美国国家公共电台 NPR--After decades in Queen Elizabeth's shadow, her son Charles is now Britain's king

After decades in Queen Elizabeth's shadow, her son Charles is now Britain's king

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep and British journalist Tina Brown discuss the challenges facing King Charles III as he begins his reign².

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The last time a new monarch³ ascended⁴ its throne, the U.K. was a worldwide empire. Today, it still has worldwide influence, though it also faces a world of problems.

King Charles III addressed Parliament today.

(SOUNDBITE OF PARLIAMENTARY ADDRESS)

KING CHARLES III: As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us.

INSKEEP: It will not be Charles's job directly to address the sagging⁵ economy or the aftermath of Brexit. It is his concern that police have investigated his foundation, that Prince Harry⁶ plans a tell-all book and that he's less popular than his mum.

Tina Brown has written extensively about the royal family. She's on the line. Tina, welcome back to the program.

TINA BROWN, BYLINE⁷: Thank you so much, Steve.

INSKEEP: In what way do you see Charles shoring up the monarchy⁸?

BROWN: Well, I mean, Charles has had to begin some of the things that, you know, the queen in the sense never would or could do. For instance, last year in Barbados, he spoke⁹ about the appalling¹⁰ atrocity¹¹ of slavery. And, you know, that is something the queen would never have done. Amazingly, she would have actually considered that a political statement, to address that issue in her country's history.

But what she of course did extremely well was sort of express the apolitical expressions of, you know, regret at times when it was enormously important to do so - for instance, her historic visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011, when she spoke about being able to bow to the past but not be bound by it.

INSKEEP: Oh, this is so interesting. And it goes in a couple of different directions, one of them being the monarchy's connection to the empire and the former empire, the nations of what are now called the Commonwealth¹².

Does Charles then have a little bit more latitude¹³ to reach out to those countries where there is, to say the least, an ambiguous legacy¹⁴ and people have an ambiguous idea of this monarchy that some of their countries still recognize?

BROWN: Well, absolutely. And he's going to - he has been trying, you know, to do some of those things, which is a very careful and difficult thing, frankly¹⁵, for them to pull off. I mean, we saw that, you know, when Prince William and Kate went on tour - their Commonwealth tour last year - early this year. It really wasn't a success because somehow it still had the kind of retrogressive images of empire with them standing¹⁶ up in that car, you know, rather as the queen and Philip had done on their royal tours. And you saw islanders, you know, pressed behind fences.

You know, it was a very, very bad image, which they understood could not happen again. So you're going to see a kind of rethink of that kind of imagery and of the kind of speeches he made.

And frankly, you know, we don't even know that for the remaining countries of which, you know, the monarchy is still, you know, the head of country - whether that will last for very long. I mean, I see - it's impossible to imagine that, you know, Australia, for instance - the monarchy being the head of the Commonwealth, just doesn't seem to be - the constitutional heads of these countries - seems that it can last beyond a very short time.

INSKEEP: Tina, you touched on another thing when you talked about the difference between apolitical and political statements. Of course, the British monarch tries to rise above political statements now and leave that all to the elected leaders of Parliament and the British government.

But there's a question about what is political and what is not. Charles in the past has been very outspoken¹⁷ about climate change. Can you imagine a future in which the king of England remains¹⁸ outspoken on that issue?

BROWN: Well, he's going to have to completely recalibrate what he says. I mean, of course, we know exactly what he does think about everything, unlike the queen, who - we knew nothing about what she thought about anything and right now was almost a kind of nostalgia¹⁹ for not knowing what she thought because we're living in such a narcissistic²⁰ world where people express their opinions about everything. We literally²¹ knew nothing about what the queen thought about everything.

We know, of course, far too much about what Charles thinks about everything. However, as he said in an interview that he gave before she died, like, I'm not that stupid. He understands very much that his role has now shifted.

But what he can be is a great convening²² monarch. One of the few powers left, in a sense, to the sovereign is being able to convene²³. The queen didn't do a great deal of that. She was brilliant at the symbolism as she was in Ireland, but she never really used her position to sort of convene around issues. And there's no doubt - I mean, you know, just last week before - just the day of the queen's death, Charles was actually about to host a major climate change conference at Dumfries House, his Scottish charitable headquarters. And that was going to be a major climate convening in which John Kerry was going to be taking part.

He cancelled that, of course, because the queen died. So he can still do those things. He just can't pronounce. He cannot sort of intervene when it comes to anything to do with the issues - the political issues - around it because, you know, it has begun to be quite controversial because, of course, the big energy crisis.

INSKEEP: Journalist Tina Brown is author of "The Palace Papers."

Tina, it's always a pleasure to hear from you.

BROWN: Thank you so much, Steve.

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 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

3 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。

4 ascended   

v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He has ascended into heaven. 他已经升入了天堂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The climbers slowly ascended the mountain. 爬山运动员慢慢地登上了这座山。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 sagging   

下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is continuously sagging. 敌军的士气不断低落。
• We are sagging south. 我们的船正离开航线向南漂流。

6 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

7 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。

8 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

11 atrocity   

n.残暴，暴行

参考例句：

• These people are guilty of acts of great atrocity.这些人犯有令人发指的暴行。
• I am shocked by the atrocity of this man's crimes.这个人行凶手段残忍狠毒使我震惊。

12 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

13 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

14 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

15 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

19 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

20 narcissistic   

adj.自我陶醉的，自恋的，自我崇拜的

参考例句：

• In the modern vocabulary, it was narcissistic. 用时髦话说，这是一种自我陶醉狂。 来自辞典例句
• This is our Nielaoshi, a dwarf has also grown narcissistic teachers. 这就是我们的倪老师，一个长得又矮又自恋的老师。 来自互联网

21 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

22 convening   

召开( convene的现在分词 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• When convening the assembly, however, you shall blow without sounding an alarm. 民10:7但招聚会众的时候、们要吹号、不要吹出大声。
• We warmly welcome the convening of Asia-Europe meeting in London. 热烈欢迎亚欧会议在伦敦召开。

23 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。