英國政治
2023復習正是強化復習階段,在考研英語中占了40分,所以考研英語閱讀是英語科目中重要的一項。名師老師曾建議過考研生需要堅持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強烈推薦了雜志《經濟學人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語的主要材料來源.希望考研考生認真閱讀,快速提高考研英語閱讀水平。 British politics 英國政治 She came, she saw, she conquered 她來過,領略過,征服過 A great biography of an extraordinary life 一本記錄撒切爾夫人傳奇人生的傳記 Margaret ThatcherThe Authorised Biography,Volume I: From Grantham to the Falklands. ByCharles Moore. 《瑪格麗特撒切爾授權傳記,卷一:從格蘭瑟姆市到福克蘭群島》作者:查爾斯摩爾 IT HELPS to be lucky if you are a politician and Margaret Thatcher was luckier than most:lucky that she came to power when the old order was crumbling and lucky that heropponents were so feeble. Now she is proving to be lucky in death. First came a semi-statefuneral that had the British establishment on bended knee and the British public out on thestreets; now comes the first volume of an authorised biography that may well turn out to beone of the great lives of modern times. 政客運氣總是比常人要好。瑪格麗特撒切爾比大多數的政客運氣都還要好:在她上臺之際,舊秩序正值崩潰,而她的對手也不堪一擊。現在,她連死亡都是幸運的。首先是一個準國葬,葬禮上英國政要皆屈膝以示敬意,而英國民眾紛紛在沿街表達他們的悼念之情。現在則是她授權的傳記第一卷的出版發行,這部傳記很有可能成為現代最偉大的著作之一。 This first volume takes the story from Mrs Thatcher s childhood above a grocer s shop inGrantham to victory in the Falklands war in 1982. A second volume, Herself Alone, will tellthe rest of the story. Charles Moore, a veteran journalist and former editor of the weeklySpectator magazine and the Daily Telegraph, is proving the ideal biographer. He has spent16 years reading Mrs Thatcher s private papers, to which he had unique access, andinterviewing everyone who mattered. But he also possesses the literary panache to bring thedullest sources to life. He is close to his subject both ideologically and personally. But he alsoacknowledges that she could be impossible, and often was: hectoring, bullying andinterfering. 在傳記中,第一卷講述了撒切爾夫人從格蘭瑟姆市一個零售商女兒成長為贏得1982年馬島戰爭的鐵娘子的故事。第二卷《她自己》將講述之后的故事。作為周刊《旁觀者》和《每日電訊報》的資深記者兼前任編輯,查爾斯摩爾就是一個完美的傳記作者。充分利用自己查閱撒切爾夫人私人文件的特權,摩爾花費了16年的時間來研究這些文件,并采訪每一個相關人員。但他也擁有卓越的文學才華,能夠將最枯燥的材料寫得栩栩如生。無論在思想上,還是私人交情上,摩爾都與撒切爾夫人十分親近。但他也承認,她有時候的確很難應付,并且她通常喜歡頤指氣使、恃強凌弱、事事干涉。 The first 200-odd pages are hard-going. As a person rather than a politician she is of limitedinterest. She had no intellectual hinterland and was quite content to repeat the clichs of thestockbroker belt. If she had a sense of humour, nobody has ever found it. Mrs Thatcher searly careerfrom the scholarship to Oxford, an early love affair, a job as an industrialchemist and her first forays into Conservative politicsis hardly the stuff of high drama. MrMoore does a good job of evoking the atmosphere of post-war Britain. He reveals that DenisThatcher, whom she married in 1951, once repaired to South Africa for two months andcontemplated divorcing her. Still, few readers will wish this section were longer. 最開始200多頁的內容讀起來索然無味。褪去政治家身份的撒切爾,與常人并無異處。她沒有任何科研成果,并且滿足于重復富人區的陳詞濫調。她沒有幽默感。她的早年生涯拿到牛津大學獎學金,年輕時的愛戀,工業化學家的工作,第一次闖進了保守黨陣營都不是多少精彩的故事。在講述這段時間內的事情過程中,摩爾很好地營造了一種二戰后英國的氛圍。他大爆料, 1951年娶了她的丹尼斯撒切爾,曾經在南非呆過兩個月,考慮著是否要與她離婚。盡管如此,很少有讀者想繼續探究下去。 