经济学人201:苏格兰公投的收官之战 消耗战

 　　Scotland's referendum endgame

　　苏格兰公投的收官之战

　　A war of attrition

　　消耗战

　　The peculiar¹ smallness of Scotland's independence debate

　　关于苏格兰独立的辩论似乎太渺小了

　　RESEMBLING nothing so much as a pair of irritable² golfers yelling at each other in the clubhouse bar, on August 25th the leaders of Scotland's pro- and anti-independence camps collided in the second of two televised debates. If passions are high as the referendum campaign enters its final leg—with unionists ahead in polls but wary³ of a late nationalist surge—this reflects the stakes. A “yes” vote on September 18th would terminate Britain's 307-year-old political union.

　　除了一对的脾气暴躁的高尔夫球手在俱乐部对骂之外，恐怕再没有任何场景能同八月二十五日的的电视辩论相媲美了。随着公投进入最后关头，民众热情高涨，与联合主义者提前进行投票的同时，又在警惕着后期民族主义的激增—这种状况反应了公投中各利益方的关系。9月18日的苏格兰独立公投或许可能结束英国307年的的政治联盟

　　Filter out the noisy interruptions, though, and both Alex Salmond, Scotland's nationalist premier⁴, and Alistair Darling, the unionist former chancellor⁵ of the exchequer⁶, make dry points. Neither lingered on the overall case for or against the union, though Mr Darling banged on about currency whenever he could. For much of the debate they tussled over domestic policy areas like health care and housing benefits. A contest between two starkly⁷ different futures⁸ for Britain came to resemble one over today's public services.

　　除却令人恼怒的打断，苏格兰民族党领导人亚历克斯·萨尔蒙德和身为联合主义者的前财政大臣阿里斯泰尔·达林都分别直截了当地提出自己主张的要点。无论人民是在大氛围下左右摇摆或者是明确支持抑或反对苏格兰独立，达林先生都尽其所能随时宣扬着英联邦的货币政策。而双方在辩论中就许多国内政策问题诸如卫生保健和住房福利打得如火如荼。这使得两种截然不同的英国未来之间的较量逐渐向今日公共政策的改革靠拢。

　　苏格兰公投.jpg

　　Another recent debate involving lesser⁹ figures in Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, suggests why the campaigns are so keen to occupy this ground. The church where it was held contained a cross-section of the electorate¹⁰: from teenagers to pensioners¹¹, some in tracksuits, others in collar and tie. From the altar, an actuarial “no” campaigner brandished¹² charts depicting¹³ the risks of independence. They clapped. Then his “yes” opponent lamented¹⁴ “Scotland's plundered¹⁵ oil”. They clapped again. Many cheerily applauded both sides.

　　最近的另一项辩论涉及到在爱丁堡附近的Daikeith中一些并不重要的区域，并且说明公投运动为何如此热衷取得这片区域的支持。那里的教区选民跨度颇大—从轻狂少年到耄耋老者，有工薪阶层也有精英人士。在这里，当反对独立的阵营剖析苏格兰独立的种种风险的时候，人们会鼓掌表示赞同；当独立主义者们宣扬着“苏格兰石油被英国掠夺”的时候，人们依旧鼓掌附和以表支持。这其中很多人都摇摆不定犹疑不决。

　　The latest Scottish Social Attitudes survey suggests that about one-third of Scots are committed to independence and another third think devolution need go no farther than it has already. The referendum will be decided¹⁶ by the rest—pragmatists who would prefer greater autonomy without quitting the United Kingdom altogether. Wise to this, the two sides have tried to convey that this is more-or-less what voting for them would achieve in practice, while seeking to push the other lot off the “devo max” territory. Hence the debate's apparent smallness.

