PBS高端访谈:全世界都在等待英国是否退出欧盟的决定

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Should they stay or should they go? That's the question facing British voters today as they decide their place in Europe.

　　Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant has the story from London.

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: The signs went up and doors to polling stations across Britain opened for an historic day of voting. It's been a bitter campaign to decide whether Britain remains¹ within or exits the 28-member European Union.

　　Given the momentous² nature of the vote, Britons were on edge.

　　CLAYTON THOMAS, Bar Manager: I don't really know what to expect. And I think if a result comes in kind of early in the morning, everyone might be asleep still, and might wake up to a kind of different future or might wake up to just another day.

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: The most recent polls show the outcome is too close to call, but bookies are putting the odds³ on a remain outcome.

　　The referendum opened a chasm⁴ across Britain, stirring nationalist sentiments along the way.

　　MAN: Tell them to stop intimidation⁵.

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: And the murder last week of pro-Europe British lawmaker Jo Cox could also influence the outcome.

　　Here at a market in Ipswich, the divide is clear.

　　Produce vendor⁶ Ian Buxton voted to leave, in the hope of reducing immigration.

　　IAN BUXTON, Market Vendor: You see all the migrants. What they say, there's thousands of people waiting to come in. I think we will be strong enough on our own.

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: At a nearby stall, his former schoolmate Steve Singh warned that break would the economy.

　　STEVE SINGH, Market Vendor: Business-wise, it's easier then to obviously interchange with free Europe and on shipping⁷, so, you know, my vote is to stay in.

　　全世界都在等待英国是否退出欧盟的决定

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: Party leaders went to the polls to cast their votes, but refrained from campaigning outright⁸.

　　And another major factor that's perhaps going to play into this referendum result has been the weather. More than a month's worth of rain has been dumped on London and the Southeast over the past day causing absolute chaos⁹.

　　Ben Page is the chief executive office of Ipsos MORI, a major polling firm.

　　BEN PAGE, Chief Executive, Ipsos MORI: It's difficult to see a very, absolutely certain pattern, but it is true that Brexit voters are much more determined¹⁰ than remain voters.

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: The British pound surged today to its highest level this year because of market speculation¹¹ that the country will ultimately vote to stay.

　　The polls closed just over an hour-and-a-half ago. Voting — counting is under way. We're in for a very long night. The final results should be in around about breakfast time tomorrow — Hari.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Malcolm, so now that the polls have closed, what are you hearing? What's the latest?

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: Well, normally, in these sort of events, you have exit polls, but the broadcasters this time decided¹² that they wouldn't have one, because there was no real model for them.

　　But we have heard that the United Kingdom Independence Party has had its own poll of about 10,000 people. And shortly around the time the polls closed, their leader, Nigel Farage, said he thought that the remain people had edged it, which seems to be very much like a concession¹³.

　　He says, though, that the U.K. was a force to be reckoned with and the this independence move wouldn't be going away. Then, to actually consolidate¹⁴ what seems to be this concession, there was also a poll that had been carried out during the course of the day by an Internet polling company called YouGov, and they have been looking at around about 5,000 voters, tracking them during the course of this referendum.

　　And according to their on-the-day polling, their outcome is that it's 52 percent for remain and 48 percent for those people who want to leave. So, the indications are pretty clear.

　　Of course, you know, there are maybe sort of as many as 30 million or 35 million votes to be counted during the course of the night, and that could change. But these are pretty good indications. And so, certainly, in the remain camp at the moment, people are looking pretty confident.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: How — when you talked to the people in the last couple days as you were reporting this story out, the undecided, are they aware of the consequences? They were undecided voters even up to the polls today.

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: Yes, I think the undecided voters really have been absolutely critical in this.

　　And up until today, the opinion polls, which can't necessarily be trusted, are saying that it might be — might have been as many as about 11 percent of the electorate¹⁵ who were undecided.

　　And last night, there was a very interesting debate on one of the British TV channels which had 100 people who were undecided, and it tracked their emotions during the course of the debate as various issues came up. And at the end of that debate, what happened was that most of those people who were undecided did vote to remain.

　　And what probably happened is that I think there are lots of people in Britain who have just been really bewildered by the arguments. They're not able to make up their minds at all. And it's a pretty momentous decision to have to go into that voting booth and to make up your mind, because the decision that was — is made today is completely irrevocable.

　　To leave the European Union, there will be no sort of coming back. And, for many people, this has been a campaign of loathing¹⁶ and fear, loathing on the part of many of the really vehement¹⁷ Brexiters, who hate many of the things that the European Union stands for, especially the unelected and unaccountable representatives, who they believe are dictating¹⁸ to Britain and taking away its sovereignty.

　　And the fear element has been amongst those people who are worried in particular about the economy. And it is perhaps the economy which has actually driven the — those people in the remain camp perhaps, because the easiest thing to do is to vote for the status quo.

　　People have been very worried about losing their jobs. They have been worried by predictions by fairly major individuals in industry, people like Sir Richard Branson, who say it would be a complete mistake to come out of the European Union.

　　So, not knowing what's going to be on the other side of this, that's why perhaps those people who have been undecided have gone into the voting booth and they have decided to opt¹⁹ for the status quo.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, special correspondent Malcolm Brabant joining us from London, thanks so much.

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 momentous   

adj.重要的，重大的

参考例句：

• I am deeply honoured to be invited to this momentous occasion.能应邀出席如此重要的场合，我深感荣幸。
• The momentous news was that war had begun.重大的新闻是战争已经开始。

3 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？

4 chasm   

n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突

参考例句：

• There's a chasm between rich and poor in that society.那社会中存在着贫富差距。
• A huge chasm gaped before them.他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。

5 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

6 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

7 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

8 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

9 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。

10 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。

11 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

12 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。

13 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

14 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

15 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。

16 loathing   

n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢

参考例句：

• She looked at her attacker with fear and loathing . 她盯着襲擊她的歹徒，既害怕又憎恨。
• They looked upon the creature with a loathing undisguised. 他们流露出明显的厌恶看那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 vehement   

adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的

参考例句：

• She made a vehement attack on the government's policies.她强烈谴责政府的政策。
• His proposal met with vehement opposition.他的倡导遭到了激烈的反对。

18 dictating   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• The manager was dictating a letter to the secretary. 经理在向秘书口授信稿。 来自辞典例句
• Her face is impassive as she listens to Miller dictating the warrant for her arrest. 她毫无表情地在听米勒口述拘留她的证书。 来自辞典例句

19 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？