Things really take off with Mrs Thatcher s election as Conservative Party leader in 1975. MrMoore brilliantly reconstructs the drama of those years. He reminds the reader of how bigthe stakes were in everything from industrial relations to the Falklands war. Mrs Thatcher wasin an extraordinary position: the oldest, grandest, in many people s eyes the stuffiestpolitical party in the world had chosen a leader whose combination of class, inexperienceand sex would previously have ruled her out. But Mr Moore avoids the luxury of hindsight.Political events tumble over each other. Politicians grope about in the dark. Patterns emergeslowly. 1975年,撒切爾夫人被選為保守黨領袖,從這開始故事才變得有意思起來。摩爾十分精彩地重現了這段流光歲月。他向讀者展示了,從工業革命到馬島戰爭,所有事情都充滿著巨大風險。與其他首相相比,撒切爾夫人的處境不同尋常:世界上歷史最悠久的、規模最龐大的、在許多人眼里最死板僵化的政黨,選擇了一位這樣的領導人:在此之前她會因為來自底層階級、缺乏經驗、身為女性,而被直接排除在外。不過摩爾避免了大篇幅的后知后覺。畢竟,政治問題之間總會有沖突,政客們也是摸著石頭過河,政治模式的出現總需要時間。 Margaret Thatcher grows with the turning of the pages. She summons up extraordinarypersonal resources not just to break with the old order but to put a new one in its place. Noneof this was easy. The entire Thatcherite project was frequently in danger of faltering, asunemployment soared, cities burned and the ditherers conspired. The situation became sodire in 1981 that Mrs Thatcher s advisers sent her a memo castigating her management styleand warning that she would soon be joining Edward Heath on the backbenches. 隨著時間的推移,瑪格麗特撒切爾也在變得更加老練成熟。她以常人少有的勇氣與舊秩序決裂,同時打造新秩序。這兩件事都不容易。所有這些撒切爾主義項目經常面臨各種垮臺的危險,因為失業率急速增長,各大城市情況堪憂,反對者紛紛密謀反叛。情況發展到1981年已經十分危急,連撒切爾夫人的顧問也都向她寄去一份簡報,激烈指責她的管理方式,并警告說她可能很快就加入愛德華希思成為后座議員了。 How did she manage all this Mr Moore shows that it took more than ideological certainty andpersonal stubbornness. Mrs Thatcher had a gift for seeing when the time was ripe and when itwas not. She had a natural bond with what Richard Nixon called the silent majority. She hadan actor s gift for putting on a good show. Mrs Thatcher s opponents repeatedly played intoher hands: Heath, the titular leader of the Tory ditherers, known as the wets, was arepulsive figure who grew more repulsive with age and Michael Foot, the Labour leader,had an unfortunate habit of dressing like a scarecrow. 然而她是怎樣應對這些的呢?摩爾將其描述為遠非堅定的意志和倔強的個性就足夠。撒切爾夫人有著判斷時機的良好稟賦。她與理查德尼克松所說的沉默的大多數之間有著天然紐帶。她就像是一個天生的演員,與生俱來就擅長上演一出精彩的戲。撒切爾夫人的對手總會正中她的下懷:名義上保守黨反對派的領袖希思,是著名的溫和派,他的為人令人厭惡,而且越老越惹人煩,還有工黨領袖邁克爾福特,他喜歡把自己打扮得像個稻草人一樣,有這個習慣實在是不幸啊。 The book ends on a high note. Britain s victory in the Falklands war consolidated MrsThatcher s hold over the Tory Party. The economy began to recover. And the Labour Partyrendered itself unelectable. At the same time the seeds of her self- destruction werealready apparent. It is not often that you can say of a 900-page book that it leaves youwanting to read more. But in this case it is true. 該書在高潮部分收了尾。英國在馬島戰爭中的勝利有效地鞏固了撒切爾夫人對保守黨的控制。經濟也開始復蘇。工黨的糟糕表現也致使它們自身無法贏得選舉勝利。不過,與此同時,撒切爾夫人也開始走下坡路了。人們很少會說,讀完一本900頁的書還覺得意猶未盡,但是這本傳記就做到了。 詞語解釋 1.turn out to be 結果是,原來是,證明是 None of those assertions turn out to be accurate. 這些斷言沒有哪一個證明是準確的。 But this may turn out to be wishful thinking. 這也可能是一廂情愿的想法。 2.possess to 具備 She has that intangible quality that a player must possess to be a champion. 她具有冠煙運動員所必備的那種無法形容的素質。 What discontent do you possess to wu jihe? 烏紀荷你有什么不滿嗎? 3.content to 滿足 We re content to achieve what others expect rather than what we re truly capable of doing. 我們總是滿足于達到別人的期望,而不是達到我們真正能力所及的水準。 Instead, most private-equity firms have been content to buy minority stakes in chinesecompanies. 于是,大多數私募股權投資公司都滿足于購買中國公司的少數股權。 4.take off 脫掉;起飛 When games become popular, they tend to take off very quickly, says blau. 游戲流行時,它們往往會很快起飛,布勞說。 It also makes for a more comfortable take off. 這也讓乘客在起飛時更感舒適。
