英語(yǔ)資源頻道為大家整理的china daily 雙語(yǔ)新聞：卡梅倫為何發(fā)表公投演講，供大家學(xué)習(xí)參考:)
There is something surreal – no, really quite barmy – about the European debate in Britain. Five years after the crash, the economy is still flat on its back. Repair of the nation’s finances has stalled. The health of the neighbouring eurozone is far from assured and its future shape is unclear. David Cameron’s response? To promise a vote (though not for another five years or so) on British membership of the EU.
英國(guó)關(guān)于歐洲的辯論有些荒誕——不，其實(shí)相當(dāng)瘋狂。在金融危機(jī)爆發(fā)5年后，英國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)仍萎靡不振。英國(guó)財(cái)政狀況的修復(fù)一籌莫展。鄰近的歐元區(qū)遠(yuǎn)未恢復(fù)健康，其未來(lái)形態(tài)仍不明朗。戴維·卡梅倫(David Cameron)的對(duì)策？承諾就英國(guó)是否退出歐盟(EU)舉行投票（盡管還得等5年左右）。
The rest of the world looks on in profound bafflement. The US has felt moved to warn the prime minister that if he takes Britain out of the EU he will wave goodbye to influence in Washington. In Beijing this week, I heard Chinese officials express polite bemusement that Britain could detach itself from the world’s most important economic bloc.
全球其他國(guó)家對(duì)此感到深度困惑。美國(guó)覺(jué)得有必要警告稱，如果卡梅倫帶領(lǐng)英國(guó)脫離歐盟，他會(huì)失去在華盛頓的影響力。最近，我在北京聽(tīng)到中國(guó)官員禮貌而困惑地表示，英國(guó)怎么能讓自己脫離全球最重要的經(jīng)濟(jì)集團(tuán)？
Mr Cameron’s much-hyped speech on the subject will settle nothing. It represents an expression of impotence – a cry of pain almost – rather than a strategy. Mr Cameron wants a “new settlement” so Britain can repatriate powers from Brussels but keep privileged access to the single market. He promises a renegotiation and a referendum to ratify it if he wins the 2015 election.
卡梅倫的演講得到大肆炒作，但它不會(huì)解決任何問(wèn)題。它只是表達(dá)了一種無(wú)力感（幾乎是一種痛苦的哭泣），而不是一種戰(zhàn)略?？穫愊胍环N“新的解決方案”，讓英國(guó)可以從布魯塞爾收回權(quán)力，但同時(shí)保留進(jìn)入單一市場(chǎng)的特權(quán)。他承諾，如果在2015年大選中獲勝，就將啟動(dòng)與歐盟的重新談判，并就談判結(jié)果舉行公投。
Yet the speech is destined to disappoint. It is the place where the irresistible force of rising Tory party europhobia meets the immovable object of geopolitical reality. Britain’s allies, trading partners and investors are promised several years of uncertainty while Mr Cameron’s Conservatives wrestle with the effort to reconcile the irreconcilable.
然而這場(chǎng)演講注定令人失望。因?yàn)樗┞读吮Ｊ攸h日益憎惡歐盟的情緒遭遇無(wú)法撼動(dòng)的地緣政治現(xiàn)實(shí)。在卡梅倫的保守黨竭力調(diào)和不可調(diào)和的矛盾之際，英國(guó)的盟友、貿(mào)易伙伴和投資者現(xiàn)在面臨多年的不確定性。
The prime minister says he wants to stay in the EU. The, as yet unspecified, opt-outs and concessions he seeks would make Britain “more comfortable” in the union. Yet asked whether Britain will still be a member 10 years hence, the best George Osborne, chancellor of the exchequer, offers is that he “hopes” so. For many of the deeply eurosceptic Tory ministers and MPs now driving policy, a referendum is the route to the exit rather than a better deal.
