美国国家公共电台 NPR 过渡期最后期限逼后 英国脱欧谈判僵局难破（在线收听）

On New Year's Eve, the United Kingdom will complete its divorce from the European Union. As for what replaces that crucial trading relationship? Well, who knows? Talks on a new free trade deal are going down to the wire, with new tariffs and customs threatening to disrupt ports in the new year. For more, we turn now to NPR's London correspondent, Frank Langfitt.

新年前夕，英国将完成脱欧。那是什么取代了这一至关重要的贸易关系？谁知道呢。新自由贸易协定的谈判即将面临最后期限，新关税和海关制度可能在新的一年扰乱港口。下面我们来连线NPR新闻驻伦敦记者弗兰克·朗菲特，请他进行详细报道。

Hey, Frank.

你好，弗兰克。

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.

弗兰克·朗菲特连线：你好，艾尔萨。

CHANG: Hi. So where exactly do things stand right now in these negotiations?

张：你好。目前这些谈判情况如何？

LANGFITT: Yeah. They're continuing to argue over European access to U.K. fishing grounds and how to ensure that businesses here in the United Kingdom don't get an advantage over their European competitors. But I've got to say, even if there's an agreement, it's not clear that European leaders will really have time to ratify it before New Year's anyway. And if there is not a deal at all, we're expecting sizeable — big truck backups, delays at the ports.

朗菲特：好。他们仍在一些问题上争论不休，比如欧盟“共享”英国渔场以及如何确保英国企业不比欧洲竞争对手更有优势。但我要指出的是，即使达成协议，现在也不清楚欧洲领导人是否真的有时间在新年前批准该协议。如果没有达成协议，我们预计会出现严重的卡车拥堵和港口延误。

And this would be coming, of course, in the midst of a pandemic — economics not good here, certainly, in the United Kingdom or in Europe. And, you know, for instance, in London this evening after midnight, pubs and restaurants are going to close to customers because the COVID rates are so high.

当然，这发生在新冠肺炎疫情期间，英国或欧洲的经济状况都不好。而且，伦敦从今晚午夜开始将关闭酒吧和餐厅，原因是新冠肺炎感染率过高。

CHANG: Wow. So why has it been so hard for them to come up with an agreement?

张：哇。为何他们难以达成协议？

LANGFITT: Because this is about a lot more than fish, frankly. This is about values and sort of direction of these countries. The EU's a club, and countries there are willing to give up some power and control to gain access to that enormous market. Well, the U.K. now, after decades, wants to be outside that club, but it still wants as much access as it can and as much freedom to make its own regulations. So there's this big tension between sort of the strength of the collective — Europe — and freedom — a self-determination of a country. And that's where the U.K. fits in.

朗菲特：坦白说，因为这不仅涉及渔业。而是有关这些国家的价值观和方向。欧盟相当于俱乐部，各成员国愿意放弃一些权力和控制权来进入这个巨大的市场。而在加入几十年后，英国想退出，但仍需要尽可能多的准入，以及尽可能多的自由来制定自己的规章制度。因此，欧洲集体力量和自由的国家自决权之间存在严重矛盾。这就是英国所处的位置。

CHANG: Well, I mean, Brexit has been in the works for — what? — more than four years now?

张：英国脱欧已经进行了四年多的时间，对吧？

LANGFITT: Yeah.

朗菲特：没错。

CHANG: Do you feel like the British government and U.K. businesses are actually ready for the changes come New Year's Eve?

张：你认为英国政府和企业有准备好迎接新年前夕的变化吗？

LANGFITT: No. No. I mean, this is kind of another amazing part of the story — they're not. Many businesses are still not sure how they're going to handle customs. And there's just two weeks to go. I was listening to this panel at a think tank here in London called the Institute for Government. Sally Jones — she handles Brexit preparations for EY — that's Ernst & Young, the professional services network — and this is what she said on Friday.

朗菲特：没有。他们还没有做好准备，这是另一件令人惊奇的事情。许多企业仍然不确定要如何处理海关问题。现在离脱欧最后期限只剩两周时间。我在伦敦智库“政府研究所”采访了一个专家组。萨莉·琼斯负责专业服务网络公司安永的脱欧准备工作，以下是她周五所说。

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SALLY JONES: I'm so angry about the fact that everything is so last minute. The fact that we've got a situation where U.K. traders will not be able to first access the customs declaration systems until the 23 of December is crazy.

莎莉·琼斯：我很生气，因为所有问题都推到了最后一刻。我们的情况是，英国商人直到12月23日才获准首次进入海关申报系统，这真是太疯狂了。

CHANG: I mean, it kind of does sound crazy. Why does it feel so last minute? Why aren't businesses better prepared?

张：听起来有点疯狂。为何拖到了最后一刻？为何企业没有充分准备？

LANGFITT: I think many critics would say Boris Johnson. Basically, the government hasn't helped them and given them the info they need. This is a government that most people would say focuses on politics and, frankly, not basic competence. And I mean, look at the pandemic here in the United Kingdom — have the highest death toll in Europe. Now, Boris Johnson claims that even if the U.K. fails to get a free trade deal and gets hits with tariffs, things are going to be OK. This is what he said a few days ago.

朗菲特：我想很多批评人士会归咎于鲍里斯·约翰逊。基本上来说，政府没有帮助他们，也没有提供他们需要的信息。大多数人会说，这届政府更注重政治的，而不关注基本能力。看看英国的新冠肺炎疫情，该国死亡人数是欧洲居欧洲首位。现在，鲍里斯·约翰逊称，即使英国没有获得自由贸易协议，又遭遇关税冲击，一切也都会好起来的。以下是他几天前所说。

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PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON: It's looking, you know, very, very likely that we'll have to go for a solution that I think will be, you know, wonderful for the U.K. We'd be able to do exactly what we want from January the 1. Obviously, it would be different from what we set out to achieve, but I've no doubt this country can get ready.

英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊：很有可能的是，我们将不得不寻求解决办法，我认为这对英国来说很好。我们可以在1月做我们想做的事情。显然，这将不同于我们设定的目标，但我肯定英国能够做好准备。

CHANG: Wait. What is he saying there? That it would be wonderful for the U.K. even if they don't land a free trade deal with Europe?

张：等等。他在说什么？即使他们未与欧洲达成自由贸易协议，对英国来说也很好吗？

LANGFITT: Yeah. I don't know an economist who believes that. I've been covering this, obviously, for a number of years, and economists say that walking away empty-handed would be anything but wonderful. The estimated cost I've seen would be more than eight percentage points of lost GDP growth over the next decade. So for a lot of people here, nothing wonderful about that.

朗菲特：对。我认识的经济学家没有一个人相信这种说法。多年来我一直在报道这件事，经济学家认为空手离开绝对不是什么好事。据我所知，预估损失将是未来10年GDP损失的8个百分点以上。因此对很多人来说，这可不是好事。

CHANG: Right. That is NPR's London correspondent Frank Langfitt.

张：好。以上是NPR新闻驻伦敦记者弗兰克·朗菲特带来的报道。

Thank you, Frank.

谢谢你，弗兰克。

LANGFITT: Great to talk, Ailsa.

朗菲特：很高兴和你连线，艾尔萨。