2023復習正是強化復習階段,在考研英語中占了40分,所以考研英語閱讀是英語科目中重要的一項。名師老師曾建議過考研生需要堅持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強烈推薦了雜志《經濟學人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語的主要材料來源.希望考研考生認真閱讀,快速提高考研英語閱讀水平。 British politics 英國政治 She came, she saw, she conquered 她來過,領略過,征服過 A great biography of an extraordinary life 一本記錄撒切爾夫人傳奇人生的傳記 Margaret ThatcherThe Authorised Biography,Volume I: From Grantham to the Falklands. ByCharles Moore. 《瑪格麗特撒切爾授權傳記,卷一:從格蘭瑟姆市到福克蘭群島》作者:查爾斯摩爾 IT HELPS to be lucky if you are a politician and Margaret Thatcher was luckier than most:lucky that she came to power when the old order was crumbling and lucky that heropponents were so feeble. Now she is proving to be lucky in death. First came a semi-statefuneral that had the British establishment on bended knee and the British public out on thestreets; now comes the first volume of an authorised biography that may well turn out to beone of the great lives of modern times. 政客運氣總是比常人要好。瑪格麗特撒切爾比大多數的政客運氣都還要好:在她上臺之際,舊秩序正值崩潰,而她的對手也不堪一擊。現在,她連死亡都是幸運的。首先是一個準國葬,葬禮上英國政要皆屈膝以示敬意,而英國民眾紛紛在沿街表達他們的悼念之情。現在則是她授權的傳記第一卷的出版發行,這部傳記很有可能成為現代最偉大的著作之一。 This first volume takes the story from Mrs Thatcher s childhood above a grocer s shop inGrantham to victory in the Falklands war in 1982. A second volume, Herself Alone, will tellthe rest of the story. Charles Moore, a veteran journalist and former editor of the weeklySpectator magazine and the Daily Telegraph, is proving the ideal biographer. He has spent16 years reading Mrs Thatcher s private papers, to which he had unique access, andinterviewing everyone who mattered. But he also possesses the literary panache to bring thedullest sources to life. He is close to his subject both ideologically and personally. But he alsoacknowledges that she could be impossible, and often was: hectoring, bullying andinterfering. 在傳記中,第一卷講述了撒切爾夫人從格蘭瑟姆市一個零售商女兒成長為贏得1982年馬島戰爭的鐵娘子的故事。第二卷《她自己》將講述之后的故事。作為周刊《旁觀者》和《每日電訊報》的資深記者兼前任編輯,查爾斯摩爾就是一個完美的傳記作者。充分利用自己查閱撒切爾夫人私人文件的特權,摩爾花費了16年的時間來研究這些文件,并采訪每一個相關人員。但他也擁有卓越的文學才華,能夠將最枯燥的材料寫得栩栩如生。無論在思想上,還是私人交情上,摩爾都與撒切爾夫人十分親近。但他也承認,她有時候的確很難應付,并且她通常喜歡頤指氣使、恃強凌弱、事事干涉。 The first 200-odd pages are hard-going. As a person rather than a politician she is of limitedinterest. She had no intellectual hinterland and was quite content to repeat the clichs of thestockbroker belt. If she had a sense of humour, nobody has ever found it. Mrs Thatcher searly careerfrom the scholarship to Oxford, an early love affair, a job as an industrialchemist and her first forays into Conservative politicsis hardly the stuff of high drama. MrMoore does a good job of evoking the atmosphere of post-war Britain. He reveals that DenisThatcher, whom she married in 1951, once repaired to South Africa for two months andcontemplated divorcing her. Still, few readers will wish this section were longer. 最開始200多頁的內容讀起來索然無味。褪去政治家身份的撒切爾,與常人并無異處。她沒有任何科研成果,并且滿足于重復富人區的陳詞濫調。她沒有幽默感。她的早年生涯拿到牛津大學獎學金,年輕時的愛戀,工業化學家的工作,第一次闖進了保守黨陣營都不是多少精彩的故事。在講述這段時間內的事情過程中,摩爾很好地營造了一種二戰后英國的氛圍。他大爆料, 1951年娶了她的丹尼斯撒切爾,曾經在南非呆過兩個月,考慮著是否要與她離婚。盡管如此,很少有讀者想繼續探究下去。 Things really take off with Mrs Thatcher s election as Conservative Party leader in 1975. MrMoore brilliantly reconstructs the drama of those years. He reminds the reader of how bigthe stakes were in everything from industrial relations to the Falklands war. Mrs Thatcher wasin an extraordinary position: the oldest, grandest, in many people s eyes the stuffiestpolitical party in the world had chosen a leader whose combination of class, inexperienceand sex would previously have ruled her out. But Mr Moore avoids the luxury of hindsight.Political events tumble over each other. Politicians grope about in the dark. Patterns emergeslowly. 