美国国家公共电台 NPR U.K.'s Theresa May Resigns Acknowledging Failure To Deliver Brexit

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's resignation was long in coming.

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PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY: It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit.

CORNISH: Frank Langfitt, NPR's London correspondent, looks back on her fraught¹ tenure².

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE³: Theresa May thought she was the right person at the right moment. It was the summer of 2016. British voters had stunned⁴ the world and voted to take the U.K. out of the European Union. Then-Prime Minister David Cameron, who had called the vote for political reasons, never thinking it would actually pass, resigned.

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DAVID CAMERON: I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months, but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers⁶ our country to its next destination.

LANGFITT: Boris Johnson, the former London mayor, emerged as the frontrunner to replace Cameron. But Johnson's own campaign manager publicly torpedoed⁷ his efforts, leaving May the only viable⁸ candidate left standing⁹. Many believe running for prime minister was May's first big mistake.

NICHOLAS ALLEN: It was entirely¹⁰ a poisoned chalice¹¹. I mean, she was set up to fail. It would have been - the odds¹² were always stacked against her.

LANGFITT: Nicholas Allen teaches politics at Royal Holloway, University of London.

ALLEN: No prime minister, certainly since 1945, has faced such a large set of challenges with, simultaneously¹³, such a hugely divided, unleadable party.

LANGFITT: May had to negotiate a divorce agreement with the EU after more than four decades of integration¹⁴ and try to steer⁵ it through a Parliament and a Conservative Party that was deeply split between lawmakers who had voted to stay in the European Union and some hardcore Brexiteers who wanted a clean break despite the economic damage it could cause the country. Early on, May tried to strike a confident tone.

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MAY: We have the challenge of Brexit - and Brexit does mean Brexit - and we're going to make a success of it.

LANGFITT: But the next year, she made an error from which she never recovered. Determined¹⁵ to increase her majority in Parliament to push through a Brexit deal, she called a snap election.

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MAY: The choice at the election is clear - strong and stable leadership with me in the national interest, or a hung Parliament and coalition¹⁶ of chaos¹⁷ under Jeremy Corbyn.

LANGFITT: Nicholas Allen remembers.

ALLEN: The Conservatives looked set for a crushing majority that would have left Labour, the opposition¹⁸ party, virtually nowhere.

LANGFITT: But Corbyn proved formidable, and May was a dreadful campaigner, repeating talking points that won her the nickname the Maybot and inspired remixes like this.

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LANGFITT: May lost her majority leading the hung Parliament she'd warned of. Afterward¹⁹, the prime minister sometimes seemed hapless. At the Conservative Party conference that fall, she suffered a coughing fit that went on and on.

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MAY: Our economy is back on track. Let this party celebrate the wealth-creators, the risk-takers.

LANGFITT: As she struggled, letters from the party's slogan fell off the wall behind her. The Conservative's message was literally²⁰ and figuratively falling apart. At the party conference the following year, May joked about the debacle.

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MAY: I've been up all night super-gluing the backdrop.

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LANGFITT: In negotiations²¹ last year, the European Union pressed May to accept the U.K. remaining in a temporary customs arrangement with the EU to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. Many in Parliament saw it as a threat to British sovereignty, and the House of Commons dealt May a historic defeat.

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JOHN BERCOW: Order. The ayes to the right - 202. The noes to the left - 432.

LANGFITT: May brought the agreement back twice more, only to see it fail in what began to feel like the political equivalent of the Bill Murray comedy, "Groundhog Day." Britons began to refer to the country's political situation as an omnishambles. During yesterday's European Parliamentary elections, voters expressed a mix of sympathy and exasperation²² with the prime minister. Warwick Bird (ph), a former financier, put it like this.

WARWICK BIRD: I feel sorry for her in one way. But if I'd have been doing it, I would've thought, I can't carry on doing this anymore. You know, I'm just beating my head against a brick wall.

LANGFITT: May concluded a resignation speech this morning by showing a vulnerable side she'd all but hidden from British voters.

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MAY: I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honor of my life to hold - the second female prime minister, but certainly, not the last. I do so with no ill will but with enormous and enduring gratitude²³ to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love.

LANGFITT: Tears in her eyes, the prime minister then turned and retreated behind the door of No. 10 Downing Street. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, London.

1 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

2 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

3 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。

4 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

5 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

6 steers   

n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• This car steers easily. 这部车子易于驾驶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fodder fleshed the steers up. 优质饲料使菜牛长肉。 来自辞典例句

7 torpedoed   

用鱼雷袭击（torpedo的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her comments had torpedoed the deal. 她的一番话使得那笔交易彻底告吹。
• The battle ship was torpedoed. 该战列舰遭到了鱼雷的袭击。

8 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

9 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。

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 chalice   

n.圣餐杯；金杯毒酒

参考例句：

• He inherited a poisoned chalice when he took over the job as union leader.他接手工会领导职务，看似风光，实则会给他带来很多麻烦。
• She was essentially feminine,in other words,a parasite and a chalice.她在本质上是个女人，换句话说，是一个食客和一只酒杯。

12 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

13 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

14 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

15 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

16 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

17 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

18 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。

19 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

20 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。

21 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

22 exasperation   

n.愤慨

参考例句：

• He snorted with exasperation.他愤怒地哼了一声。
• She rolled her eyes in sheer exasperation.她气急败坏地转动着眼珠。

23 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。