英国若退欧布莱尔难辞其咎

 It is fashionable to blame Tony Blair for everything. To some in the Labour party, the former prime minister took it on a neoliberal detour¹ and lost 5m votes between 1997 and 2010. To others gleefully awaiting the Chilcot report, he is a war criminal who deserves to be tried at The Hague. These aspersions are wrong, but there is one matter we can hold Mr Blair responsible for. If Britain votes to leave the EU on June 23, he should arguably shoulder a good deal of the blame.

把一切问题都归咎于托尼?布莱尔(Tony Blair)是件时髦之事。在工党(Labour party)的一些人士看来，这位英国前首相领导该党走了一段新自由主义的弯路，而且在1997至2010年间丢掉了500万张选票。在兴奋地等待齐尔考特(Chilcot)调查报告出炉的其他工党人士眼里，布莱尔是一名应在海牙(The Hague)接受审判的战争犯。虽然这些非难言过其实，但在一件事上布莱尔负有责任。如果6月23日英国在公投中赞成退出欧盟(EU)，可以说，布莱尔应承担相当大的责任。

It all goes back to 2004, when the EU was significantly enlarged with the accession of several eastern European countries, including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Unlike the Germans, Mr Blair unwisely decided² against imposing³ transitional controls on freedom of movement for these new EU citizens. His government predicted that enlargement would see 13,000 people a year coming to Britain. The number ended up being closer to 170,000 a year.

这一切可以追溯至2004年，当时，欧盟进行了一次大规模扩张，正式纳入包括波兰、匈牙利、捷克在内的多个东欧国家。与德国人不同，布莱尔非常不明智地反对对这些新欧盟公民的自由迁徙实施过渡性控制措施。布莱尔政府当时预计，欧盟此轮扩大将导致每年有1.3万移民进入英国。但这一数字最终达到每年接近17万人。

As a Financial Times editorial piece argued recently, Mr Blair “seriously underestimated the number of east Europeans who would come to Britain” and his mishandling of the EU’s eastward⁴ expansion created the widespread notion that immigration is out of control.

正如英国《金融时报》最近一篇社论所言，布莱尔“严重低估了可能来到英国的东欧人数量”，他在欧盟东扩问题上处理失当造成了移民已经失控的普遍观念。

Over the past 12 years, politicians have tried to grapple with this issue — David Cameron’s ill-advised pledge to reduce net migration⁵ to below 100,000 a year is just the latest example of this. Brexit campaigners have found success by using these failed promises as a stick with which to beat their opponents.

过去12年间，政治家们一直试图解决这一问题——首相戴维?卡梅伦(David Cameron)仓促承诺将每年净移民人数减至10万以下只是其中最新一例。退欧阵营人士发现，利用这些未兑现的承诺作为打击对手的武器非常有效。

Mr Blair, meanwhile, has shown no remorse⁶ for his actions. In an interview last year, he addressed the issue of transitional controls head on: “All we did was bring forward what would have happened anyway. In 2004 the economy was booming and we had a requirement for skilled workers from abroad. Supposing you put all those people from eastern Europe back out of Britain again, would we be a stronger, better country? The answer is no.” But Mr Blair failed to acknowledge that if the UK had waited until other countries opened themselves to the new Eastern EU members, the beachhead would not have existed and so the relative attractions of the UK to migrants would have been smaller.

与此同时，布莱尔并未对自己的行为表现出任何自责。去年接受采访时，他正面回答了关于过渡性控制措施的问题：“我们所做的不过是将无论如何都会发生的事情提前了而已。2004年，英国经济一片繁荣，我们需要来自国外的熟练工人。如果将所有这些东欧移民再次赶出英国，我们国家会变得更强大、更美好吗？答案是不可能。”但布莱尔并未认识到，如果英国能等到其他国家向新的东部成员国开放边界时再作决定，英国就不会成为移民的桥头堡，英国对移民的相对吸引力也会小一些。

If June 23 does become Britain’s “Independence Day”, as some Leave campaigners have described it, there will be a long hit list of people who will be blamed. Mr Cameron will be near the top, for calling the referendum in the first place and for backing the losing side. Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition⁷ leader, will also be in trouble, thanks to his lackadaisical⁸ attitude during the referendum campaign. But amid the apportioning⁹ of praise and blame to our current political leaders, we should remember one from the past who accidentally stoked the fires of anti-immigration sentiment in the first place.

如果6月23日真像一些退欧阵营人士形容的那样成为英国“独立日”，该责备的人可以填满一长串名单。卡梅伦将在靠近榜首的位置，因为是他首先提出进行公投，同时对可能失败的一方表示支持。反对党领袖杰里米?科尔宾(Jeremy Corbyn)也将因在此次公投运动期间漫不经心的态度而遭遇麻烦。但在对现任政治领导人的功过进行评价的同时，我们也应该记住在往届领导人中有一位从一开始就无意间助长了反移民情绪。

1 detour   

n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道

参考例句：

• We made a detour to avoid the heavy traffic.我们绕道走，避开繁忙的交通。
• He did not take the direct route to his home,but made a detour around the outskirts of the city.他没有直接回家，而是绕到市郊兜了个圈子。

2 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。

3 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

4 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。

5 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

6 remorse   

n.痛恨，悔恨，自责

参考例句：

• She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。
• He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。

7 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 lackadaisical   

adj.无精打采的，无兴趣的；adv.无精打采地，不决断地

参考例句：

• His will was sapped and his whole attitude was lackadaisical.心里松懈，身态与神气便吊儿啷当。
• Lao Wang is very serious with work,so do not be lackadaisical.老王干活可较真儿啦，你可别马马虎虎的。

9 apportioning   

vt.分摊，分配（apportion的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• There is still no law apportioning Iraq's oil resources. 关于一如何分配石油还是没有法律出台。 来自互联网
• The act or a round of apportioning or distributing. 分布或散布或分配的行为。 来自互联网