1975年,撒切爾夫人被選為保守黨領袖,從這開始故事才變得有意思起來。摩爾十分精彩地重現了這段流光歲月。他向讀者展示了,從工業革命到馬島戰爭,所有事情都充滿著巨大風險。與其他首相相比,撒切爾夫人的處境不同尋常:世界上歷史最悠久的、規模最龐大的、在許多人眼里最死板僵化的政黨,選擇了一位這樣的領導人:在此之前她會因為來自底層階級、缺乏經驗、身為女性,而被直接排除在外。不過摩爾避免了大篇幅的后知后覺。畢竟,政治問題之間總會有沖突,政客們也是摸著石頭過河,政治模式的出現總需要時間。 Margaret Thatcher grows with the turning of the pages. She summons up extraordinarypersonal resources not just to break with the old order but to put a new one in its place. Noneof this was easy. The entire Thatcherite project was frequently in danger of faltering, asunemployment soared, cities burned and the ditherers conspired. The situation became sodire in 1981 that Mrs Thatcher s advisers sent her a memo castigating her management styleand warning that she would soon be joining Edward Heath on the backbenches. 隨著時間的推移,瑪格麗特撒切爾也在變得更加老練成熟。她以常人少有的勇氣與舊秩序決裂,同時打造新秩序。這兩件事都不容易。所有這些撒切爾主義項目經常面臨各種垮臺的危險,因為失業率急速增長,各大城市情況堪憂,反對者紛紛密謀反叛。情況發展到1981年已經十分危急,連撒切爾夫人的顧問也都向她寄去一份簡報,激烈指責她的管理方式,并警告說她可能很快就加入愛德華希思成為后座議員了。 How did she manage all this Mr Moore shows that it took more than ideological certainty andpersonal stubbornness. Mrs Thatcher had a gift for seeing when the time was ripe and when itwas not. She had a natural bond with what Richard Nixon called the silent majority. She hadan actor s gift for putting on a good show. Mrs Thatcher s opponents repeatedly played intoher hands: Heath, the titular leader of the Tory ditherers, known as the wets, was arepulsive figure who grew more repulsive with age and Michael Foot, the Labour leader,had an unfortunate habit of dressing like a scarecrow. 然而她是怎樣應對這些的呢?摩爾將其描述為遠非堅定的意志和倔強的個性就足夠。撒切爾夫人有著判斷時機的良好稟賦。她與理查德尼克松所說的沉默的大多數之間有著天然紐帶。她就像是一個天生的演員,與生俱來就擅長上演一出精彩的戲。撒切爾夫人的對手總會正中她的下懷:名義上保守黨反對派的領袖希思,是著名的溫和派,他的為人令人厭惡,而且越老越惹人煩,還有工黨領袖邁克爾福特,他喜歡把自己打扮得像個稻草人一樣,有這個習慣實在是不幸啊。 The book ends on a high note. Britain s victory in the Falklands war consolidated MrsThatcher s hold over the Tory Party. The economy began to recover. And the Labour Partyrendered itself unelectable. At the same time the seeds of her self- destruction werealready apparent. It is not often that you can say of a 900-page book that it leaves youwanting to read more. But in this case it is true. 該書在高潮部分收了尾。英國在馬島戰爭中的勝利有效地鞏固了撒切爾夫人對保守黨的控制。經濟也開始復蘇。工黨的糟糕表現也致使它們自身無法贏得選舉勝利。不過,與此同時,撒切爾夫人也開始走下坡路了。人們很少會說,讀完一本900頁的書還覺得意猶未盡,但是這本傳記就做到了。 詞語解釋 1.turn out to be 結果是,原來是,證明是 None of those assertions turn out to be accurate. 這些斷言沒有哪一個證明是準確的。 But this may turn out to be wishful thinking. 這也可能是一廂情愿的想法。 2.possess to 具備 She has that intangible quality that a player must possess to be a champion. 她具有冠煙運動員所必備的那種無法形容的素質。 What discontent do you possess to wu jihe? 烏紀荷你有什么不滿嗎? 3.content to 滿足 We re content to achieve what others expect rather than what we re truly capable of doing. 我們總是滿足于達到別人的期望,而不是達到我們真正能力所及的水準。 Instead, most private-equity firms have been content to buy minority stakes in chinesecompanies. 于是,大多數私募股權投資公司都滿足于購買中國公司的少數股權。 4.take off 脫掉;起飛 When games become popular, they tend to take off very quickly, says blau. 游戲流行時,它們往往會很快起飛,布勞說。 It also makes for a more comfortable take off. 這也讓乘客在起飛時更感舒適。