PBS高端访谈:为什么英国的选举会影响到美国?

 　　DAN BALZ, The Washington Post: Well, it's likely to be some strange bedfellows. And it's also likely to take a long time.

　　Five years ago, it took five days to form a new government. And this time, it could take — it could take a matter of weeks, because the uncertainty¹ is whether to the Conservatives, who are expected to win more seats — they will fall short of majority — may have a greater problem putting together enough for a majority government.

　　And that might leave it in the hands of the Labor² Party, which is expected to run second, but may have more potential allies to form the government.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, what were some of the factors leading some of these smaller parties to gain in popularity and take away the mandate³ that either of the two major parties would have had traditionally?

　　DAN BALZ: Well, there's a couple of things.

　　The biggest single factor is the earthquake that's happened in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party, which just last year lost the referendum battle to declare independence from the United Kingdom, has been rejuvenated⁴ in this campaign. And they're now in a position to win almost every seat in Scotland tomorrow.

　　Scotland has been a stronghold of the Labor Party. And so that's the biggest single piece. But there are others as well. One is that the Liberal Democrats⁵, which used to be the dominant⁶ third party in this country, have seen their support erode⁷ as they have been part of the coalition⁸ government with the Conservatives.

　　And then you have the rise of the UKIP, the U.K. Independence Party, which is an anti-immigration, anti-Europe party, which is polling quite strongly. It will end up with very few seats, but it has drained off popular support from the Conservatives in some areas and from Labor in some other areas. And some of the support on the left that Labor might have counted on in the past has gone to the Green Party.

　　And so you have a real fracturing of a system that over a century or more basically produced stable single-party governments and a strong, stable two-party system, and that has all broken apart in the last few years.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, from an American viewpoint, are there likely to be any changes in policy or our alliance, regardless of who's in power, and the deals that they have to make to form a coalition?

　　DAN BALZ: Well, I think that there is worry on your side of the Atlantic over a couple of things.

　　If this is a Conservative-led government, David Cameron, who's the prime minister, has pledged that he will put forward a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union. That will create a considerable amount of disruption. There is worry back in the United States about what that means, both in terms of the kind of inward-looking Britain that we will see as they debate their own future, as opposed to being somewhat more robust⁹ in the world, and what kind of standing¹⁰ they will have in Europe whether that passes or not.

　　I think the concern on the other side is that, if there is a Labor-led government, that Great Britain would be less robust of an ally in terms of projecting power with the United States in places around the world, which they have certainly been over many years, although there has been, as you know, a backlash against what happened during the Blair government and during the Iraq War.

　　So there's concern about the direction of the United Kingdom and Great Britain, no matter which way it comes out. There's a feeling that this is a country that has got more to think about in terms of its own future, where is its place in Europe, is it going to be a United Kingdom, or is it going to break up in the future, with Scotland perhaps leaving? There's a lot of issues of nationalism that have come to the fore¹¹ in this election.

　　So, Britain is now looking inward at itself much more than it has in the past.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And so what are some of the implications on a global or foreign policy front of how the U.K. chooses to behave in light of what happens?

　　DAN BALZ: Well, I think one element will be the degree to which they are prepared to commit military forces in the fight, say, against ISIS or other things like that. Ed Miliband has pledged to continue to keep the fight against ISIS.

　　But he was very much against taking action in Syria, and used that — used his opposition¹² to the president of the United States as an example of how tough he is prepared to be as prime minister. There have been questions about, is he strong enough to stand up to Putin?

　　And in one of the interviews that he did earlier this — in the campaign, he said, well, I'm plenty tough. I stood up to the president of the United States on Syria.

　　So I think there has to be concern about that.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Dan Balz, chief correspondent for The Washington Post, joining us from London, thanks so much.

　　DAN BALZ: Thank you, Hari.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: And we have an online guide to Thursday's election in the U.K. That's on our home page, PBS.org/NewsHour.

1 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 rejuvenated   

更生的

参考例句：

• He was rejuvenated by new hope. 新的希望又使他充满了活力。
• She looked rejuvenated after plastic surgery. 她做完整形手术后显得年轻了。

5 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》

6 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

7 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

8 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。

9 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

10 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。

11 fore   

adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部

参考例句：

• Your seat is in the fore part of the aircraft.你的座位在飞机的前部。
• I have the gift of fore knowledge.我能够未卜先知。

12 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。