卡梅倫表示，他希望英國(guó)留在歐盟。他尋求的尚未指明的“退出選擇”和讓步，將讓英國(guó)在歐盟“更加自在”。然而，在被問(wèn)及英國(guó)10年后是否仍會(huì)是歐盟成員國(guó)的時(shí)候，英國(guó)財(cái)政大臣喬治·奧斯本(George Osborne)所能給出的答案是，他“希望”還是。對(duì)目前推動(dòng)政策的許多對(duì)歐洲深感懷疑的保守黨部長(zhǎng)和議員來(lái)說(shuō)，公投是退出歐盟之路，而不是要達(dá)成一個(gè)更有利的協(xié)議。
Britain’s partners accept advancing political and economic integration within the eurozone will necessarily change the relationship. Germany’s Angela Merkel is sympathetic to the idea that single currency “outs” need safeguards to protect their voice in the wider counsels of the union – most obviously in decisions about the single market. As irritated as European leaders often are by British exceptionalism, there is no great continental move to push Mr Cameron out. They may sometimes pretend otherwise, but even the French see advantages in perfidious Albion remaining in the club.
英國(guó)的合作伙伴承認(rèn)，推進(jìn)歐元區(qū)內(nèi)部的政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)一體化必然會(huì)改變關(guān)系。德國(guó)的安格拉·默克爾(Angela Merkel)同情如下觀點(diǎn)：歐元區(qū)以外的歐盟成員國(guó)需要相應(yīng)保障措施，以保護(hù)他們?cè)跉W盟整體事務(wù)（最明顯的就是有關(guān)單一市場(chǎng)的決定）中的話語(yǔ)權(quán)。盡管歐洲領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人經(jīng)常對(duì)英國(guó)“例外主義”感到惱火，但他們沒(méi)有采取大的動(dòng)作迫使卡梅倫退出歐盟。或許他們有時(shí)會(huì)假裝這么做，但即便是法國(guó)也認(rèn)為讓三心二意的英國(guó)留在歐盟是有益的。
Ms Merkel et al, however, have their own red lines. Britain already has a clutch of “opt-outs” ranging from the Schengen area of border-free travel to the euro. If Mr Cameron’s price now is repudiation of past commitments and obligations, then it is too high. Sure, there can be talks about social legislation and regional policy, but the unravelling of the union’s core “acquis” – or accumulated legislation – is a bridge even Britain’s best European friends are unwilling to cross.
然而，默克爾等人也是有底線的。從跨境自由旅行的申根協(xié)定到歐元，英國(guó)已經(jīng)享有眾多“退出選擇”。如果卡梅倫現(xiàn)在的要價(jià)是背棄過(guò)去的承諾和義務(wù)，那么這種要價(jià)顯然太高了。沒(méi)錯(cuò)，各方可以就社會(huì)立法和地區(qū)政策進(jìn)行談判，但如果要對(duì)歐盟的核心章程（即多年積累的法律）動(dòng)大手術(shù)，那么就連英國(guó)的歐洲朋友也不愿跨越這道橋。
Grand strategy has never been the prime minister’s forte, but he must understand this. So why the speech? He is held prisoner of fear of a great rupture in his party akin to convulsions about the Corn Laws in the 19th century and imperial trade preferences early in the 20th. Now, as then, an argument about Britain’s place in the world has become enmeshed in a neuralgic Tory debate about national identity and sovereignty.
宏大戰(zhàn)略從來(lái)不是卡梅倫的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)，但他肯定明白這一點(diǎn)。那么為何發(fā)表這種演講？原因是他擔(dān)心保守黨出現(xiàn)巨大分裂，就像19世紀(jì)因《谷物法》(Corn Laws)和20世紀(jì)初因帝國(guó)貿(mào)易優(yōu)惠問(wèn)題造成的分裂一樣?，F(xiàn)在和當(dāng)時(shí)一樣，關(guān)于英國(guó)在全球地位的爭(zhēng)論，與保守黨圍繞國(guó)家認(rèn)同和主權(quán)的令人頭疼的辯論扯到了一起。
Britain’s departure from the EU is for now a possibility rather than a probability. Nick Clegg, leader of the Tories’ Liberal Democrat coalition partner, repudiates Mr Cameron’s plan. After a period when it also struck a eurosceptic pose, the Labour party is resisting the temptation to back a referendum. Douglas Alexander, the party’s foreign affairs spokesman, this week described the EU as a vital multiplier of British interests and values. And a Tory majority in 2015 is a far from obvious outcome given the dismal state of the economy.
