2019年经济学人 圣诞节前英国的噩梦(2)

 

The Conservatives, too, have grown scarier since 2017. Mr Johnson has ditched the Brexit deal negotiated by Theresa May and struck a worse one, in effect lopping off Northern Ireland so that Britain can leave the European Union’s customs union. The public are so sick of the whole fiasco that his promise to “get Brexit done” wins votes. But he would do no such thing. After Britain had left the EU early next year, the hard work of negotiating a trade agreement would begin. Mr Johnson says he would do this by the end of 2020 or leave without one. No-deal is thus still on the table—and a real prospect¹, since getting a deal in less than a year looks hard. The best estimates suggest that leaving without a deal would make average incomes 8% lower than they would otherwise have been after ten years.

自2017年以来，保守党也变得更加吓人。约翰逊放弃了由特里萨?梅谈判达成的英国退欧协议，并签署了一份更糟糕的协议，实际上是砍掉了北爱尔兰，以便英国可以退出欧盟关税同盟。公众已经对整个惨败感到厌烦，以至于他“完成英国退欧”的承诺赢得了投票。但他做不到。英国明年年初退欧后，将开始艰难的贸易协定谈判。约翰逊表示，他将在2020年底前完成这一目标，否则他将辞职。由于在不到一年的时间内达成协议看起来很困难，因此没有达成协议的可能性仍然存在。最乐观的估计是，如果不达成协议就离开，十年后的平均收入将比不达成协议时低8%。

Brexit is not the only problem with Mr Johnson’s new-look Tories. He has purged² moderates and accelerated the shift from an economically and socially liberal party into an economically interventionist and culturally conservative one. Angling for working-class, Leave-voting seats in the north, he has proposed extra state aid, buy-British government procurement³ and a sketchy⁴ tax-and-spending plan that does not add up. Also, he has absorbed the fatal lesson of the Brexit campaign: that there is no penalty for lying or breaking the rules. He promised not to suspend Parliament, then did; he promised not to extend the Brexit talks, then did. This chicanery⁵ corrodes⁶ trust in democracy. Like Mr Corbyn he has normalised prejudice, by displaying his own and failing to investigate it in his party (both men are thought racist⁷ by 30% of voters). For all these reasons this newspaper cannot support the Conservatives.

英国退欧并不是约翰逊先生的新保守党的唯一问题。他清除了温和派，加速了从一个经济和社会自由主义政党向一个经济干涉主义和文化保守主义政党的转变。为了争取北方的工人阶级和有投票权的席位，他提出了额外的国家援助，购买英国政府的采购和一个粗略的税收和支出计划，但这些都是多余的。此外，他还吸取了英国退欧运动的致命教训：说谎或违反规则是没有惩罚的。他承诺不会暂停议会，然后他暂停了；他曾承诺不会延长英国退欧谈判，后来他延长了。这种欺骗行为侵蚀了人们对民主的信任。和科尔宾一样，他通过展示自己的观点，却没有在党内调查(30%的选民认为两人都是种族主义者)中，将偏见正常化。由于所有这些原因，本刊不能支持保守党。

1 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

2 purged   

清除（政敌等）( purge的过去式和过去分词 )； 涤除（罪恶等）； 净化（心灵、风气等）； 消除（错事等）的不良影响

参考例句：

• He purged his enemies from the Party. 他把他的敌人从党内清洗出去。
• The iron in the chemical compound must be purged. 化学混合物中的铁必须清除。

3 procurement   

n.采购；获得

参考例句：

• He is in charge of the procurement of materials.他负责物资的采购。
• More and more,human food procurement came to have a dominant effect on their evolution.人类获取食物愈来愈显著地影响到人类的进化。

4 sketchy   

adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的

参考例句：

• The material he supplied is too sketchy.他提供的材料过于简略。
• Details of what actually happened are still sketchy.对于已发生事实的详细情况知道的仍然有限。

5 chicanery   

n.欺诈，欺骗

参考例句：

• We will continue to see such chicanery in the future.在往后的日子我们仍将看到这样的骗局持续上演。
• Why do you give me so much chicanery as a explanation?你为什么给我那么多狡辩的解释？

6 corrodes   

v.使腐蚀，侵蚀( corrode的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Corruption corrodes public confidence in a political system. 腐败可削弱公众对政治制度的信心。
• Iron corrodes unless it is greased or kept clean. 如果不涂油或保持清洁铁便会腐蚀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。