英国新闻听力 民主是人类最伟大的成就之一

Coming back to these shores having spent some weeks in America, it’s been fascinating to compare the general election campaign here with the presidential campaign just launched there.

There are some striking differences. For instance, in America one of the first things presidential candidates have been boasting about is how much money they’ve raised. Somehow I can’t imagine candidates doing the same here, where we still feel, I think, that votes shouldn’t be something money can buy.

Then again much of the talk in America is about the various segments of the electorate¹. Can candidate X win the Hispanic vote, or the evangelical vote, or the African American vote, whereas here, it seems to me, we still think of voters as individuals, who have views independent of their ethnicity or religion or lack of it. And those are attitudes worth valuing and protecting.

But despite the differences I find myself thinking more and more about what a difficult achievement democracy is and how much history had to be worked through and how pain endured before Britain and America arrived at it.

Just a quarter of a century ago, as the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet³ Union imploded⁴ and the Cold War came to an end, people spoke⁵ as if democracy had won its final battle and would now spread throughout the world. Then almost immediately, we were faced with bloody⁶ ethnic² war in the former Yugoslavia.

Just four years ago, with the Arab Spring, again it seemed as if democracy was about to spread throughout the Middle East. And instead again there has been bloodshed and civil war.

There is nothing natural about democracy. It’s the legacy⁷ of two great ancient civilisations, Greece, that gave us the word ‘democracy’ itself, and the Judeo Christian⁸ heritage that said that we are all equally in the image and likeness⁹ of God and should therefore have an equal say in deciding our collective future.

Its first stirrings came in the seventeenth century after Europe had been ravaged¹⁰ by religious war. That was when Milton, Hobbes, Spinoza and Locke, turned to the Hebrew Bible and there found the idea of the wrongness of ruling over others against their will. Full democracy still took time, but that’s where it began.

So when people speak of an election campaign being boring, I say: three cheers for boredom¹¹ once you consider what the alternatives really are. Democracy is one of the great achievements of humankind and we should never take it for granted.

刚刚在美国呆了几周回来，将那里的总统选举与本国的大选运动相比是很有趣的事。

两者存着着很大的差异，比如，在美国，总统候选人会夸口的一件事是自己筹款多少，我无法想象本国的候选人这么做，而且我仍感觉选票不应该是可以用钱买来的。

美国谈论最多的是选民的各个不同的部分，某某候选人是否能赢得拉美裔选民的支持？或者福音派选民、非裔美国选民的支持？而在本国，在我看来，我们似乎仍在将选民当做个体来看待，他们的观点与他们是否有种族或宗教特点相独立，这种态度值得珍视和保护。

但尽管有差异，我发现自己越来越多地思考，民主是件多么艰难的成就，以及必须历经多少历史才能实现民主，以及英国和美国在实现民主之前要经历多少阵痛。

就在25年前，柏林墙倒塌，苏联崩溃，冷战结束，人们谈论的样子好像民主已经赢得了最终战役，将很快在全世界遍地开花。然后很快，我们面对的是前南斯拉夫血腥的种族战争。

就在4年前阿拉伯之春开始之时，情况看起来似乎民主又要传遍整个中东地区，但相反我们看到的是流血和内战。

民主并非自然形成的，它是两大古代文明的结晶，希腊给了我们“民主”一词，而犹太基督教遗产告诉我们，我们都是按照上帝的形象创造出来的，因此应该能平等地决定我们共同的未来。

民主第一次萌芽是在17世纪，当时欧洲刚刚遭遇过宗教战争。然后弥尔顿、霍布斯、斯宾诺沙和洛克开始求助于希伯来圣经，然后发现了违反他人意愿统治他人这一观点的错误性。完全的民主需要花费时间，但却是在那时开始萌芽的。

所以当人们认为选举活动很无聊时，我要说：一旦你考虑民主之外还有其他选择，那么就为这种无聊喝彩三声。民主是人类最伟大的成就之一，我们不应该视之为理所当然。

1 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。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 imploded   

v.（使）向心聚爆( implode的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The economies of Brazil and Russia imploded in 1998. 巴西与俄罗斯的经济在1998年宣告破裂。 来自互联网
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

7 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

10 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

11 boredom   

n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊

参考例句：

• Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
• A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。