　　最新的关于苏格兰社会态度的调查显示，约有三分之一的苏格兰人致力于独立；另外三分之一的苏格兰人认为维持如今的自治水平，不必走得更远 。苏格兰公投将由那些想要得到更大自主权而不是脱离英联邦的实用主义者一锤定音。对于此种状态，明确的做法是，两大阵营都在试图传达着一个讯息—这些实用主义者通过自己的投票或多或少会实现什么，并且同时寻求促使其他人脱离“放权最大”的舒适区域。因此，辩论相比起来就是显而易见的渺小。

　　The three main unionist parties—Labour, the Liberal Democrats¹⁷ and the Conservatives—have each published proposals for further devolution. The Tory report, published in June, was the most striking: a party that has long stood for political centralisation offered Edinburgh full control of income tax. And the nationalist government has alighted on similar ground from the opposite side. Last November it published a 670-page manifesto¹⁸ insisting that an independent Scotland could share the pound, stay in the EU and remain closely integrated with the rest of Britain. Over the next few weeks campaigners from both camps will assure voters that their particular brand of semi-detachedness holds the solution to their day-to-day gripes.

　　联合主义的三大主要党派—工党、自由民主党和保守党，已经分别就进一步放权发出声明。六月发布的保守党的报告最引人注目---即主张长期保留爱丁堡对所得税的完全控制的政治权力。而苏格兰政府也在相反的方面化解了窘境—在其去年十一月出版的670页的宣言中，独立的苏格兰可以继续享用英镑，留在欧盟并密切保持其与英国其他部分的整合。在接下来的几个星期，两个阵营的活动家们为了确保选民数量，他们向投票者承诺，两大阵营可以在尽其所能来帮助选民解决日常困扰。

　　This is remarkable¹⁹, and lamentable²⁰. A victory for the nationalists would send tremors²¹ far beyond Scotland. It would trigger calls for David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister, to resign. It would change the arithmetic, and quite possibly the outcome, of next year's general election. It would embolden²² separatists in Spain, Belgium and elsewhere. The difference between the campaigns' pitches to voters may be relatively²³ modest, but that between a “yes” and a “no” is vast.

　　结果显著却又可悲的。民族主义者的胜利所带来的震颤要远远超出苏格兰的范围。这或将触发保守党首相卡梅伦的辞职，并且也会改变立法，甚至让明年的大选变数重重。并且这也将鼓励西班牙、比利时以及其他地方分离分裂主义者。虽然选民与阵营之间的差异是温和的，但是在“是”与“否”之间，差异是巨大的。

1 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

2 irritable   

adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的

参考例句：

• He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
• Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。

3 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

4 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

5 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

6 exchequer   

n.财政部；国库

参考例句：

• In Britain the Chancellor of the Exchequer deals with taxes and government spending.英国的财政大臣负责税务和政府的开支。
• This resulted in a considerable loss to the exchequer.这使国库遭受了重大损失。

7 starkly   

adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直

参考例句：

• The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
• The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。

8 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

9 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

10 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

11 pensioners   

n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He intends to redistribute income from the middle class to poorer paid employees and pensioners. 他意图把中产阶级到低薪雇员和退休人员的收入做重新分配。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am myself one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. 我自己就是一个我们的高贵的施主遗留基金的养老金领取者。 来自辞典例句

12 brandished   

v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀

参考例句：

• "Bang!Bang!"the small boy brandished a phoney pistol and shouted. “砰！砰！”那小男孩挥舞着一支假手枪，口中嚷嚷着。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Swords brandished and banners waved. 刀剑挥舞，旌旗飘扬。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

14 lamented   

adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• her late lamented husband 她那令人怀念的已故的丈夫
• We lamented over our bad luck. 我们为自己的不幸而悲伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 plundered   

掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Many of our cultural treasures have been plundered by imperialists. 我国许多珍贵文物被帝国主义掠走了。
• The imperialists plundered many valuable works of art. 帝国主义列强掠夺了许多珍贵的艺术品。

16 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。

17 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 manifesto   

n.宣言，声明

参考例句：

• I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
• His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。

19 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

20 lamentable   

adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的

参考例句：

• This lamentable state of affairs lasted until 1947.这一令人遗憾的事态一直持续至1947年。
• His practice of inebriation was lamentable.他的酗酒常闹得别人束手无策。

21 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

22 embolden   

v.给…壮胆，鼓励

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine,he went over to introduce himself to her.他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• The Prime Minister was steadily emboldened by the discovery that he faced no opposition.发现自己并未遭到反对，首相渐渐有了信心。

23 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。