万花筒 2008-07-27&-07-28 奥巴马访伦敦

After the adoring crowds in Berlin and the high-profile treatment from President Sarkozy in Paris, Senator Obama's British leg of his tour was comparatively low-key. It was a tale of three prime ministers, one past, one present and perhaps one to come. He took breakfast with Tony Blair, the former Downing Street prime minister, who is these days a Middle East peace envoy¹.

 

Then on to No.10 itself for the talks with Gordon Brown, a man who's taken a battering² in the opinion polls and whose Labor³ Party is at the worst level it has ever been. That didn't stop them discussing Afghanistan, Iraq, how to reform the world's financial institutions, the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations and to cope better with current crises. And they also, of course, discussed climate change, at one stage strolling in the No.10 garden and out on Horse Guards Parade. How much good all this has done Senator Obama at home? Well, he seemed a little bit downbeat about those prospects⁴.

 

"You know, I'm not sure that there's gonna be some immediate⁵ political impact, you know, I won't even be surprised if that in some polls that you saw a little bit of a dip as a consequence. We've been out of the country for a week. People are worried about gas prices; they are worried about home foreclosures, so the reason that I thought this trip was important was, I am convinced that many of the issues that we face at home, are not gonna be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad."

 

On his one public engagement in Britain emerging from the door of No.10 Downing Street to face the media, Barack Obama defended himself against criticisms of his trip from Senator John McCain. He said it was important for presidential candidates to travel abroad and build bridges with potential allies. But the real question about this high-profile trip round eight nations is gonna be what it actually does with those voters back home when they have very different concerns to the highfalutin questions of international finance and politics.

 

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 battering   

n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The film took a battering from critics in the US. 该影片在美国遭遇到批评家的猛烈抨击。
• He kept battering away at the door. 他接连不断地砸门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。