as a caretaker leader for the past few months, and he is expected to meet with the monarch⁴ in Scotland on Tuesday to tender his official resignation.

As new leader, Truss will likely make a statement outside 10 Downing Street later Tuesday. She will immediately face responsibility for a rapidly escalating⁵ energy crisis in Britain, with both consumers and companies facing record high gas and electricity costs thanks to the war in Ukraine, and the corresponding rise in inflation threatening to tip the country into a major recession.

Truss, who had already been dubbed⁶ "PM in waiting" by one British newspaper, said in an interview with the BBC this weekend that she will formulate⁷ proposals to combat this economic challenge within days, and is aiming to "act immediately."

Earlier in the leadership contest, Truss did not command as much support among fellow Conservative legislators as her opponent Sunak. And even though Sunak has promised to support a new government even if he is not leader, political analysts⁸ have said it will be difficult for Truss to unify⁹ her divided Conservatives, who still enjoy a sizable majority in the country's parliament — thanks, ironically, to Johnson's huge success as a campaigner during the last national elections.

At the announcement, the party's co-chairman, Andrew Stevenson, said the long, drawn-out contest this summer — involving the two "fantastic" candidates fielding hundreds of questions from tens of thousands of members — showed that the party remained "in good voice and good strength." He also drew a long round of applause when he thanked Johnson, who "rose to the challenge and delivered," throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently the conflict in Ukraine. Truss also thanked Johnson, describing him as a friend who was "admired from Kyiv to Carlisle."

Before announcing the result, Sir Graham Brady, who oversees¹⁰ the committee of Conservative legislators responsible for selecting a new leader, said the ballot¹¹ had been "free and fair," thanked the party members and all candidates, and said both Truss and Sunak were "outstanding" and had run "excellent campaigns."

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 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

5 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

6 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 formulate   

v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述

参考例句：

• He took care to formulate his reply very clearly.他字斟句酌，清楚地做了回答。
• I was impressed by the way he could formulate his ideas.他陈述观点的方式让我印象深刻。

8 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

9 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。

10 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

11 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。