就目前而言，英國(guó)退出歐盟只是一種可能性，而不是概率很大的事件。自由民主黨（保守黨的盟友）領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人尼克·克萊格(Nick Clegg)并不贊同卡梅倫的計(jì)劃。在擺出懷疑歐洲的姿態(tài)一段時(shí)間后，工黨抵制住了支持公投的誘惑。工黨外交事務(wù)發(fā)言人道格拉斯·亞歷山大(Douglas Alexander)最近將歐盟形容為英國(guó)利益和價(jià)值觀的關(guān)鍵倍增器。鑒于英國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)狀態(tài)低迷，2015年保守黨能否以絕對(duì)多數(shù)贏得大選還是一個(gè)未知數(shù)。
The UK Independence party, which advocates complete EU withdrawal, adds fuel to the fire of Tory europhobia. But though they do not much like the EU, voters may prove more pragmatic than polls suggest. It is one thing to denounce Brussels’ meddling; another to risk prosperity and jobs by pulling up the drawbridge against Britain’s most important trading and investment partners.
主張退出歐盟的英國(guó)獨(dú)立黨(UKIP)，助燃了保守黨內(nèi)憎惡歐盟的情緒。但盡管英國(guó)選民不那么喜歡歐盟，但他們可能比民調(diào)所顯示的更為務(wù)實(shí)。指責(zé)布魯塞爾的干預(yù)是一回事，同英國(guó)最重要的貿(mào)易和投資伙伴斷絕關(guān)系，拿自己的美好生活和就業(yè)當(dāng)兒戲，則是另一回事。
The danger is that, in bowing to the populist clamour, Mr Cameron has created a political dynamic that leads to departure, while Europe is being made a scapegoat for Britain’s self-inflicted economic ills. The prime minister’s partners are simply not prepared to see their plans for “more” Europe held to ransom by Britain’s demands for “l(fā)ess” Europe.
危險(xiǎn)在于，卡梅倫在屈從于民粹主義喧囂的同時(shí)，創(chuàng)造了一種最終導(dǎo)致英國(guó)退出歐盟的政治勢(shì)力，而歐洲成為英國(guó)自己造成的經(jīng)濟(jì)困境的替罪羊。卡梅倫在歐盟的同僚們絕不會(huì)讓他們“增加歐洲含量”的計(jì)劃，被英國(guó)“減少歐洲含量”的要求劫持。
The eurosceptics hold Margaret Thatcher as their champion. She was certainly tough on those who imagined the EU’s future as a federal superstate. But behind the rhetoric, she held on to a hard-headed view of the national interest. She also understood the political nature of the union. Calling for a Yes vote in a 1975 referendum, she said the case for membership rested on Europe’s role in amplifying British power. The EU opened “windows on the world” that otherwise would be closing after the end of empire.
歐洲懷疑論者將瑪格麗特·撒切爾(Margaret Thatcher)尊為他們的旗手。撒切爾確實(shí)對(duì)那些認(rèn)為歐盟未來(lái)將發(fā)展為一個(gè)超級(jí)聯(lián)邦國(guó)家的人態(tài)度強(qiáng)硬。但在嚴(yán)厲措辭的背后，她對(duì)國(guó)家利益有著清醒的看法。她也明白歐盟的政治性質(zhì)。撒切爾在1975年的公投中呼吁支持英國(guó)加入歐洲共同體(European Community)，她表示，加入歐洲共同體的理由在于，歐洲有助于放大英國(guó)的實(shí)力。歐盟打開(kāi)了英國(guó)“通向世界的窗口”——大英帝國(guó)瓦解后，英國(guó)本來(lái)失去了這個(gè)窗口。
Even at the height of her confrontation with Jacques Delors, then?European Commission president, Mrs Thatcher understood the stark political realities facing a middle-ranking European nation. As she said in her infamous Bruges speech: “Britain does not dream of some cosy, isolated existence on the fringes of the European Community. Our destiny is in Europe, as part of the Community”. There is a sentiment for her self-chosen heirs to reflect on.
即便在撒切爾與時(shí)任歐盟委員會(huì)(European Commission)主席雅克·德洛爾(Jacques Delors)發(fā)生最激烈沖突的時(shí)候，她也明白一個(gè)中等的歐洲國(guó)家面臨的嚴(yán)峻政治現(xiàn)實(shí)。正如她在的布魯日演講中所言：“英國(guó)并不夢(mèng)想舒適、孤立地存在于歐洲共同體的邊緣。我們的命運(yùn)注定在歐洲，作為共同體的一部分。”自命為撒切爾傳人的人，有必要重溫一下這種情懷。